Scots win the first FST battle
17 competitors took to the start ramp of Round one of the VK Ford Fiesta SportingTrophy UK, the
Malcolm Wilson Rally based at M-Sport's Cockermouth Headquarters.
It would be new Fiesta SportingTrophy competitors twenty year old Steven Brown and Ian
Morrision from Aberdeenshire that would take top spoils after a very exciting day in the forests around Cumbria.
Dry but windy and overcast conditions greeted the competitors as they left M-Sport to head for the start ramp in Cockermouth Main Street.
SS1 saw the crews tackle the short 2.73 miles of Hobcarton, all crews made it through the stage but it was nineteen year old Alastair Fisher from Enniskillen, co-driven by the experienced Paul Morris from Hereford that emerged with a slender one second lead from Steven Brown, who was followed one second further behind by local driver Kris Hall (18) from Appleby and co-driver Chris Ridge.
The crews then moved onto the 5.63 miles of Comb, it would be here that the field would see the first retirement of the day. Championship regular Clive Hilton from Mansfield would end his day with suspected diff failure after hitting a large hole during the stage. Also in trouble on the stage was Phillip Liddle (29) from Glasgow, who would beach the car at the side of the road, the crew would get going again but would lose four minutes and the front bumper in the process. It would be Fisher that would extend his lead at the end of the stage to six seconds from Hall and nineteen year old Elfyn Evans from Machynlleth co-driven by Gareth Roberts. The new pairings of twenty year old Liam Regan from Northern Ireland co-driven by the very experienced Francis Regan, and James Everard (22) from Hull with another new navigator Sam Collis, were both a close eight seconds behind Fisher.
The 3.25 miles of SS3 Wythop, saw drama for second placed Elfyn Evans, a broken driveshaft on the start of the stage meant that he would drop over two minutes to Fisher leaving him down in 12th position. This left Hall trailing Fisher by ten seconds with Regan one second further adrift. Stage three would also claim the pairing of Andrew Wheatley and Glenn Patterson, an overshoot at a junction left them stranded down an embankment unable to continue.
Crews then headed off to Greystoke for SS4, the final stage before service. Greystoke would provide a change in the lead with Fisher suffering from a broken rear stub axle, forcing retirement in the stage. This meant that Hall would lead the rally going into service, with Regan and Everard following closely behind, Elfyn Evans teammate eighteen year old Meilyr Evans would round out the top four.
After four competitive stages the crews headed to Penrith service to allow them to catch up with their teams before setting off for the two longest stages of the rally in the Grizedale complex near Consiton Water.
SS5 would be the longest of the rally at 11.11 miles and once again saw a change in the leader board and claim the rally leader. Kris Hall would had an overshoot in the stage which would lead to gearbox failure and see him retire from the rally, it would be an early exit for what had looked like a very promising result for the local youngster. With Everard beating Regan by ten seconds in the stage it meant Everard would take the rally lead by six seconds from Regan with the new crew of Steven Brown and Ian Morrison only one second adrift in third.
Grizedale South at 7.38 miles would be next and it was to prove an exciting stage. Elfyn Evans would take the stage win, but a great time from Brown would see him finish the stage second and leapfrog up to joint first overall with Regan on 46 minutes 13 seconds heading into the final service of the day. Everard remained a close third only five seconds off the lead. Electrical problems caused by a puncture damaging a wire lost Meilyr Evans time dropping him down to sixth overall.
This left Max Utting (22) and Jemma Bellingham in fourth with eighteen year old Irishman Kyle Orr and Tony McDaid in fifth only two seconds off Utting.
Away from the leading group other crews had stories to tell, local driver John Lloyd from Penrith, had a slow roll on SS6 damaging one side of his car, he dropped time and positions as a lack of spectators meant they had to right the car themselves. Another Scotsman, nineteen year old Alick
Kerr and Drew Sturrock from Glasgow were driving a safe rally and aim to build on their initial pace throughout the rest of the season. Richard Archer from Downham Market had a number of unfortunate problems all day including driving SS5 and SS6 in fourth gear, which dropped him down the field. Another new competitor Nick Edwards (21) from Leicester was very happy with his first rally in a Fiesta, getting the car home safe was his only objective.
After the second and final service of the day crews headed off for a second time to Greystoke forest for the 6.2 mile final stage of the day. With the top two crews level on time it was sure to be an exciting finale.
On a stage that was a reverse of the earlier SS4, James Everard would took the stage win moving him up to second overall and getting the Motorsport Insurance Award for best improvement in seeding for the rally.
In the race for the lead, Steven Brown set a time eight seconds quicker than Liam Regan which meant that Brown would emerge as the winner of the first round of the VK Ford Fiesta SportingTrophy 2008 as the crews arrived back at the finish ramp in Cockermouth town centre.
To round off the awards, Elfyn Evans put on a excellent performance over the course of the day to claim the Castrol Hard Charger award for setting the highest number of fastest stage times.
Winner Steven Brown said:
“It was a strange weekend for us, we came into the event unsure on where our pace would be. We were placed mid-way in the field come the first service, and our aim was to try and creep our way up a few places before the end. With the loss of the rally leaders along with finding more confidence in the new notes, we set some good times and ended up going into the final stage tied but eventually came out on top. It is the perfect start to the season, but now the hard work starts in trying to stay on top for the next round.”
The leader board after the first round is as follows:
Position Driver Total Time Points
1 Steven Brown / Ian Morrison 53:15 30
2 James Everard / Sam Collis 53:19 25
3 Liam Regan / Francis Regan 53:23 22
4 Kyle Orr / Tony McDaid 53:51 20
5 Max Utting / Jemma Bellingham 53:53 18
6 Meilyr Evans / Andrew Edwards 54:24 16
7 Alick Kerr / Drew Sturrock 54:46 14
8 Elfyn Evans / Gareth Roberts 55:29 13
9 John Lloyd / Mark Egglestone 57:56 12
10 Nick Edwards / Mark Ammonds 1:00:37 11
11 Phillip Liddle / Alex Proctor 1:00:40 10
12 Richard Archer / Matthew Whattam 1:03:03 9
The next round of the VK Ford Fiesta SportingTrophy is the Carlisle based Pirelli Rally on 19 April.