Disappointing Jim Clark Challenge rally for Sykes

 

Stourbridge’s Richard Sykes had a disappointing Jim Clark Challenge rally last weekend when an accident while leading the event dropped him down the leaderboard.

The event started on Friday night with three stages including the 16 mile Abbey St Bathans stage. Sykes made a brilliant start in his Bathams Brewery, G I Sykes Ltd, Silverstone Tyres and Boroughbridge Marina-supported Citroën C2 R2 Max, storming to an eight second lead over local driver Ross Hunter.

“I love the Abbey St Bathans stage,” said Sykes. “My car suits the roads perfectly and it’s probably my favourite tarmac stage. We had a fantastic run through there to take a 15 second lead. We lost some time in the Tweedside stage that followed but we were only beaten by a guy who lives nearby so I was happy with that.”

Saturday was due to start with the Eccles stage but the event organisers cancelled it. Instead Swinton was the first stage and it was here Sykes’ rally took a turn for the worse. The route was tight and twisty and Sykes had targeted it as one where he could get a good advantage over the other crews. However, after a flat out section at over 100mph the car put two wheels on the grass which meant Sykes could not slow down sufficiently for the following tight corner.

“There was a crest in the road but hitting it at over 100mph turned it into a jump which threw the car to the left and partially onto the verge. It was only 60 metres to the corner, if we’d had all four wheels on the road we could’ve slowed but we had no chance with two wheels on the grass.”

 “We went straight on at the corner and ploughed through a hedge, damaging the front of the car and tearing a tyre off the rim. We made repairs at the scene and got the car going again but we’d dropped to 10^th place.”

With plenty of mileage still to go Sykes hoped to be able to work his way back up to 5^th place but events conspired against him with three of the remaining six stages cancelled by the organisers.

“After the disaster on Swinton we were confident that we had the pace to get back to 5^th as there should’ve been six stages for us to make up time. Sadly the event organisers cancelled three of those and of the remaining three two were very short so our opportunity was gone, especially as the car steering had been damaged in the accident and there was no time to fix it in the frantic 20 minute service halt.”

“It was an extremely disappointing event for us, we lost the opportunity of getting the win and we also lost over half of the mileage that we should’ve done. We still managed to score some points for being second in class so that’s a positive we can take to the next event. We’ve dropped to third in the BRC Challenge championship now though to it’s vital we get a great result next time out.”

Sykes’ next BRC Challenge round will be the Scottish rally at the end of June.

Wright to continue championship challenge on Dukeries rally

 

Bentham’s David Wright will continue his 2013 BTRDA rally championship campaign next weekend when he contests the Dukeries rally in Nottinghamshire.

 

After an excellent result on the Plains rally last month when he finished first in class and fourth overall Wright is hoping for another good performance in his Kumho Tyres, Proflex, Drenth, York Brewery, Millers Oils, Owen Developments and Grove Hill Garage-supported Mitsubishi Evo 9. The car ran faultlessly on the Plains so there have been no changes made ahead of the Dukeries.

 

“The Plains went really well,” said Wright. “I was happy with the car and we led the class all day. It will be tough to get a good overall result on the Dukeries as there are a lot of very long straights in the stages which give a big advantage to the more powerful World Rally class cars but I’ll be flat out to try and get near the top three.”

 

“After the car problems we had before the Plains it was great to have a troublefree run so we’ve left the car in the same specification which will hopefully give us another clear run.”

 

“We won our class on the 2011 Dukeries so we’ll be aiming to repeat that this year.”

 

The rally will be fought over 44 miles of gravel forest stages in the Sherwood Forest area.



Image courtesy Simon Clarke

Class podium for Brown on Jim Clark National rally

Rochdale rally driver Steve Brown enjoyed a very successful Jim Clark National rally event last weekend when he finished second in class in the MSA Asphalt Championship.

It was the first time Brown had contested the popular Kelso-based event which runs on closed public roads in the Scottish Borders.

The rally started with three stages on Friday evening. The first was a short stage in Duns town centre in front of a huge crowd of spectators. Brown took his Mintex Racing, Fuchs Titan Race, 710 Oil's, PIAA and Sabelt UK-backed Nissan Micra 1300 to second in the championship class battle. The very challenging Abbey St Bathans stage was next up, 16 miles of twisty and bumpy lanes which always causes problems for a lot of crews. Brown and co-driver Paul Stringer had a clear run though and they rounded off Friday evening with the Tweedside stage which included a huge jump where the Micra flew through the air.

“The Friday stages went well,” said Brown. “The Abbey stage was a big test, the roads are so tricky there and it would be very easy to crash out of the event. We had a decent run through though. The jump on the Tweedside stage was good fun!”

Day two of the rally had eight stages including two runs of the Swinton stage which featured the famous Swinton Mill crossroads where many a car has come to grief. Brown negotiated the crossroads with no problems but was caught out in another part of the stage when his car hit a patch of gravel and slid head on into a tree. Although the bodywork was damaged the radiator, steering and handling of the car were fine so Brown was able to continue.

With a finish vital for his championship hopes Brown did not push too hard in the remaining stages but he was quick enough to hold his second in the championship class position.

“What an event it was, a real challenge and I’m delighted to get a finish on my Jim Clark debut. We couldn’t afford a retirement so we were lucky the incident with the tree didn’t force us out. The stages were brilliant and we had a great time. Thank you to the team and all our sponsors for the support which allowed us to contest the event.”

Brown’s next event is scheduled to be the Tyneside Stages in August.

Engine failure ends fine performance from Monaghan

 

Rally driver Kev Monaghan had a miserable end to the Jim Clark National rally last weekend when the engine on his Vauxhall Corsa S1600 failed while he was challenging for a class win.

The Kelso-based event started on Friday evening with three stages and Monaghan’s plan was to push hard immediately in his Pirtek Tyne & Wear, Stauff, GB Lubricants, F & R Belbin and Bill Falconer-supported car. His plan worked as he led the event at the overnight halt although he was only 0.1 seconds ahead of the second-placed crew.

Saturday’s stages started off with damp roads but Monaghan was still on the pace, swapping fastest stage times with Carl & Rob Tuer in their MG ZR S1600. The class battle continued throughout the day and going into the long last stage Monaghan was 14 seconds off the lead. As the roads had dried out Monaghan fitted harder compound tyres with the intention of a flat out attack to try and get the win. Unfortunately a rain shower meant the new tyres were not as effective as they would’ve been in the dry but worse was to come when, with 8 miles of the stage remaining, the engine failed.

“I was delighted with our performance on Friday, to be leading was very satisfying,” said Monaghan. “We were having a great battle with the Tuers on Saturday and I hoped that switching to the harder tyres for the last 14 miles would give us a chance of taking the class win. The rain ended our hopes but we were still on for second place until the engine failed.”

“They say lightning doesn’t strike twice but we’ve had engine failures on consecutive events which is hugely disappointing. I’m happy that we’ve got the pace to compete at the sharp end and that we’re mixing times with works-built S1600 cars though. We’ve set up a great team around us, we just need that one final link in the chain to nail down our engine issues.”

“For now the budget is gone but I hope to be out later in the year and be ready to give it our all in 2014. Thank you to Pirtek Tyne& Wear, Stauff, GB Lubricants, F & R Belbin and Bill Falconer, without their support we would not have been in the position to challenge for class wins. I would like to say a big thank you to Chris Purvis who gives it 100% in the co-driver's seat which allows me to take it flat out most of the time.”

“Hopefully we can resolve the engine issues and have a real push for the class championship next year.”

Successful rally return for Rodgers

Tim Rodgers contested his first rally for three years and his first ever tarmac event last weekend on the Jim Clark Challenge rally and a strong performance saw him take 7^th overall and 5th in class.

Driving a Rally4Real.com Ford Fiesta ST Rodgers, from Burton upon Stather, and co-driver Stefan Arndt had a good start to the event on the first of Friday evening’s three stages, powering the car around Duns town centre in front of a huge crowd of spectators. The long 16 miles Abbey St Bathans test followed and for most of the stage Rodgers had to rely on his memory of the route from the recce as the intercom failed meaning he couldn’t hear the Arndt’s instructions. Despite this Rodgers managed to catch three cars in the stage. With the intercom working again the crew had a clean run through the final Friday stage to lie in 9^th place overall at the overnight halt.

Eight stages were scheduled for the Challenge crews on Saturday but various issues meant that 46 miles of stages were cancelled by the rally organisers which dented Rodgers’ hopes of pushing for a top five finish. He got up to 7^th overall, missing out on being the first Fiesta ST crew by just three seconds.

“I’m pleased to get a decent finish and our times compared very well against the other Fiesta ST drivers which, considering I’ve never done a tarmac event before, is a good achievement.”

“It’s very disappointing that we lost so much mileage on Saturday, I had hoped that we could make up enough time to get into the top five. We gained three seconds on the sixth-placed crew in the two miles of the final Langton stage so without the stage cancellations I am confident we would’ve finished higher up.”

“Thanks to Stefan for an excellent job in the co-driver’s seat, Charlie Stephens for servicing and Becky Kirvan for the loan of her car.”