NORTH OF ENGLAND TARMACADAM RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP

ANNUAL AWARDS PRESENTATION

The final event of the 2008 championship is the annual awards presentation.
This year's awards night will be very similar to last year in that it will follow a familiar format and be held at the same place.

The place is The Grange Club in Chester le Street

and date is Wednesday 19^th November

We hope to start at 8:30 pm.

A reminder for everyone on how to find the venue; the postal address, is Pelaw Grange Stadium, Drum Road, Chester le Street, Co Durham; if you're relying on a satellite navigation system - the post code is DH3 2AF and for all the navigators out there you'll be able to find it on OS map 88, the reference is 271537.

As well as handing out the awards to the lucky winners, there will be the usual excellent hot buffet, a free raffle, the chance to catch up with everyone over a drink and the guest speaker will be the 2008 Mitsubishi Ralliart Evolution Challenge Champion - David Bogie. We'll also hope to have some news of the 2009 series available.

Congratulations to all the award winners, we look forward to seeing you all on the 19^th. Everyone will be welcome so bring your friends along to enjoy what should be a cracking night.

Bob Grant - Hat Trick Hero

The Legend Returns. After missing the last couple of events, John Stone returned from America to take 3^rd overall in his MG Metro 6R4 and top points scorer in our championship on the Pendragon Stages. Based in Penrith, the event utilised the tarmac roads of Warcop Ranges and Lowther Park to provide 68 miles of competition.

And it wasn't just the jet lag that John had to overcome on the rally; there was also a day long battle with Andy Fenwick and Lee Tindall making their long awaited return to the series. The first couple of runs through Warcop were made tricky by the intermittent drizzle but the Skoda crew managed to pull out a 26 second advantage. The next 10 stages were nip and tuck as the roads dried out and yet the guys were rarely separated by a few seconds but John, accompanied as usual by Lee Carter, could only claw back 6 seconds to go into the last Warcop session 20 seconds in arrears. A huge push was needed and the boys gave it everything. Unfortunately, Andy and Lee were to suffer a huge spin that not only badly damaged the off side sill / door, but lost them precious seconds. Unaware of this drama, the Metro crew posted top times to grab the laurels by 27 seconds.

Another pairing not seen out since February was Solway's David Hardie and John McCulloch in a Subaru Impreza. After a rather slow start on the first couple of stages, they picked up their speed to end up just over a minute further back in 3^rd. Behind them was Vauxhall Astra of Richard and Edwin Cook from West Cumbria before the father and son pairing of Barry and Michael Lindsay in their pocket rocket - the Peugeot 106.

Bob Grant and Pete Carstairs and a bit of an off day and were to end up behind the Lindsays but just ahead of Keith Taylor / Steven Rogers. Some of the fancied runners who didn't make it back to the finish included John Rintoul whose Mitsubishi never made it to the end of Lowther; Barry Renwick in his WRC Subaru got a little further before parking up at the end of the second visit to Warcop - engine temperature causing concerns; Graham Clark who managed to get out of the penultimate stage but gearbox problems meant he couldn't make it to the start of the final test. And finally, Tim Finch whose problems were on the start line of the very first stage when a rear diff / shaft broke.

So with just one event remaining, the leading three drivers are Bob Grant followed by John Stone just 6 points adrift and then Brett Mitton. The co-driver's table shows Pete Carstairs is still out ahead of Lee Carter by a similar margin while Steven Rogers stays in 3^rd overall. However, there are two definite winners in the classes as Alastair Kendal can't be caught in the up to 1600cc class for drivers while Brett Mitton is confirmed as the top driver in class 3, Surprisingly, every other class award goes down to the wire and will be settled after the final round.

Thanks for another successful Pendragon Stages jointly organised by three motor clubs - Eden Valley, Kirkby Lonsdale and Northallerton. This hugely popular event was well over-subscribed but the organisers managed to find room for a few more than the original 105 planned crews.

The final round of the championship is the Cheviot / Keith Knox Stages and this is on Sunday 19^th October - make sure that you get you entry in or be there to see if Bob Grant and Pete Carstairs can fend off John Stone and Lee Carter for outright victory and not forgetting all the remaining class awards be fought out.

It was John and Jim Rintoul's turn to take a maximum score on the latest round - Dunfermline Car Club's Festival Stages. After a lean year picking up points, the Scottish brothers managed a good clean run in their Mitsubishi Evo 6 to emerge as our winners. They were quick out of the blocks and led the event for the first 3 stages but had to settle for second overall on the day. Behind them was the reliable Subaru Impreza of Bob Grant and Pete Carstairs who kept the Rintouls honest all day. The 2 crews were never more than 7 seconds apart on each stage but as Bob only managed to beat John on 2 stages it was the Mitsubishi crew that ended up 24 seconds ahead after 8 stages. Next up and taking a fine 6^th overall were Graham Clark and Amy MacKinnon in their consistent Subaru Impreza. Following them were Keith Taylor and Steven Rogers - it was good to see the boys out again after a 5 month absence. They were learning their new mount, a Subaru Impreza as used by John Marshall last year, and by the end of the day were setting top 6 times.

Photograph courtesy - AML Photography

Brett Mitton's day was fraught and niggling problems meant he ended up outside the top 10. His Ford Escort suffered from gearbox problems and a heavy landing over the infamous yump in the afternoon's flying finish. The hard charging Gordon Winning and Robin Laird suffered even more and had to settle for a place just inside the top 20. The Alnwick crew were flying all day but lost over 2 minutes on the second stage with a huge slide at the first merge when contending with a slower competitor. They ran out of road after a huge 100 yard moment that took out a bit of metal stage furniture and although no one was hurt the car looked a tad the worse for wear. Retirements were David Thirwell and Dean Grabham with a blown engine and Graeme Sherry / Peter Weall with driveshaft problems.

So after the 7^th round of the Tyrespot Championship, we now have new leaders in Bob Grant and Pete Carstairs with season long leaders John Stone and Lee Carter dropping back into second overall in their respective sections. Chris Wise didn't make the latest round and is now pushed down from 3^rd to 6^th as Brett Mitton ( now 3^rd), Graham Clark ( now 4^th ) and Keith Taylor ( now 5^th ) all moved up. In the co-driver's division, Steven Rogers stays in 3^rd overall but Amy MacKinnon leapfrogs Tracey Taylor West into 4^th and is now just 3 points behind Steven.

The big winners in the class 1 were Tracey Louise and Garry Muir who move up to 3^rd and 1^st respectively, while in the up to 1600cc class, Alastair Kendal extended his lead and his codriver Paul Banks joins him at the top of his section. There are no changes in class 3 but Gordon Winning and Robert Laird go back to leading class 4 and the big class of over 2401cc is now headed by Bob Grant and Pete Carstairs

Congratulations and thanks must go once again to everyone at Dunfermline Car Club for putting this event together at such short notice after the cancellation of the Turnbull Trophy - as ever it was organised and run to their usual high standard. The next event will be the Pendragon Stages on August Bank Holiday Sunday and has over 100 entries received already.

QUALIFYING ROUNDS

Round 9 of the championship was the proposed Lindisfarne Rally but unfortunately the Army have lots of activities going on now in and around Otterburn in the near future and have withdrawn access for 21^st September. Although alternative dates were considered by both parties, for a variety of reasons it has not been possible to acquire all the necessary resources at the right time and the event has been cancelled. It's not been a good year for Tynemouth Motor Club as their efforts to run 2 events on military venues have both been thwarted. Therefore the Championship Committee have decided to reduce the number of counting rounds so now "Competitors best scores on seven rounds will count" - see article 3 of the 2008 championship regulations.

You'll be aware that the final round is the Cheviot / Keith Knox Stages and this is scheduled to use the Otterburn Military Ranges for it's venue. At the time of writing, it is understood that there is no threat to this event running but we will continue to monitor the situation as any change in Army plans could force cancellation / re-scheduling of the rally.

On a glorious June summer's day down at Weeton, it was time for Bob Grant to return to the winners circle once again. It was 12 months ago that Bob won this event and he hasn't managed to score maximum points since but it all came good again around the tight and twisty roads of this Army Camp. Although Bob and his co driver, Pete Carstairs, have been consistently scoring well since missing the opening events at Croft, it was to be a time for big celebrations again in Lancashire.

Although the Subaru pair were quick all day, they had to concede the fastest on the day's first stage to the Metro 6R4 of Chris Wise and Tracey Taylor-West who were 2 seconds quicker. But it all went wrong for the Ripon crew on the next stage. Whilst on the second lap of the stage, they came up behind another crew on their first lap and although the Metro managed to squeeze past going into a tight 90 right, they were off line and 'out of shape' and all the dramas occurred around the corner. It's believed that one of the infamous 'kerbs' hiding in the undergrowth was struck and this led to the rear hub giving way. The resultant pendulum effect raised the Metro's front corner and the hard charging car that had just been overtaken was under the front end of the 6R4 immediately. Both crews involved were able to walk away from their damaged vehicles to fight another day - by all accounts it appears to have been a 'racing accident'.

The reliable Subaru of Grant and Carstairs were then able to cruise to an untroubled victory, 2 minutes and 11 seconds ahead of Brett Mitton in his Ford Escort. The Wigton man's multi sponsored Mark 2 was to take a super second overall - his best finish of the year. And our third placed finishers would be Malcolm Davey / Paul Slingsby in a Ford Escort. From a lowly start number of 36, the Berwick crew in the immaculate, blue Mark 1 would fight their way up to finish a fantastic 9^th overall. Notable retirements included Martin Farrar / Andrew Ward in the MG ZR, Darren Doughty / Peter Grant with diff problems in their Impreza and Pete and 'Jack' Gibson' in their Nova.

So after round 6 of the Tyrespot championship we now see Bob Grant and Pete Carstairs move into second overall in their respective divisions with Brett Mitton jumping from 7^th to 4^th in the driver's section. In the classes, the big movers on the up were Chris Dodds and Yolandie Walsh in the up to 1400ccs, while in the up to 2400cc classes, the new leaders are the Escort crew from Whickham - David Thirwell and Dean Grabam.

A big thank you goes to Blackpool South Shore MC for a slick, well run event and with cracking weather thrown in too. As we've already mentioned in earlier bulletins, the next round of the championship will be the DCC Festival Stages at Ingliston on Sunday 27^th July 2008. This new rally is a round of 4 championships now so demand for entries is expected to be very high - in fact the organisers have received 15 entries within the first week since entries opened. Dunfermline Car Club are also offering competitors the opportunity to camp overnight at the Royal Highland Showground so if you're interested, contact the organisers soon.

Further details are emerging about the replacement for the cancelled Turnbull Trophy Rally. Dunfermline Car Club will run the rally and it will be known as the 'DCC Festival Stages'. This event will take place on Sunday 27^th July 2008 at the Royal Highland Showground at Ingliston. This is the same date as Tynemouth Motor Club were going to run their event.

The Dunfermline organising team have been putting the final touches to their preparations and have just released the regulations. They are offering 10 stages covering almost 40 miles with 100% Tarmacadam, there's no usage of the public highway and the link sections between stages and service are minimal. As usual there will be no access for spectators wanting to watch at the venue.

If you're considering doing this event, get your entry in straight away !

The next round of the championship at Weeton Camp on Sunday 8th June has been oversubscribed for 2 weeks before the event runs. The DCC Festival Stages will be a round of 4 championships now so demand for entries is expected to be very high. The onus is on competitors to get their entry in quickly to avoid disappointment.

The Championship co-ordinator has been in touch with registered contenders by e-mail so if you haven't received an e-mail yet or are interested in competing and want to know more, contact George Tindall at georgetindall45@talktalk.net or 01661 833596.

Unfortunately, Tynemouth Motor Club, the organisers of The Turnbull Trophy have informed us that they have not been able to obtain the use of Albemarle Barracks for their event this year. The MoD has various military commitments at the moment and will not sanction the use of the venue for the rally. This is a real blow as last year's rally was very well supported and most crews were looking forward to returning this year.

As we know rally venues are extremely difficult to come across but we have been working with Dunfermline Car Club who has managed at very short notice to secure the use of the Royal Highland Showground at Ingliston for an event.

This will run on Sunday 27^th July 2008 and this is the same date as the Turnbull Trophy was planning to use.

As soon as regulations for this event are available the Championship co-ordinator will advise all registered contenders by e-mail.

Don't forget that the next event in this year's championship is the Weeton Camp Stages. This will be organised by Blackpool South Shore Motor Club and will be run on Sunday 8^th June.

It was a welcome return to the championship for Chris Wise and Tracey Taylor-West in their MG Metro 6R4 as they won the Howford Hydraulics Stages Rally.

The venue was the tight confines of the Royal Highland Showground at Ingliston that runs adjacent to Edinburgh Airport where this super venue has lots of short straights and square corners to test the crews over 8 stages and almost 40 miles. And it was a very exciting, close, daylong battle as the top crews were covered by a handful of seconds on every stage. However, once Chris and Tracey got over their slow start, they powered into the lead on stage 3 and were never headed to eventually win by 16 seconds. And it was John and Jim Rintoul who took the second placed spoils ahead of the Subaru pairing of Bob Grant and Pete Carstairs. Although they weren't actually ahead as both crews finished with exactly the same time penalties, the decision went to the brothers in the Mitsubishi Evo 6 as they were the quickest ones over the tie deciding first stage. A small consolation for Bob and Pete was the fact that they would take the award for the longest jump over the yumps at the morning's flying finish !!!

The top 5 crews were rounded off by Graham Clark and Amy MacKinnon in the smart Subaru Impreza ahead of the 'new for the day pairing' of Brett Mitton and Steven Rogers in the Ford Escort Mark 2.

There were few retirements on the event but the 2 to mention are our championship leaders - John Stone and Lee Carter. Although they stopped the clocks quickest on the first stage, the boys weren't happy with a noisy first gear and decided to go no further. Barry Renwick and Ian Bainbridge lasted 1 further stage before they too put their newly acquired Mark 2 Escort into the wagon and headed home early - brake and gear problems being their downfall.

We're halfway through our 10 round championship now and the leader boards show no change at the top of the drivers table with John Stone still ahead from Chris Wise, Bob Grant and Graham Clark very closely matched in second, third and fourth places respectively. Lee Carter still tops the co drivers table but second down to fifth is covered by a mere 4 points by Steven Rogers, Tracey Taylor-West, Pete Carstairs and Amy MacKinnon. There's very little changes at the top of the classes too but the main movers were Alastair Kendal ( Toyota Corolla ) who jumps to the top of class 2; while the Ford Escort pairing from Alnwick of Gordon Winning and Robin Laird take over at the head of class 4 driver's and co drivers respectively.

Thanks must go to Dunfermline Car Club once again for another well run event that ran to time with no problems. There's now a 7 week gap before our next event - the Weeton Camp Stages. This will be organised once again by Blackpool South Shore Motor Club and will be run on Sunday 8^th June.

A bitterly cold Crail Raceway was the location for the 4^th round of this year's championship. Dunfermline Car Club hosted a brand new event for us and what a cracking venue it turned out to be. An old airfield from the WWII era with good tarmac and wide runways mixed with tight chicanes and a few narrow, concrete sections, this was to prove a great challenge for the 20 championship crews who started amongst the 100 strong capacity entry. The weather was dry with bright sunshine, but a strong north easterly wind rushing in off the North Sea made things feel very Arctic with the sub zero temperatures

However, 6 stages and 46 miles after the 8:30 start, there was a familiar outcome. Outright victory for John Stone and Lee Carter in the immaculate MG Metro 6R4 meant maximum points again for the 3^rd time this year. Just over 1 minute behind was Bob Grant / Pete Carstairs in 3rd overall while our next crew was the Subaru Impreza of Graham Clark and Amy McKinnon a further 84 seconds in arrears.

Stage 1 was to be the downfall for some of our leading hopes. The Rintouls were to suffer an oil leak and stopped on the stage. Barry Renwick in his Subaru WRC had electrical problems and took a stage maximum. Martin Elsdon / Iain Rettie would be joint fastest on the stage but never came out of service for the second stage after problems with an oil seal. Keith Davison's Darrian would stop on the stage with engine problems. And finally, George and Jacqueline Bryson also took a stage maximum and didn't appear again.

So the top of the driver's table sees John Stone extend his lead over Keith Taylor and Chris Wise but the real movers were Bob Grant, Graham Clark and Gordon Winning as they move up to 4^th, 5^th and 6^th. Lee Carter still leads Steven Rogers and Tracey Taylor-West in the co-drivers section but it was Amy McKinnon, Pete Carstairs and Robin Laird who made up ground as they jump up to 4^th, 5^th and 6^th respectively.

In the classes there wasn't much change but most of it was in class 2. Alastair Kendall and Paul Banks (Toyota Corolla) jumped up to 2^nd, Stephen Herron with David Blackie in their Peugeot 205 scored well and Andrew Plunkett / Paul Firth in their unusual Honda Civic got off the mark with points on their first event this year. Class 3 leaders are now Brett Mitton and Andrew Mason in their Ford Escort Mark 2 after their fantastic 10^th overall finish on the day.

We'll be back in Scotland in 4 weeks time as Dunfermline Car Club host their Howford Hydraulic Stages on Saturday 19^th April at the Royal Highland Showground, Ingliston.

Another rally and once again we saw top marks go to John Stone and Lee Carter when their MG Metro 6R4 took maximum points on the North West Stages, an event sponsored by John himself. Despite taking a stage maximum on the 6th stage when he went off into some bushes and couldn't find reverse gear to get out, John and Lee drove their hearts out to climb back up the leader board. Eventually they finished 3^rd overall and 3 minutes 15 seconds behind the rally winner - if they hadn't gone off on the Weeton stage they might have won the rally too !

Runner up in the points was our current champion Bob Grant making his long awaiting return to the series. Bob had a steady run to finish 5^th overall and grab a handy set of points. Third on the day and finishing a fine 9^th overall was the rapid, yellow MG ZR of Martin Farrar and Andy Ward.

At the top of the driver's table John extends his lead while Subaru man Keith Taylor moves into second ahead of Chris Wise. It's a similar story in the co-drivers table where Lee Carter leads Steven Rogers and Tracey Taylor-West, There were no changes at the top of all the classes.

This year's event was organised by Motor Sport North West again and was run over 24 stages on a bitterly cold, sunny day where the wind chill factor made it feel incredibly nippy. A lot of the stages were based around Blackpool Promenade, Weeton Camp and Pontins but unlike last year's 2 day event, they were all crammed into 1 long day.

There's a 5 week break now before we head north to a new event in the championship - the Crail Stages. The rally is organised by Dunfermline Car Club and will take place on Easter Saturday, we'll see you all in Scotland on the 22^nd March!

It was to be a case of role reversals for John Stone and Chris Wise when the MG Metro 6R4 drivers returned to Croft for the Jack Frost Stages on Sunday. Just 2 weeks earlier on the Christmas Stages, John had managed to get his 2008 championship off to the best possible start by beating Chris yet this time around, he just couldn't keep up with the local ace. Despite both of them stopping the clocks on the same time for the first stage, Chris was then fastest on every stage to leave John and his regular co-driver Lee Carter trailing by some 24 seconds at the end of the day's 8 stages.

There was also another role reversal, this time for Lee Tindall. Andy Fenwick's regular co-driver managed to swap seats for the day and then get regular spanner man, Simon Hewitt, into the car to keep him on a short rein. So Andy was left to kick his heels, and bite his finger nails no doubt, in the service area as Lee drove his first ever event in the WRC Skoda Octavia - wow what a baptism to rally driving ! But Lee took it all in his stride, had a problem free event to finish a fine 4^th overall and 3^rd in the Tyrespot Championship. He really had a great time and was very glad he could hand the car back to Andy with no damage.

In the classes, Nigel Hepburn with Richard Hortin in the Ford Puma took the up to 1400cc class while Roger Donnan returned to the series again with Stuart Leighton alongside him in another Puma to take class 2. Cumbria's Brett Mitton and Andy Mason drove a fantastic event in a Ford Escort Mark 2 to end up 8^th overall ahead of some much quicker cars - this was more than enough for them to win class 3. And the honours in class 4 fell to yet another Ford Escort, this one being the Tyne Valley pairing of David Thirwell and Dean Grabam. A very successful rally for Ford with 4 class wins.

A special mention for another new crew to the series on the last event - Richard and Edwin Cook. This time out they were driving a Group N Mitsubshi Evo 9 supplied by Steve Petch rather than their usual mount of the Vauxhall Astra. The boys really took to the extra power and 4 wheel drive and showed some brave driving to come home a fantastic 5^th overall.

So at the top of the overall drivers list we have a tie between John Stone and Chris Wise before the Subaru pilot, Keith Taylor. It's a similar situation in the co-driver's tables as Lee Carter and Tracey Taylor-West are both level, while in at third place it's Steve Rodgers.

Well done to Darlington and District Motor Club for a great event and we now have a 5 week break before we head west to Pontins in Blackpool for the North West Stages. This year's rally will just be a 1 day event, rather than the usual 2 day format of previous years, and will run on Saturday 16^th February.

It was a great end to 2007 for John Stone and Lee Carter in their MG Metro 6R4 as they took victory on the Christmas Stages. Northallerton Automobile Club's annual bash around the Croft race circuit was once again held in the traditional slot between Christmas and New Year. This year's event was run in the usual 'mixed weather' - we just had sunshine, driving rain, strong winds and a little bit of coldness !

Finishing second was the local Metro 6R4 crew of Chris Wise / Tracey Taylor-West. Although Chris had some good afternoon runs taking 12 seconds off John, the damage had already been done by lunch-time and Chris and Tracey ended up some 25 seconds adrift.. Third overall in the championship was the Solway pairing of David Hardie and John McCulloch. From a lowly start number of 27, the newcomers to the series set some consistent times to take a fine result.

One of the most pleasing surprises was the number of new winners in the classes. Although Stephen Bethwaite won class 1 again in his Nova, there were new names at the head of class 2 - Berwick's Malcolm Davey and Paul Slingsby in a Ford Escort while in class 3 we saw the Vauxhall Astra of Richard Wormald with Jamie Forest in the hot seat come out top of the pile. In class 4, George and Jacqueline Bryson would take maximum points in yet another variation of Ford's Escort. And finally class 5 would fall to the Morecambe crew of Keith Taylor and Steve Rodgers in another Subaru Impreza.

Thanks to the hard working organisers from NAC for another cracking event to get our 2008 championship off the ground. We expect to see some more crews out from last year soon but there's still no sign of some of the big guns though - maybe they're giving others a head start before trying to catch up. We now look forward to going back (?) to Croft for the Jack Frost Stages on January 13^th.

STOP PRESS

A quick update with some of the vital statistics from this year's Christmas Stages rally before the webmaster goes off in search of some warm sunshine.

John Stone and Lee Carter in their Metro 6R4 take maximum points and win the event too. Second was Chris Wise with Tracey Taylor-West in a similar car just 25 seconds adrift while in third place was David Hardie / John McCulloch in a Subaru Impreza.

Class winners were as follows:-

Class 1 Stephen Bethwaite in his Nova
Class 2 Malcolm Davey / Paul Slingsby in a Ford Escort
Class 3 Richard Wormald with Jamie Forest in their Vauxhall Astra
Class 4 Barry Renwick and Ian Bainbridge in an Escort
Class 5 Keith Taylor / Steve Rodgers in a Subaru Impreza

All the above are provisional until we get a full set of results published.