Black / Gilbey consolidate FUCHS Lubricants 1400 lead after Plains rally
Black / Gilbey consolidate FUCHS Lubricants 1400 lead after Plains rally
Callum Black and co-driver Michael Gilbey were in top form on Saturday’s Mid-Wales Plains rally as they eased to another class win in the FUCHS Lubricants 1400 Rally Challenge.
The crew held a narrow lead going into the third (of the five) stages that comprised the rally, but in Dyfnant 2 they really put the hammer down, and took a decent 23 seconds off their nearest pursuer Chris Powell / Jim Lewis (Talbot Sunbeam) and then kept a steady pace to the finish line and another class win.
Finishing third on the event was the crew of Steve Black / Paul Morris (Suzuki Swift).
Naylor nabs top ten spot on Plains rally
FUCHS backed crew Pat Naylor / Ian Lawrence (Mitsubishi Evo 9) bagged another top 10 finish (out of 119 starters) on last weekend’s Plains rally.
The crew made their customary sensible approach to the first two stages, giving them seventh overall, then let rip on the 12 miles of Dyfnant 2 to post a time that saw them leap to fourth overall.
They held that position on stage four, but then dropped a mere handful of seconds on the short final stage of Llangower to take seventh overall and second in class.
Joel joy short lived on Plains rally
Ian Joel / Graeme Wood (Ford Escort Cosworth) made a confident start on the Plains rally, setting seventh best time on the opening Dyfnant stage, but on stage two (Aberhinant) a sequence of ‘Right three long into Right six tightens’ spelled disaster as the front nearside wheel dug in on the tightening right and shot the car and crew into the boonies. Crew and car were unhurt, but they ended their day waiting for the recovery unit to winch them out of the trees.
FUCHS Lubricants Classic Mini Challenge - Manx rally is happy hunting ground for Rick Ford
The FUCHS LUBRICANTS Classic Mini Challenge moved offshore for its next two rounds, the Masterpixel Manx National Rally.
Round four was the 64.4 mile Friday night leg consisting of two runs over the four classic stages of Druidale, Cronk, Starvey and Baldwins then round five was the 68.6mile Saturday leg of the rally consisting of a double run over four more classic stages - Keristal, St Marks, Round Table and Balladhoole. Sadly, Jim Bindle and Sam Bould were sidelined for these two rounds with a back injury, but sportingly came to the Island to support the others and service.
Rick Ford and co-driver Neil MacDonald were fastest on the first stage, but struggled to maintain this pace in the twisty lanes to the north of the island, with Martin Melling and Lewis Griffiths showing the benefits of the driver’s previous experience on the Manx lanes.
On SS2 Melling took the lead of the championship runners, which he maintained until master switch gremlins lost him over two mins in the dark on the second run at Druidale, which relegated him to second and allowed Ford to clinch round four.
With bright blue skies and sunshine on Saturday morning for round five, Ford showed Melling a clean pair of heels and led the Mini field from start to finish, and took maximum points.
CA1 Sport gears up for Scottish rally
After supporting Steven Petch / Michael Wilkinson (Ford Fiesta WRC) to a fine second overall on the Plains rally last Saturday, Martin Wilkinson and his crew from FUCHS supported rally team CA1 Sport are heading north this coming weekend for the Dumfries & Galloway Scottish rally.
David Bogie (Skoda Fabia R5) is hoping that a return to the stages in the south west of the country will be to his benefit in the Scottish Rally Championship.
Full details of the event can be found at http://www.scottishrally.co.uk/
A Sharp opening performance at Silverstone
Sharp Motorsport started their Tegiwa Type R Trophy campaign at Silverstone on the national layout.
Testing went well for Arron Sharp and that followed through into qualifying with a solid P6 starting place for both races.
Race one saw a good start and Arron gained places up to third position. But a few laps in Arron started to struggle with understeer in slow corners resulting in him dropping back down to fourth place across the line. Unfortunately, due to the understeer issues, a five second penalty was given for exceeding track limits.
It was another good start in race two with Arron progressing from sixth to fourth in the opening lap, moving up to third the lap after.
The rain arrived mid race, making the circuit very treacherous whilst on a dry set up which proved tricky for all the drivers, but Arron managed to finish in third position claiming his first Type R Trophy podium at round one.
Ding-dong battle for Adss
Adss Endurance Racing enjoyed a podium finish in round three of the No Limits Racing NLR Endurance Championship at Anglesey Coastal Circuit.
Qualifying did not go well for the team with a disappointing P9.
The race start was delayed after a rider fell off on the sighting lap. When the flag did drop Adss got off to blinder of a start and into P5.
The team progressed to P4 and then set about trying to hang on to Andy Booth in the Fast Bikes team. He opened the door slightly…and through Adss went into P3.
An exciting battle commenced between Adss and Team GB – and Adss took the bragging rights with P3 at the line.
It was then highlighted that the team in second were in the “Club 1000” class and therefore Adss were P2 in class.
New partnership for Extreme Mountainbike Show
The Extreme Mountainbike Show, which has been backed by FUCHS Silkolene for many years, has announced that they are now officially partnered with HSBC and British Cycling to provide the entertainment at the UK’s largest cycling public events.
Well done!
Ashleigh impressed in Knockhill
Following on from a mixed first race weekend in April for Ashleigh Morris Racing, it was time to head back to Knockhill Racing Circuit for rounds four, five and six of the Celtic Speed Scottish MINI Cooper Cup. This time it was the anti-clockwise direction on the circuit.
The car had been heavily damaged at the previous meeting but following some hard graft and a few hours in the garage plus a complete livery change, the car looked ready.
Having qualified in 15th, Ashleigh set her sights on securing as many points as possible in the Ladies Cup.
And Ashleigh performed well with finishing positions of 15th, 15thand 11th.
In race two, Ashleigh set her quickest lap time in the reverse direction and race three saw an epic battle with Ian Walsh and Adam Morrison over 10th, 11th and 12th with Adam coming out ahead over the line.
More importantly, Asheligh came away with three Ladies Cup wins and closed the gap to Fee in the championship.
It’s now onto Kirkistown Circuit in Ireland for the next round.
BTCC returns
Ciceley Motorsport and Adam Morgan return to BTCC action this week as the championship heads to Thruxton.
Morgan – currently sitting ninth in the championship – has had success at Thruxton in the past and will be hoping for more of the same on Saturday and Sunday.
