Round-Up News: Calendars Announced
Drew takes her first podium of 2020 on the Jack Frost rally
FUCHS sponsored Drew Bellerby started off 2020 in the same way as she finished 2019 – with a podium place!
She was co-driving for Dave Ellis in his newly-prepared BMW Mini on the Jack Frost Stages Rally held at Croft Circuit, near Darlington, on Sunday February 2.
The day started wet and chilly, but brightened up during the day, as the pair battled the car as well as the elements.
However, their calculated, sensible approach to the stages (notwithstanding a close encounter with a half-ton hay bale, and a failure in the gear linkage as they headed out to the last of the seven stages) paid dividends as they gradually moved up the order from a starting position of 68 to finish 15th overall and collected the award for third in class 4.
FUCHS Lubricants Motorsport UK British Historic Rally Championship – news and calendar
The 2020 calendar for the FUCHS LUBRICANTS Motorsport UK British Historic Rally Championship has been unveiled.
The schedule, which grows from seven rounds in 2019 to eight events in 2020, takes in five gravel events and three asphalt events, including two major closed-road rallies.
New to the schedule is the Jim Clark Rally in May, which returns to the calendar after a break and offers outstanding closed-road stages in the Scottish borders.
The season starts in the forests of Wales with Rally North Wales and takes in other gravel rallies in Yorkshire, South Wales and Kielder.
To spread the calendar out a little, the Carlisle Stages moves to a new date in late October to become the final round of the season.
The BHRC returns to the challenging Ulster Rally in August and takes in the Harry Flatters Rally on Epynt as the asphalt element of the season grows.
The Kielder Forest Rally, which replaces the former Pirelli Rally, will run in late April in the North Tyne Valley, while the hugely popular Red Kite Stages will take crews into the renowned forest stages in South Wales. The popular Trackrod Rally will offer a late summer trip to the famous Yorkshire forest stages.
Meanwhile, the 2019 winners were crowned during a lively nigh tin Chesterfield on the weekend.
2020 BHRC Calendar:
Saturday March 28th, Rally North Wales
Saturday April 25th, Kielder Forest Rally
Friday/Saturday May 29th/30th, Jim Clark Rally
Sunday June 14th, Red Kite Stages
Sunday July 26th, Harry Flatters Rally
Saturday August 22nd, Ulster Rally
Friday/Saturday September 25th/26th, Trackrod Rally
Saturday October 24th, Carlisle Stages
FUCHS Lubricants to sponsor Bronze Star 1400 classes on BTRDA rally championship – calendar
FUCHS Lubricants will again sponsor the Bronze Star section of the BTRDA championship, taking in seven varied and geographically diverse venues throughout Britain.
The season begins next week, not only for the 1400 drivers, but also for two FUCHS backed drivers in the Silver Star competition.
Ian Joel will take the start for the 65th running of the Cambrian Rally with regular co-driver Graeme Wood in the Ford Escort Cosworth (no major rebuilds or upgrades over the winter recess, according to Ian - just a good ‘fettle’) and they’re both looking forward to the new season, particularly the mid-season visit to the Scottish Borders.
Also raring to go again this season is Pat Naylor in his very tidy Mitsubishi Evo 9. Pat was pipped to the group N title last year after an uncharacteristic mechanical failure on the last event of the year, so he’s hoping to get off to a good start this coming weekend.
Further information at https://www.btrdarally.com/
Cambrian Rally - 8th February North Wales
Malcolm Wilson Rally - 14th March Lake District
Rallynuts Stages Rally - 18th April Mid Wales
75th Scottish Rally - 6th June Lockerbie/Scottish Borders
Nicky Grist Stages - 11th July Mid Wales
Eventsigns Woodpecker Stages - 5th September Shropshire/Welsh Borders
Trackrod Forest Stages - 26th September North Yorkshire
Steve Brown returns to rally roots for 2020 - calendar
Rochdale’s Steve Brown has decided to return to his Belgian rally roots for the 2020 season. His Nissan Micra is fully prepared and ready to go. Last week Steve said: “I really enjoyed my foray into a different discipline with rallycross with Bellerby RX last year, and it definitely improved my handling skills and car control, so I’m looking forward to getting back out on the stages at Ralli Salamandre in April.”
Steve will receive support from FUCHS Lubricants in 2020.
Flanders International Rally Challenge - calendar
Rallye Salamandre: 18/19 April
Monteberg Rally: 2/3 May
ORC Canal Rally: 30/31 May
Wervik Rally: 12/13 June (Friday & Saturday!)
Les Boucles Chevrotines: 8/9 August
Hemicuda Rally: 24/25 October
Rally Kortrijk: 21/22 November
More information at http://firc.be/index.php/en/
Paige rebuilds rallycross Lotus ready for new challenges
Paige Bellerby told us: “Firstly I’m very excited with the new challenges for 2020 in both Rallycross and other motorsports.
“Rallycross car preparations are well and truly underway. I stripped to whole car down to its chassis ready for winter repairs/modifications when I was home over Christmas now Kev is working hard to fix the gearbox and complete the new engines as we now have most of the bits we need to finish it off. Dad is also trying to find some stronger, more suitable drive shafts to withstand the power we are putting out now and as soon as able I will have it put back together and running.
“Prior to the Rallycross season I plan to put the old engine back in the Lotus and take it to the army sports car racing team trials. The car as it is wouldn’t be able to compete in the season for reasons such as size of fuel tank, not having an oil cooler in the engine etc.
“However, something else I’m looking at for this year is to maybe try and get these changes made that we would need to do the odd round as and when it suited us , which would be good for testing.
“On top of all of that I have the army karting team trials to attend on 13th February at the Clay Pigeon circuit where they are setting up an all-female kart to compete in the armed forces karting championship. Karting is something I have only dabbled with on and off for fun over the years but I’m looking forward to this challenge also.”
Areanacross excitement in Birmingham
Europe’s finest Indoor Motocross talent entertained a lively crowd in Birmingham for round four of the 2020 Arenacross Tour.
German ace, Brian HSU (Fro Systems) once again rode a stunning race to take the top step of the podium.
Triple AX Champion Thomas Ramette (Offset CBD Yamaha) was second, never less than half a second behind throughout the entire Super Final Main Event.
2014 AX Champion Fabian Izoird (Shocktech Kawasaki) took a stunning third place, passing 450 Pro Class championship leader Charles Lefrancois and Australian Dan Reardon in the process.
GB Speedway off to sunny Scotland
The FUCHS Silkolene-backed GB Speedway Team is delighted to be heading to Glasgow for the Allied-Mobility Great Britain Vs Rest of the World Test Match on Saturday April 18th.
Ticket information will be revealed from Glasgow Tigers Speedway in the coming weeks.
