Lap Record and maiden win for Peter Hickman at IOMTT
Peter Hickman
The record books were re-written at the Isle of Man TT by FUCHS Silkolene-sponsored Peter Hickman.
Hickman took his maiden island win by clinching the RL360º Superstock TT Race on Monday – and set an astonishing lap record of 130.403mph in the process.
Hickman looked in trouble when he outbraked himself on cold tyres early on in the race and lost 20 seconds getting his bike turned around.
Hickman rejoined the race way back in 10th but put in a phenomenal performance to fight all the way back to the front.
Smiths Racing BMW’s Hickman eventually pipped Michael Dunlop to the flag by just four seconds after an incredible tussle.
An emotional Hickman said: “It means a lot, it does mean a lot especially on a big bike. The last lap I had so many people waving at me, it means a lot.”
Adam Morgan
BTCC table-topper Adam Morgan is back in action this weekend at his home circuit, Oulton Park.
It is not a circuit where Adam has seen too much success in recent years, but it is one he enjoys and he’ll be desperate to continue his red-hot form with his friends and family in attendance.
Apex Motor Parts Welsh Marches Mini Epynt Stages
Dave Willet and John Davies reigned supreme on the FUCHS-backed Welsh Marches Mini Epynt Stages, part of the FUCHS Lubricants RACRMC Historic Asphalt Rally Championship.
It was the 10th running of the popular Mini Epynt, which takes place over one day over a challenging 45 mile course on tarmac roads of the Epynt military ranges.
The top five were covered by just 20 seconds – and Willet/Davies did just enough to take the trophy back to Cheshire.
CA1 Sport
FUCHS-backed, Carlisle-based, globe-trotting rally preparation team CA1 Sport are continuing their summer travels this coming weekend with a relatively modest journey to Belgium. Their drivers, David Bogie and Rhys Yates, are competing on Rally Wervik, both in Skoda Fabia R5s, in preparation for the Ypres rally (held two weeks later) which is the next round of the British Rally Championship.
Some team members are still on their way home from Barbados where they were supporting Tom Preston and co-driver Andrew Roughead (Skoda Fabia R5) at Rally Barbados last weekend. Tom was pleased with his ninth place on the main rally, having finished seventh on the King of the Hill seeding run the previous weekend. Tom reported ‘a good run overall in spite of a couple of spins which didn’t lose us much time’ on this popular international event, which saw several other British crews taking part, including Rob Swann, Paul Bird, and Kevin Procter.
Steve Brown
The striking Nissan Micra Kit Car of Steve Brown will be heading across the English Channel this week, as the Rochdale driver aims to get valuable points on the board in the Flanders International Rally Challenge (FIRC) at Rally van Wervik.
Brown endured a testing start to his 2018 campaign after the popular Nissan was side-lined just days before the start of Rallye Salamandre earlier in the year, forcing him to revert to a Historic specification Mini Cooper for the event. Transmission failure on the third test thwarted his efforts to secure points for his assault on the Challenge.
Now, he will finally get to use the potent machine on the closed public roads in Belgium and resume his campaign on the hotly contested class 3F battle. He will be co-driven by Paul Stringer.
Despite the Micra not being ready for the start of the season, Brown has still enjoyed success behind the wheel. A podium result in the Mini on the HRCR Mini Sport Cup - Dixies Historic Challenge just a week after his first foray to Belgium in 2018 saw an upturn in fortune for the Questmead Director which was soon followed by a trip to the prestigious Rallye Festival Transmiera in Spain.
“The Micra is a great tool for the unique Belgian roads and It will be fantastic to finally get back over there and compete against everyone in the series and sample those stages once again,” says Brown.
The event offers around 60 miles of special stages from its Wervik base on June 8-9.
FUCHS Lubricants BHRC
The FUCHS Lubricants MSA British Historic Rally Championship resumes with round three on the ATL Carlisle Stages (June 8-9) as the championship contenders head back to the daunting challenge of the Kielder forest complex.
The Carlisle Stages will offer BHRC crews 45 stage miles across six stages. On Friday evening, the first crews leave Carlisle at 6pm for three stages in the Kershope region. The Category 1 and 1600cc historic crews will run first on the road in reverse order before the balance of the historic and Rally2 crews.
On Saturday morning, the crews will tackle three more stages alongside BTRDA contenders before finishing back in Carlisle from around 11am. This event will mark the first time in three years that historic crews have run at the head of the field, thanks to the recent MSA relaxation of running order rules. The Ford Lotus Cortina of Paul Mankin and Desmond Bell will be the first car through all six stages.
The battle at the head of the field is shaping up for a re-run of the fantastic contest that decided the Pirelli Rally in late April when championship leaders Paul Barrett and Dai Roberts took a narrow win over Matthew Robinson and Dave Robson. Robinson will have regular co-driver Sam Collis back this time around and will be determined to turn the tables on Barrett in what is sure to be a sporting fight.
More Ford Escort Mk2s will head the chase including Steve Bennett/Osian Owen, Rudi Lancaster/Guy Weaver and Simon Webster/Jez Rogers, while the Hillman Avenger BRM of Ieuan Rowlands/Emyr Hall showed excellent pace last time out as Rowlands got his first taste of Kielder.
Class D3, for the Pinto-engined Escort Mk2s in Category 3, is proving to be superbly competitive this season and it is Stuart Egglestone and Brian Hodgson who currently set the standard. However, chasing very hard will be the similar cars of Ben Friend/Cliffy Simmons and Josh Browne/Jane Edgington. Friend and Browne are two of the fast-rising young guns of historic rallying.
A strong Category 2 entry is topped by BDA-powered Escort Mk1s of Mark Holmes/Craig Simkiss, Chris Skill/Peter Scott and similar cars for Chris Browne/Ali Cornwell-Browne and Andrew Stokes/Adrian McNally.
Finally, class C3 promises another fierce class contest between the quick Escort Mk1s of Josh Carr/Ben Hall and Mike Simpson/Dale Gibbons. Carr has had a character-building season to date with an engine failure in Wales and gearbox failure on the Pirelli. He is hoping this will be a case of third time lucky.
Freddie Housley
Karting ace Freddie Housley is continuing to grow in confidence after his first race at the mighty PFI Circuit in Lincolnshire, his last outing as a novice.
With its 1600m long lap, the PFI Circuit is far bigger than Freddie is used to and is used on the European and World Championship karting calendars.
Practice went well with Freddie three seconds off the leaders but improving every session.
He qualified P19 out of 22 and managed to get up to 17th in heat one before a broken fuel pipe forced him to pull off with only three laps to go.
Freddie responded well by finishing 15th in heat two to put him 18th on the grid for the 12 minute final, where he had a brilliant race to come home P18 – and take over a half a second a lap off his personal best.
Next up is Scotland in two weeks where he will be starting all races in the mix with the faster experienced drivers.
Together We Progress
Glyndwr University’s Together We Progress team have been putting the final touches to their cars ahead of the 750 Motor Club Club Enduro in Rockingham on the weekend.
Ashleigh Morris
Ashleigh Morris was back in action in the Celtic Speed Scottish Mini Cooper Cup in Anglesey.
After suffering power issues in testing, Ashleigh managed to qualify in a respectable 12th before being pushed wide onto the grass in race one. She suffered slightly bent steering but regrouped and managed to battle her way back up, crossing the line in 14th.
Race two was a struggle, starting P14 on a wet track.
Ashleigh said: “The aim of the game was to bring it home, which we did after skating about for 15 minutes on what felt like ice rather than track.”
Next up for Ashleigh and the team is a trip to Knockhill on July 1.
Paige Bellerby
Congratulations to FUCHS-backed Paige Bellerby who has been named as a winner of the Christopher Ward Challenger award in motor sport.
Image courtesy of Stephen Davison.
