Weekly Motorsport Round-Up #14

The rally – for cars manufactured before 1985 - started from Malton at 8.30am on Sunday and finished back in Malton some nine hard-fought hours later, with Master crew Paul Crosby and Ryan Pickering winning overall honours in their Porsche 911 with an amazing penalty time of just 17 minutes and 4 seconds.

The day started in the Town Square, where all cars were flagged away by FUCHS LUBRICANTS marketing support coordinator Sue Connor. The action then moved onto two Regularity sections, the first defined by Spot Heights, and the second by Grid Lines, giving the navigators something to get their teeth into, before the drivers had to show their competitive mettle on the following section of five driving tests held on private land.

The competition continued thus throughout the day, interspersing navigational sections with groups of driving tests.

The route went west out of Malton, then after the first ice cream stop, headed back to Kirby Moorside to turn north for more demanding navigation on the well-known and superbly difficult rally roads of the high moors around Rosedale, Farndale and Westerdale, before a brief lunch halt at the stunning Stonebeck Gate Farm.

The afternoon’s competitive tests centred on the Wykeham Abbey Estate (with the permission of Viscountess Lady Downe) after the fifth and sixth regularity and navigation sections through Cropton and Dalby forests.

The event concluded with a final sting in the tale with a couple of water splashes on the regularity sections back to Malton.

Amongst the host of regular championship contenders, Lincolnshire SILKOLENE distributor Pete Dalton took out his immaculately restored Ford Lotus Cortina Mk 2 and was delighted with his third in class M2 award. Pete himself is classed as an Expert driver, but his navigator on the day Paul Bosdet is a Master navigator, so Pete had to take the higher seeded class.

Marketing manager Sally Travis presented the awards at the conclusion of a day which had been well-received by all the competitors.

Elsewhere, FUCHS-backed Stanley Orr picked up the ‘Spirit of the Rally’ award for his performance in the fifth round of the 2017 Mintex MSA British Historic Rally Championship, the ALMC Stages.

Orr, with co-driver Stephen McAuley, has come back into the championship strongly after some early season car problems.

The Northern Irish driver was the leading challenger to BHRC winner Rob Smith by the end of the rally.

It was the championship’s first visit to the Republic of Ireland for at least 15 years and marked the start of a run of four asphalt rallies as the schedule heads into the second half of the season.

It was an unfruitful trip across the water for leading season-long championship contenders Nick Elliott/Dave Price and Jason Pritchard/Phil Clarke, with neither crew managing to finish the rally.

Next up is the Harry Flatters Rally on Epynt on July 30.

FUCHS supported drivers Steve Magson and CA1 Sport’s Jamie Edwards had a less competitive, but no less nerve-wracking, outing last weekend at the prestigious Goodwood Festival of Speed.

Steve was invited to display both of his rally-prepared Mercedes 190, the black car in gravel trim, whilst the white ex-works example was shown in tarmac trim.

Meanwhile, Jamie was kept busy in his Ford Fiesta R5 giving demonstration runs on the rally stage.

FUCHS-backed CA1 Sport now have their work cut out to re-prepare the car for the next round of the British Rally Championship in Wales this coming weekend, the Nicky Grist Stages Rally.

Elsewhere, pocket rocket Freddie Housley is top of the BKC Championship after a fantastic win at Glan Y Gors in Wales on the weekend.

The FUCHS SILKOLENE-backed kart racer recorded the lap record for good measure.

After starting sixth in his first heat, Freddie finished in second place before winning heats two and three from 11th and 15th respectively.

That put him on pole for the final and, after a bad start which saw him slip to fifth, Freddie managed to take the lead after two laps and ended up winning by seven seconds!

There was good news, too, for Ashleigh Morris in The Scottish BMW Championship at Knockhill.

Ashleigh battled hard off the line in race one and came home in P9 before getting off to a flying start in the second race and picking up an eighth place finish.

“To say we needed those results was an understatement,” said Asheligh.

It was an amazing weekend for FUCHS SILKOLENE sensation Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne.

Shakey twice saw off the challenge of Josh Brookes to win both races at Snetterton and climb to second in the championship standings – now just seven points behind Luke Mossey.

Crucially, Shakey is now top of the pile when it comes to podium points having won three of the last five races.

The defending champion is now back in fine form and the disappointing start to the campaign is a distant memory.