Pickards see off fellow Impreza for comfortable win

Organiser: West Cumbria Motorsport Club. When: July 10 Where: Greystoke Forest, nr Penrith Championships: ANECCC; ANCC; ANWCC; NHRC; Five of Clubs Stages: 7 Starters: 55

Phil and Simon Pickard mastered the slippery conditions to bring their Subaru Impreza home almost a minute ahead of Gary Tomlinson and Arron Newby’s similar car for Greystoke Stages victory. Having survived an altercation with a bank in SS1, in which they suffered no more than a damaged rim, they headed the standings throughout thanks to a clean sweep of fastest stage times. Tomlinson was their closest challenger for most of the day after getting the better of Steve Bannister and Callum Atkinson, who struggled for grip in their Ford Escort Mk2. Bannister then had to battle for third with the Mitsubishi Lancer E9 of Scott Mccombie and Mark Fisher but their rally ended prematurely with an off on the final stage. Nigel Worswick and Clive Molyneux’s early progress was stifled by gearbox problems but with that sorted they brought their Escort Mk2 home fourth. Martin Craik and Steven Brown survived a big moment at the end of SS1 to finish fifth in their Impreza.

Lancer E5 pairing Michael Umbrich and Marion Stead claimed sixth place via the tie-break-rule after matching times with the Escort Mk2 of Charlie Taylor and Alan Ward. Phil Jobson and Jerry Hettrick finished just three seconds behind in their Escort Mk1.

The top 10 was completed by a pair of Escort Mk2s in the hands of Tom Hewick/mick Johnson and Andy Gibson/ Chris Pattison.

Matthew Robinson and Sam Collis retired with an alternator problem on their Fiat 131.