Northern Road Rally Championship

BULLETIN NO. 8, JANUARY 2005

Half of you receiving this bulletin will quite rightly be saying ‘about bloody time’, the rest will probably have thrown it in the bin already in disgust. My apologies to all of you but particularly to anyone who has attempted to get in touch with me over the last month and a half. Unfortunately since the start of December my ANCC duties, both this championship and secretarial, have had to take a back seat along with everything else due to some major difficulties at work. My family can confirm this as they haven’t seen much of me either.

At this late stage I have had to compromise on the reports of the last three rounds, in order to actually get this bulletin to you before the first round of 2005. As I wasn’t at any of the events the reports would have been shorter than normal anyway, my apologies to the event organizers and any competitors whose performances would normally have got them a mention. I have had a little feedback from some competitors about each of the events, certainly enough to justify their inclusion in the 2005 calendar and with only one or two criticisms which I will pass on to those concerned for this year.

The biggest apologies of all though must go to two groups of people: Firstly, the award winners and particularly our new champions, Steve Webster and Roger Hage. Their excellent set of consistent results over the first two thirds of the season saw them home as deserved winners, a late charge from Dan Robinson and Ian Gibbins not quite enough to snatch the laurels on the last round. Well done to you and indeed all the award winners, I hope you enjoyed yourselves and will be back for more in 2005. The enclosed tables and award winners are provisional until Friday 28^th January, please get any queries to me ASAP so that I can re-issue if necessary. Secondly, sorry to Richard Holdsworth and his team at Whickham & DMC, who are organizing the first round of the 2005 championship in a week’s time. You should all have received regs which state it is a round of the championship but up to now have not had anything official from me to confirm this. I am not sure how many entries they have, but I am sure would welcome any more, even though the closing date will have passed by the time you receive this. Or, if your car is still in pieces and you can’t compete, I am sure they would be grateful for any offers of marshals.

Regs are also out for round 2, the Bruce Robinson on 12^th / 13^th February and will be with you soon for the Ryemoor in March. In the mean time don’t forget the awards ‘do’ on Friday 4^th February, it’s free, everyone is welcome whether an award winner or not and it is a good social event. We will no doubt be going for a curry afterwards and if anyone wants to avoid driving then I know a decent hotel nearby that is very reasonable and has a resident’s bar….drop me a line if you want details.

You should find some 2005 regs and a registration form with this bulletin, remember those of you who were out on 8 or more rounds in 2004 qualify for free registration – There are 34 of you in total but haven’t got space here so I will include it in the next bulletin. You probably know who you are anyway! I dare not commit myself to when that will be, I will do my best to improve on last year.

PAST EVENTS

6^TH / 7^TH NOVEMBER – ROUND 10, VISUAL PACKAGING COSSACK RALLY,  EASTWOOD & DMC

I am told it was very foggy! Not a lot the organizers can do about this sort of nightmare, but it sounds like most of you still enjoyed it. Very well done to Richard Chown & Mark Wagstaff on their first win together.

12^TH / 13^TH NOVEMBER – INTER ASSOCIATION RALLY, NORHERN IRELAND

Mick Monaghan & Iain Tullie, Terry Martin & Paul Taylor and Gav Smith & Stan Appleton ventured over to Armagh to defend the title the ANCC won in Scotland in 2002. They do things very differently over the sea, so it was a steep learning curve for all of us! The home team won, not surprisingly, but we were first ‘English’ association home in 3^rd.

27^TH / 28^TH NOVEMBER – ROUND 11, BEAVER RALLY, BEVERLEY & DMC

As ever a well put together event, with slightly easier navigation that in recent years. A very close result saw Tim Rodgers & Mike Ogram defend their title from 2003.

4^TH / 5^TH DECEMBER – ROUND 12, CIVIL SERVICE RALLY, CSMA (NORTH WEST)

A bit of an issue with missing route handouts early on I am told but Steve Johnson’s team soon got the event back on track. Very well done to Bill Chadwick & Alan Edwards who won the event from Dave Chapman & David Taylor.

Many thanks to organizers and marshals on all these last three rounds.

                                                                Iain

PRIZE PRESENTATION EVENING

at WHITCLIFFE MOUNT SPORTS CENTRE, cleckheaton

on FRIDAY 4th FEBRUARY 2005 commencing 8.00pm

FREE ADMISSION