C H A M P I O N S H I P N E W S L E T T E R N O 9 - 2 0 1 4

AND THEN THERE WERE TWO!...

Maintaining its recent tradition of not divulging the names of its winners until the last possible moment, the REIS BTRDA Gold Star® Rally Championship came away from its penultimate round, the Trackrod

Forest Stages, having narrowed the options down to just two potential victors....

It’s been an interesting season throughout, with consistency putting a Group N car (the Lancer of Russ Thompson/Andy Murphy) at the top of the Gold Star table for a while and then, more recently, the Escort MkII of Matthew Robinson/Sam Collis has occupied that exalted spot. However, the latter crew must now be content with both the BTRDA Silver Star® title (Robinson’s third on the bounce) and the BTRDA Historic Cup whilst

Paul Bird

the battle for Gold Star honours moves into its own end-game.The Trackrod Forest Stages, reintroduced into the BTRDA Rally Series calendar in 2013, carried the hopes of several crews each in with a shout of succeeding Euan Thorburn/Paul Beaton to the coveted Gold Star crown. However, as is always the way, by the end of the day, the net had tightened such that all but Steve Perez/Paul Spooner and Paul Bird/Aled Davies had been eliminated from the race. That’s not to say they can’t finish in a podium spot, but ultimate glory is now, unfortunately, beyond them - for this season at least.

Five classic stages on the North York Moors lay in wait for all the contenders and FTD on the opener, Langdale, put Perez/Spooner into a lead they weren’t about to relinquish. OK - Bird spun and stopped the clocks 9 seconds slower than Perez but, even with fastest times on each of the last three stages which brought the deficit down to an eventual 3.4s, the Cumbrian was unable to make up for his early error. It does however bode well for what a feast of high speed driving we are in for on the final round.

So, 1st & 2nd went to Focus WRCs, while 3rd place was claimed by the only other crew to set a fastest time during the day, Dave Weston Jnr/Kirsty Riddick in their Impreza WRC. Next up were last year’s Trackrod winners Stephen Petch/Ian Windress in their Fiesta R5+ - they finished half a minute behind the leaders and, although untroubled, couldn’t quite match the pace of the WRC cars on the super-fast Yorkshire stages.

The only other crew to travel to Pickering with a chance of the title, Luke Francis/John H Roberts, were down in 9th after a costly spin and three-point turn on the opening stage but then, having risen as high as 5th after Gale Rigg, disappeared off the radar altogether in Staindale - a result which tells its own story....

A quick analysis of the points table - otherwise we’ll be here all day! - shows Petch leading, but he already has six scores and can,. therefore, only improve on those already on the board (in his case, a 22 on the Plains). If Bird, who only has five, finishes the Cambrian in the top couple of places, no matter what Perez does, the title will be his. The permutations from then on are endless...

Ahead of the last round, Petch is five points adrift of Perez but, with a lowest score of 26, even a win in North Wales wouldn’t be quite enough. Weston, meanwhile, could equal Perez’ current score, but would lose out on the number of maximums - which brings us back to Bird v Perez!

The aforementioned Thompson/Murphy won the Group N battle to take their second maximum of the season. They headed the similar EVO9s of Tom Naughton/Andi Mort and Pat Naylor/Ian Lawrence to the finish but, although current kings of the Production Cup castle, could still be caught - and passed - by Naughton/Mort on the Cambrian.

Watch this space - or better still, if you can’t be in L l andudno in pe r son , keep an eye on www.btrdarally.com on 18th October as the Cambrian Rally unfolds and the answers to all the burning questions become available.

David Weston Jnr

Russ Thompson

As the saying goes “if at first you don’t succeed, try, try ....” yes well you know how it goes. Nevertheless the adage fits very well into the final outcome of the Silver Star section of the Trackrod Forestry Stages when the crews met up in Yorkshire for the penultimate round. Champion Matthew Robinson had opted out of scoring on his local event, choosing instead to join the RAC Historic section of the event, so the space was open for a different competitor to finally get a maximum set of points.

Jody Bowcott and David Millard led the category away hoping to close the gap on the absent B11 class leader Jon Ballinger. Also hoping for the same outcome were Nick Dobson and Steve Pugh, but more importantly they had the chance of moving into second spot in the title race, behind Robinson, which the maximum points would give them. Following Bowcott on the road were Kit and Tim Leigh whose year in the Ford Fiesta R200 has been exceptionally t r y i n g a s f o u r s u c c e s s i v e retirements at the start of the

year, including one just 100 metres f r o m t h e f i n a l control, had then been followed by two 14ths places. Whilst not ideal results, based on t h e i r h i g h standards, they had at least broken the jinx and hopes that better times were on the way.

Bowcott started out well on the first 10.5 mile Langdale stage by taking a 6 sec lead over Nick

Dobson. For Leigh and Leigh it was also a good start taking third, 24 secs behind the leader in their B10 Fiesta. However for Simon Dalton/Steve Turvey in their alternative N3 Fiesta the first stage was a disaster. After retiring on the last stage on the Woodpecker, when in the class lead, a stoppage on the first stage did nothing to make their long journey to the event on Saturday morning feel any better and sadly they were making their return far too soon. David Dobson was fourth and the first Historic car but were 43 secs off the lead.

SILVER STAR - GOOD THINGS COME TO THOSE WHO WAIT

Kit Leigh

Tony Simpson

On Gale Rigg [Stage 2] Bowcott extended his lead even further but not over Dobson and Pugh who had slid off the road. Although not a serious off the lack of manpower around meant they couldn’t get moving again but eventually more bodies arrived and they got the car back on the track but by then they were OTL. This however was good news for the Leigh’s who moved up to second and for the brother of Nick, David Dobson third place was now his. Gale Rigg also saw the end for both Alan Abbey/Jane Robbins and Tony Cawthorne/Chris Pattison as the driveshaft on Abbeys’ Ford Puma gave up the on the strain and Cawthorne sustained radiator damage.

Sadly for Bowcott/Millard their fine run, and a possible explanation for their speed, came to an end on the third stage when lack of brakes meant that they had to park their Ford Escort up in Cropton. However things were looking much better for David Dobson who with co-driver Phil Sandham, had really started to move and had jumped over the Leigh’s to lead Silver Star by 13 secs. Moving into third were Tony Simpson and Ian Bevan, 24 secs down on the lead. However fastest stage time went to James Hutchings whose day had literally gone from the ridiculous to the sublime. After breaking a driveshaft on the first stage he had to drive for over 5 miles and then struggled to get back to service, loosing nearly 4 minutes to the leader. After getting it fixed they were never going to recover the lost time but a fastest time at least made up a little for the bad start.

And it was yet another driver who grabbed fastest time on the Staindale stage as Simpson beat Leigh by just 2 tenths of a second [they have bigger

bumpers on N3 Fiestas] and 3.5 secs quicker than Dobson. This reduced Dobson’s lead to 9.5 secs over Leigh and with everything nicely poised heading into the final 8.5 miles stage.

For the Leighs, running ahead of Dobson on the road, had no idea what was going on behind them and concerns about the fragility of the Fiesta were now a distant memory as they flew through the final stage in a second over 10 minutes to take a rewarding fastest time. Simpson arrived next 33 secs further back but for Dobson the stage was a disaster.

They slid off the road and although they got the Escort back on again 1 min 16 secs had been lost, dropping him to third and losing the Silver Star win.

Kit Leigh had a stunned look at the finish when told he and Tim were Silver Star winners, but if there are ever any good endings in rallying this had to be one of them. The car would have driven many to give up the fight but they have persevered and this result is just reward for all their hard efforts.

Of the rest surprisingly no B11 cars finished the event, but B10 did surprisingly well with the Leigh’s being the leading B10 car followed by Nathan O’Connor/Jessica Rogan. John Taylor/Tim Clarke were third and the surviving James Hutchings/James Hood fourth. Tony Simpson/Ian Bevan were the only finishers in N3 whilst David Dobson/Phil Sandham’s scant reward was at least to hold onto the H2 class with Ian Barnes/Robert Gilham second.

David Dobson

Nathan O’Connor

The battle for the 2014 Rally First Championship title was finally settled (just) on the Trackrod after a season where several crews remained in strong contention. You could be forgiven for thinking that t h e R a l l y F i r s t C h a m p i o n s h i p w a s decided on the 10.5 miles of SS1 Langdale, because it was here that Nick Carr / Joe Sturdy (VW Lupo) set a cracking time and stole a march on all the other Rally First crews. From then on the others were playing catch up, and whilst James West / Steve Eggington in the 1.6 VW Polo were able to take the lead after Gale Rigg and go on to win the Rally First category, the other RF1.4 crews were not able to catch Carr and Sturdy.

Early season leader Neil Andrew / Dom Adams, also in a VW Lupo, managed to claw a few seconds back on both Gale Rigg and Cropton but they eventually finished some 25 seconds in arrears. Third in the RF1.4

class on the Trackrod were Rory Jones / Tom Hughes (MG ZR) who have been consistently on the pace throughout the year and still have a chance of taking the third spot in the Rally First Championship. They were followed home by Richard Gemmell / Laurie Walker in another MG ZR and Jon Ambler / Elliott Lawrence in the Seat Arosa.

Sam Bilham had already secured the RF1.0 class in fine style on the Woodpecker and so rewarded his main sponsor Tony Bilham with a very quick drive to win the 1 litre class once again. Spare a though for Matt Thompson who brought out his 1.6 VW Polo,

but again suffered a number of problems and became the only Rally First retirement at the end of SS2.

So by winning class RF1.4 Nick Carr and Joe Sturdy become the 2014 BTRDA Rally First Champions just marginally ahead on James West and Steve Eggington who claim the runners up spot for the second year. Nick and Joe have also won the Rally First Junior titles. The rest will be decided at the Cambrian!

Carr & Sturdy Take the Rally First Title

Nick Carr

Sam Bilham

James West

The 2014 Morris Lubricants BTRDA 1400 Championship has been a pretty dramatic year and the Trackrod Forestry Stages did nothing to change that opinion when the event started f r o m t h e e x p a n s i v e Pickering Showground. 31 crews were entered in the 1400 section and would be covering 45 miles over 5 stages over the fast and challenging forests of Dalby, Langdale, Cropton, Staindale and Gale Rigg.

Up to the Trackrod no competitor had managed to take control of the Championship and with this being the penultimate event it was now or never for seven crews if they hoped to go to the Cambrian with an advantage over the rest. Mat Smith and Giles Dykes were on their home event, but with two retirements already against three wins they still had a lot of work to do to move up from their fourth place. Also needing a big score were the team of Justin Lawson and Paul Hargreaves who were down in seventh place with only one win. Choosing to sit out this event were Championship leaders Ryan Weston and Mark McCulloch as they had already scored on seven rounds and due to the scoring system chose to miss the event in order to make a final impact on the last round. For the mixed partnership of Marcel Freling and Karen Robinson they were currently in second place, but some poor scores in the early part of the year was making their chances of holding of the chasing crews far more difficult. Looking to spoil everyone’s points haul were David Bennett and Alistair McNeil who although their 2014 Championship hopes had been dashed by four retirements still had the speed to get amongst the leaders, if only they could maintain reliability. Finally making everyone look over their shoulders were third placed Dan Gray and Matt Rogers, who while they had not won an event had had three successive second places and were now making rapid progress up the leaderboard.

Given the year so far we perhaps shouldn’t have been surprised to see the seasons dramas continuing as five miles into the 10.5 mile Langdale stage Mat Smith put his Ford KA off into a ditch. In trying to regain the road they broke a driveshaft and were forced to limp out of the stage incurring a max stage penalty time of 20 mins and leaving them languishing down in last place. However they managed to get the car fixed and from then it was a matter of damage limitation as they still tried to recover what points they could.

This left Bennett and Lawson to finish the first stage on exactly the same time down to a tenth of a second,

Championship Hopes Dented For Some as Bennett Revels in the Lack of Pressure

Dave Bennett

Mat Smith

with Gray in third, but a massive 32 seconds slower. Freling was making a very slow start being over a minute off the pace at the front to lie in 9th. The Gale Rigg stage went Bennett’s way pulling out 8 seconds on Lawson while Freling made a big leap up to 5th place and Clive Anstey/Tim Currie holding third, but it was disaster for Gray who retired his Peugeot with engine issues. Stage 3, Cropton, again l i tera l ly turned the Championship race on its head as Lawson rolled his Vauxhall Nova and although the damage was relatively light they lost the

windscreen in the roll so things were going to get pretty draughty as they endeavoured to keep going. However such was their lead over third place Anstey they still retained second and hoped to keep running in order to pick up a good points score.

Unfortunately the stages were ganging up on Lawson and Hargreaves as part way through the Staindale stage a rear wheel sheared off their car, presumably as a result of their earlier roll, putting the car out of action and instantly removing any hopes they had of winning this years Championship. Bennett meanwhile continued on with little drama as he took his fourth fastest stage time and increase his lead to 2 mins 55 seconds over Anstey, while Freling had moved into third place, 35 seconds further back.

With no change over the final 8 mile Dalby stage it was a delighted Bennett and McNeil who returned to the Pickering Showground to take their second win of the year and the satisfaction that they had ended their retirement jinx. Anstey was surprised to come in second and taking his highest finish of the year, especially as he had rolled his car just two weeks earlier on a non Championship event. For Freling and Robinson their steady run had brought them third overall and moved them to the top of the Championship leader board going into the final round. As for Smith and Dykes they managed to get through all the remaining stages to finish 15th overall but nearly 9

mins behind Bennett. However more importantly they picked up a very valuable 21 pts to put them in fifth place in the title chase and still leave them in with a good chance of the Championship win. For Gray although the retirement has hurt his chances he is also still in the running but will need Smith to have another bad day.

Matthew Jackson in the Super 1000 Micra, this time accompanied by Claire Williams, took another fine win which enabled him to seal the 1400C class title for 2014.

Clive Anstey

Marcel Freling

Matthew Jackson

BTRDA Rally Series – 2015 CalendarThe BTRDA can now confirm the 2015 calendar for both the BTRDA Rally Series and the MSA English Rally Championship.

The BTRDA Rally Series, which includes the 62nd Gold Star and Silver Star Rally Championships plus the BTRDA 1400 and Rally First Championships and the BTRDA Historic Cup, will continue to provide the best selection of cracking one day forest events with the final championship results based on your best 6 scores from the first 8 events started. The advantage of this scoring system for competitors is that you can miss an event for family, business or budget reasons without reducing your scoring opportunities.

The one significant change to the calendar is the inclusion of the Carlisle Rally as a replacement for the Dukeries Rally in both the BTRDA Rally Series and the MSA English Rally Championship. This provides competitors with an event in June and brings both the championships back to the forests on the western side of Kielder which we have not visited for many years.

2015 Calendar EVENT DATE RALLY HQ STAGES include

Wyedean Rally [e] 14th February Chepstow Speech House, SallowvalletsMalcolm Wilson Rally [e] 7th March Cockermouth Grizedale, Greystoke, CombSomerset Stages [e] 18th April Minehead Porlock, Croydon Hill Plains Rally 16th May Welshpool Dyfi, Garthieniog, HafrenCarlisle Stages Rally [e] 13th June Longtown Kershope, NewcastletonNicky Grist Stages 11th July Builth Wells Crychan, Halfway, Route 60Woodpecker Stages [e] 5th September Ludlow Haye Park, RadnorTrackrod Forest Stages [e] 26th September Pickering Dalby, Staindale , LangdaleCambrian Rally 17th October Llandudno Clocaenog, PenmachnoJLT Tempest 2 Rally [e only] 7th November Aldershot Ash, Warren Heath

[e] = MSA English Championship Rounds

Thanks to the continued support of REIS there will 1 hour TV programme from each event shown on Motors TV (on Freeview and part of the Sky package) for the Gold Star, Silver Star and Historic Cup competitors plus a separate 30 minute TV programme for 1400 and Rally First Crews, plus end of season review programmes.

The MSA English Rally Championship which runs alongside the BTRDA Rally Series on many events is exclusively for two wheel drive cars up to 2 litre and is an ideal forest rally championship for crews on a limited budget. The Championship is contested over 7 classic English forest stage rallies (best 5 scores) and has a ‘class based’ format so that competitors from any of

the 5 classes have an equal chance of becoming the MSA English Rally Champion.

The BTRDA Rally Series attracted more than 300 competitor registrations in 2014 and is consistently the most popular in the UK. It aims to competitors and followers with some Serious Fun!

Regulations for the 2015 Championships are now being prepared and will be available in December.

Event Awards and Awards Presentations?

We recognise that times change and that many competitors set off home soon after finishing an event and no longer stay for the event awards presentation. This is especially so if there is a large entry when the awards are likely to be 2 or 3 hours later, even with the quickest of results. However this leaves the event organisers with a dilemma. Do they continue to purchase and present awards to a smaller ‘audience’ and are then left with unclaimed awards that are posted on at extra cost or wasted? What they do about the ‘other awards & trophies’ which have been donated to event over the years and which most competitors do not even know that they have won? The awards ceremony was traditionally a place for the event sponsor to be involved but with the reducing attendance does this give the right impression?

Some competitors have indicated they are not bothered about receiving class awards etc whilst many others who do not win awards very often, are rightly pleased to receive something to recognise their performance. What type of awards do competitors prefer?

What are the options?

For the last couple of years the Dukeries have presented the 1400 & RF awards 30 mins after the last of that group of cars arrives at the finish. At that time the overall results are not finalised but the 1400 and RF classes are unlikely to change. Most of the 1400 & RF awards winners stay for their presentation and it also means that the later presentation for Gold Star and Silver Star competitors is shorter.

Another option would be to dispense with a traditional awards presentation and just present the major winners awards at the finish in some form of podium champagne celebration soon after they arrive. There is a risk because the results are not ‘final’ but it is unusual for the major winners to change. (A compliment to TCS and the event results teams) All the other competitors could receive finishers awards at the final control as a memento of the event. A variation on this would be to present the overall podium awards as above, but to post on the class awards after the event.

This will be a topic for discussion at our meeting with the 2015 event organisers where we expect a lively debate. There is probably not one format which suits all circumstances but we would welcome any practical ideas from competitors. What do you want?

Please e-mail any constructive suggestions to howard@btrdarally.com. We need to hear from you as any decisions will affect you.

Wales Rally of Great Britain 2014Road to Wales

Matthew Robinson has already been confirmed as the first winner of this years two Road to Wales FREE Prize Drives on the National Wales Rally GB event as a result of his win of the MSA English Rally Championship. The prizes have been kindly donated to the BTRDA by the organisers of the Wales Rally GB.

Steve Perez, following his win on the Trackrod Forestry Stages is now in the prime position to take the second prize as leader of the BTRDA Gold Star title but as mentioned earlier in the newsletter he is in a battle with Paul Bird for the Championship title and the final winner will not be known until we get to the end of the final round on the Cambrian Rally.

Even if you are not fortunate to take these awards then the Wales Rally GB organisers have provided a very good deal to take part. Entries are now open for both the International and National event but if you wish to enter you will need to do so quickly as reports are that half the National entry has filled already. Online Entries and lots of other details can be found at www.walesrallygb.com/competitors/index.php.

If however you are not planning to enter but intend to go to the event ticket details can be found at www.walesrallygb.com/spectators/index.php.

Championship Dinner and Awards Evening - 6th December 2014As we get closer to the end of the Championship we naturally want to celebrate yet another successful year by having a good party at the end of the year. After the success of last years event we are again going to be holding the Dinner at the Park Inn by Radisson in Telford, Shropshire on Saturday 6th December. The evening will cover both the BTRDA and MSA English Championships.

As previously the event is always a very popular occasion and we expect tickets to go quickly so we would advise you to get your applications in as soon as possible. Don’t worry that if you do book tickets but your season does not end quite as well as you had hoped then we guarantee refunding any payments made.

There is also a concession on hotel room prices for Dinner guests but these will not be held indefinitely so again you are advised to apply early. We finally appreciate costs are a major part for competitors but our dinner ticket prices have now not increased for the fourth consecutive year.

Forms to book tickets and hotel rooms are attached with this email or can be downloaded from the Bulletins tab of the Championship website www.btrdarally.com. We will also have forms at future events.

The Dinner organiser is Beryl Gregg who can be contacted on Tel. 01746 769159 or Email bmgregg@tiscali.co.uk.

The Trackrod Forest Rally was the penultimate round of the 2014 MSA English Rally Championship.

Nick Carr / Joe Sturdy (VW Lupo), on their home event, won the very closely contested E1 class for standard production cars up to 1400cc just a few seconds ahead of early championship leaders Neil Andrew / Dom Adams in a similar car, with both crews reporting off track excursions during the event. The conciliation for Neil and Dom is that the points they gained moves them up to second place in the overall MSA English Rally Championship.

The 1400cc open category was dominated on this occasion by Dave Bennett / Alistair McNeil (Vauxhall Corsa) also on their home event, who had an excellent result scoring maximum points in class E2 and coming 12th overall ahead of Clive Anstey / Tim Currie (Proton Satria) and Marcel Freling / Karen Robinson (MG ZR). However this late charge by Dave and Alistair cannot make up for the retirements they suffered on the last 3 championship events which ruined their very promising start to the season.

Kit and Tim Leigh (Fiesta R2) were another crew who finally managed to show their true potential after a string of retirements to take a dominant win in Class E3, whilst Tony Simpson / Ian Bevan won class E4 in their Group N Fiesta ST. In the absence of the 2014 champions Matthew Robinson / Sam Collis it was David Dobson / Phil Sandham (Escort Mk2) who took maximum points in Class E5.

Whilst Matthew Robinson secured the drivers title on the Woodpecker the remaining podium positions and the class awards are still open which many competitors still in with a chance. The latest points can be found on the Championship website www.englishrally.co.uk

The final round of the MSA English Rally Championship is the Tempest 2 Rally based near Aldershot on Saturday 8th November. www.tempestrally.com (See Forthcoming Events below for more details)

BTRDA Rally Challenge

You will probably have seen recent press announcements about a mixed-surface ‘Rally Challenge’ in 2015, utilising events from both the REIS BTRDA Rally Gravel Series and the REIS MSA Asphalt Rally Championship, with the aim of recognising the best crews on gravel and asphalt.

The plan is that seven National ‘B’ events will be selected, all based on mainland UK, and a competitor’s best five scores, which must include at least two from each surface, will count towards their final tally. The BTRDA Rally Challenge would be open to all cars complying with 2015 MSA Technical Regulations and, for scoring purposes, it is envisaged that there will be 7 competition classes. The provisional calendar could be:-• 18th April – Somerset Stages - Gravel• 29/30th May – Jim Clark National - Asphalt• 11th July – Nicky Grist – Gravel• 2nd August – Tyneside – Asphalt• 30th August - Mewla – Asphalt• 27th September - Trackrod - Gravel• 17th October – Cambrian – Gravel(Events and dates are subject to change)

This Rally Challenge will be open to any competitor who is registered for either the REIS BTRDA Rally Series or the REIS MSA Asphalt Rally Championship, but it will certainly not replace or dilute either of these two flagship Championships. However we hope that the BTRDA Rally Challenge will attract other competitors who want to experience both gravel and asphalt events.

We have received considerable competitor interest in this idea and we have now taken the next step of submitting an application to the MSA Rally Championship Control Panel.We hope to be able to confirm the 2015 BTRDA Rally Challenge next month.

Championship Sponsors

Photographs Courtesy of Ralliphotos WalesContact - ralliphotoswales@yahoo.co.uk

MINTEX / QUESTMEAD BONUS SCHEMEThe winners of the Mintex Awards on the Trackrod Forestry Stages, each of whom receive a set of FREE competition brake pads from Questmead Ltd, were:-

Best Improvement on Start Number in GS / SS Championships: Tony Simpson - Ford Fiesta (N3)

Best Improvement on Start Number in Morris’s 1400/MG/RF: Richard Gemmell - MG ZR (RF1.4)

Alan Brown or Steve Brown from Questmead can be found in the Service Area at most events. To claim your reward we advise that you contact them in advance to arrange the required product. They can be contacted on 01706 363939. Email: sales@questmead.co.uk

Forthcoming EventsJLT Tempest 2 Rally - 8th November Following the Cambrian Rally the final event in the MSA English Rally Championship calendar run by Sutton and Cheam and Farnham MC’s. The event is held in the Aldershot and Hampshire area and using local forestry and military roads. It is the premier event in the region and with a very experienced organising team you are guaranteed a good days rallying. Entries are now open and details can be found at www.tempestrally.com. The Entries Sec is Pam Guess and she can be contacted on Email pamgcharlie@aol.com or Tel: 01252 727390.

MCR Marketing Solutions, The Old Coach House, Rectory Road, Lanivet, Cornwall, PL30 5HG 07870 216931 / 07540 186092

info@mcrmarketingsolutions.com

w: www.mcrmarketingsolutions.com e: matt@mcrmarketingsolutions.com

t: 07870 216931

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Podium result for Bilham after Plains Rally thriller

Bingley rally star Sam Bilham brought a third podium result in a row back to West Yorkshire last weekend as he contested the fourth round of the BTRDA Gravel Rally Championship, The Plains Rally. After tackling over 43 competitive stage miles in the baking Spring Sunshine, Bilham piloted his Nissan Micra to a solid second in the Rally First one-litre class, extending his lead even further in the category and closing the gap to the Junior driver award for under 23 year olds competitors. The 17 year old from Bingley has had a confidence building start to the season with a podium position to his name on every event he has contested in the championship, but the youngster was certainly aware of the infamous nature of the Welsh stages he would be competing on and called on his experienced co-driver Graham Wild to guide him successfully through the Welshpool based event. “It was always going to be hard to know how to tackle this event” said Bilham, “after all, it’s only my third ever loose surface rally. But I’m certainly starting to adapt my driving style to gravel a lot better after several years on asphalt and these stages are full of tricky sections which I was well aware of before the start. But we kept the concentration levels up in the car and I was really pleased with how my stage times developed throughout the event, I know there is more to come from both the car and my ability”. But his solid run of results almost came to nothing as on the penultimate stage of the event, Gartheiniog 2, Bilham picked up a puncture in the Micra which hemorrhaged a chuck of time, throwing away any possibility of making in-roads on the leader. “About one and half miles from the end of the stage, we picked up a rear puncture, which in its self isn’t too much of an issue” he explains. “But the tyre then ripped the rear brake pipe off the caliper and my brake pedal went straight to floor just as we were approaching a corner with a large drop on the outside. I have to say a huge thank you to the team for their quick thinking and carrying out an effective repair, allowing us to complete the event and get the podium result we came here for”. Bilham will now head to The Rainworth Skoda Forest Rally on the 7th June which takes crews into the Shrwood Forest complex for the fifth round of the BTRDA National Gravel Championship. For more information on Sam and his rallying career, visit sambilhammotorsport.webs.com

-Ends-

For more information on Sam Bilham or to arrange an interview, contact Matt: e: matt@mcrmarketingsolutions.com t: +44 (0) 7870 216931 w: www.mcrmarketingsolutions.com

Competitors Route NotesThe ‘Bilhams’ score convincing victory on home event

The pressure of competing on his home event was not enough to curtail 17 year old Sam Bilham’s winning streak as he yet again secured the Rally First one-litre class on last weekend’s Trackrod Rally Yorkshire. Having won the class on all but one event in this year’s BTRDA National Rally series, the Bingley rally star had wrapped up the championship on the last event in Shropshire. But the lure of competing on home ground and the opportunity to secure another wrath of points for his Junior title aspirations was awarded with another points haul in the Dalby Forests.

Having spectated on the event as a youngster, Rally Yorkshire would be the event that The Next Big Step award winner would look forward to the most this year, but Bilham had a new co-driver for the event in the shape of Dad, Tony. With regular co-driver Graham Wild unavailable for the event, Tony stepped in to ensure Sam could compete at ‘home’ and guided the pairing to another solid result. “It was great to have Dad next to me on my local rally and he did really well” commented Sam. “It’s been a while since he co-drove competitively but that didn’t show and we gelled together really well from the very first stage.”

Tony is usually found helping Sam behind the scenes and helping to look after the Rally First Nissan Micra in between events, but ‘Bilham Junior’ was more than happy to allow his Dad into the passenger seat for the event. “Dad knows the stages on this rally like the back of his hand as he has helped organise events in Dalby for many years to it was good to get his experience in the car” said Sam. “We had a trouble-free day and I really enjoyed the event and it felt really special competing in front of my home crowd. I think Dad was quietly impressed with my driving on gravel too, considering it’s only my first year in the forest”.

Arguably more important than Bilham’s impressive Yorkshire result, will be the positions at the end of the Cambrian Rally in North Wales at the end of October. With the overall Rally First and Junior titles at stake for the youngster, a decent points haul could see him take a championship podium on the final round of the series in Llandudno.

However his attentions will now turn back to asphalt and the Formula 1000 series as he heads to South Wales in two weeks’ time to contest the Peter Lloyd stages in which he has a chance to wrap up yet another title in what has been a busy year for the MSA Academy member.

For more information on Sam and h i s r a l l y i n g c a r e e r, v i s i t www.sambilham.co.uk

Photo courtesy of Jucy Rally Photography

Special Stage TV ProgrammesIts now well established that the Special Stage team will be out filming all nine rounds of the Championship for publication on the Motors TV channel No. 447 as well as Freeview Ch. 240 for eligible TV’s. As last year there will be two programmes, an hour programme covering the 4WD and 2WD sections and a separate half hour programme for the Morris Lubricants 1400’s.

The schedule of programmes is listed below and programmes will repeated during the following week, but you will need to check the Motors TV website for exact times, www.motorstv.com/tv-guide-uk.

Can we also make an appeal that you try to keep the Special Stage team updated with how your event went and if you have any video coverage that they may be able to use. This is very important in making the programmes interesting and informative. You can email them at  specialstage@hotmail.co.uk or complete their online form at www.specialstage.co.uk/page4.htm.

EVENT EVENT DATE TV PROGRAMME DATE TIME

Weir Engineering Wyedean Rally 15th February

BTRDA - Friday 7th March 9.00pmWeir Engineering Wyedean Rally 15th February

1400’s - Friday 7th March 10.30pm

Malcolm Wilson Rally 8th MarchBTRDA - Friday 21st March 9.00pm

Malcolm Wilson Rally 8th March1400’s - Friday 21st March 11.00pm

Somerset Stages 12th AprilBTRDA - Friday 25th April 9.00pm

Somerset Stages 12th April1400’s - Friday 25th April 10.35pm

Plains Rally 17th MayBTRDA - Friday 30th May 9.00pm

Plains Rally 17th May1400’s - Friday 30th May 10.00pm

Dukeries Rally 7th JuneBTRDA - Friday 20th June 9.00pm

Dukeries Rally 7th June1400’s - Friday 20th June 10.35pm

Nicky Grist Stages 12th JulyBTRDA - Friday 25th July 9.00pm

Nicky Grist Stages 12th July1400’s - Friday 25th July 10.00pm

Woodpecker Stages 30th August BTRDA - Friday 12th September 9.00pmWoodpecker Stages 30th August1400’s - Friday 12th September 10.00pm

Trackrod Rally 27th SeptemberBTRDA - Friday 10th October 9.00pm

Trackrod Rally 27th September1400’s - Friday 17th October 10.00pm

Cambrian Rally 18th OctoberBTRDA - Friday 31st October 9.30pm

Cambrian Rally 18th October1400’s – Friday 31st October 11.30pm

Season Reviews -BTRDA – TBA TBA

Season Reviews -1400’s - TBA TBA