Strong showing from FUCHS backed teams
Robinson wins Carlisle Historics
Matthew Robinson and Sam Collis are celebrating after a completing their first BHRC victory.
The duo took top spot in round three of the FUCHS LUBRICANTS MSA British Historic Rally Championship, the ATL Carlisle Stages, on the weekend.
“We’ve been close so many times, so it makes a change,” said Robinson after a very popular win.
Robinson and Collis (Ford Escort Mk2) enjoyed a great battle with the BRM-powered Hillman Avenger of Ieuan Rowlands/Emyr Hall until the Avenger slid into one of Kielder’s notorious ditches on the penultimate stage. Instead, into a superb second place went the Pinto-powered Escort Mk2 of Stuart Egglestone and Brian Hodgson.
Robinson and Collis had double reason to be cheerful after claiming the FUCHS Lubricants ‘Spirit of the Rally’ award.
As well as being the third of eight BHRC rounds, the ATL Carlisle Stages was also the third round of the BHRC Forest Challenge, and the third event for the new BHRC2.
Top of BHRC2 as well as clear winners of class C2 were Robin Shuttleworth and Ronnie Roughead (Ford Escort Mk1) who went clear of husband and wife Stuart and Linda Cariss. Shuttleworth had a great battle with the flying Hillman Avenger of Ken Graham/Rory McCann until a detached brake pipe put Graham out on the long Newcastleton stage.
The Porsche 911 of Rikki Proffitt and Graham Wild claimed Category 1 glory despite a big challenge from the Ford Anglia of Malcolm Rich/Arwel Blainey. The final margin was only 22s after both crews reported excellent road conditions at the head of the field, with the Anglia taking class B3 victory.
Out of luck were the two Lotus Cortinas. Bob Bean and Miles Cartwright were out before the start of the first stage with engine issues, while Paul Mankin and Desmond Bell became more victims to the Kielder ditches in the long Newcastleton stage.
Full event results are here.
FUCHS-backed drivers claim top 10 positions on third round of BTRDA rally Championship
The third round of the BTRDA Championship, the ATL Carlisle Stages, saw two FUCHS-backed drivers finish in the top 10 of the event.
Pat Naylor in his Group N Misubishi Evo 9, together with regular co-driver Ian Lawrence, enjoyed their run to fourth overall (from 80 starters) in spite of losing the sump guard on the third stage and having to make running repairs (involving a wooden jack stand and a big hammer) at service before heading out to take on the daunting 14 miles of Kershope.
At this stage the pair thought they’d lost all hope of a good result, but, as they were driving through the stage, the heavens opened in a down-pour of biblical proportions. The resulting carnage in the Kielder ditches rewrote the script for Naylor, as his canny drive on the final stages (notwithstanding a broken brake hose) saw him take the class N4 win, as well as a fine fourth overall.
Also finishing in the top 10 was the Ford Escort Cosworth-shod crew of Ian Joel / Graeme Wood in spite of a scare of the fourth stage when the cockpit filled with smoke. As all the gauges were showing normal, the pair continued to the end of the stage, where they discovered the problem had been a flattened and split exhaust burning the paint on the floor of the car.
They finished in style with a third fastest time on the final stage, and were delighted with their placing of sixth overall and a well-deserved class win.
FUCHS-supported crew Kevin Franks/ Craig Walley in Kevin’s two-wheel drive, normally-aspirated, Ford Escort Cosworth competed on the Keith Frecker Memorial Stages Rally at Weeton Barracks on Sunday. The major problems reported by Kevin were extreme heat, and dust on the fast tarmac military roads. The pair were pleased with their 12th overall and second in class final placing after a relatively hassle free run at the ten stages.
CA1 Sport triumph at Rally Wervik
Rhys Yates and co-driver Elliott Edmondson battled to a fine continental win in their Skoda Fabia R5 on Rally Wervik in Belgium at the weekend. The weather was as good in Belgium as it was in Britain, which led to a hassle-free day for Yates-Edmondson in the CA1 Sport-run Skoda.
Afterwards, a clearly delighted Yates said: “Totally awesome day in the Fabia to take my biggest victory to date to WIN Rally Van Wervik by over 40 seconds to the next place man.
Faultless performance by everyone, can't thank everyone enough for their support and a perfect Prestone MSA British Rally Championship warm up for Ypres Rally.”
Also competing as a warm-up for the next British Championship round at Rallye Ypres in two weeks’ time was David Bogie with John Rowan on the notes. This was David’s first event on tarmac since his accident on the Ypres rally last year. They were pleased with their seventh overall, as they had spent the day experimenting with different settings on the electronics ready for Ypres.
Brown / Stringer return to Belgium
Steve Brown secured another solid finish for his newly-developed Nissan Micra Kit Car last weekend, taking eighth in class 3F and valuable championship points at Rally van Wervik in Belgium.
The Rochdale driver made the trip across the English Channel to contest the Flanders International Rally Challenge (FIRC) qualifier in only the second event for the crowd-pleasing machine this season.
With the aim firmly to gain a foothold on the scoreboard after a faltered start in the series, Brown duly delivered and brought the Micra home fourth in the two wheel drive standings to finally get his assault underway. He was partnered by regular co-driver Paul Stringer for the event.
As the stages passed, Brown’s confidence increased and after the opening loop, began to creep inside the top 10 class positions. Filled with more powerful and modern R2 specification cars, the class would be one of the most hotly contested in the event, but Brown kept his cool to finish in eighth from an original 21 starters.
Morgan extinguishes Oulton Park demons
Adam Morgan added to his points tally in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship at Oulton Park, Cheshire, highlighted by a stirring drive in the final race.
Adam’s Ciceley Motorsport Mercedes-Benz A-Class headed to the Cheshire circuit laden with 75 kilos of success ballast as the championship leader.
That was always going to hurt Adam on the hilly circuit but, after qualifying in 19th, the Lancashire driver managed a P18, P11 and P5 to put him joint second in the overall standings.
Ciceley Motorsport’s Tom Oliphant endured another difficult weekend. Tom qualified a fantastic 10thIn race one on the tight and twisty undulating Oulton Park but was pushed onto the grass and came home in 20th position.
Tom made up seven places in race two to finish in a creditable 13th, before a huge start-line incident damaged his car and put him out of the final race.
Andrew Irwin To Ride Be Wiser Ducati
Ulsterman Andrew Irwin will join elder brother Glenn in the FUCHS Silkolene-backed Be Wiser Ducati British Superbike Championship Team - starting with round four at Snetterton this weekend.
It follows the unfortunate accident which befell six times and reigning Bennetts BSB champion Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne at the official BSB test at Snetterton last month, which left the Londoner with a number of serious injuries and means he will be out of action for the foreseeable future.
As a result, team owner Paul Bird has recruited 23-year-old Irwin from Carrickfergus, who has won at British Supersport Championship level and this year has been contesting the World Supersport Championship with a best result of tenth at Donington Park last month.
Also in action this weekend wearing FUCHS Silkolene on their leathers are championship leader Leon Haslam and BMW Smith Racing’s Peter Hickman.
Murray Motorsport
Gavin Murray, of Murray Motorsport, finished fourth overall in the National Hot Rods English Points Championship.
Gavin elected not to compete in the final round of the competition in Aldershot on the weekend to give the team more time to prepare the car for the Thunder 500 on June 24 at Foxhall Stadium.
Gavin will be pleased to finish a solid season, with plenty to build on for the 2018/19 campaign.
Oxford Brookes Racing
This season marks a shift in philosophy for OBR, with a new approach to the design and development of the car. This week, students unveiled OBR18, a new car built for the new race season. The team will be competing both at Formula Student UK and at Formula Student Austria this season.
OBR is comprised of Engineering, Business and English students, all the way from Foundation up to Master's at Oxford Brookes University. OBR are positioned in the heart of the UK's motorsport valley, with an alumni working in every Formula 1 team.
And finally…
There was plenty of cheer for Holden Racing at MSVR American Speedfest VI at Brands Hatch last weekend.
The FUCHS-backed team picked up two wins in the SpeedFest Saloons category through Alex Sidwell in the Holden Commodore 5000.
