TINN INHERITS WIN FROM UNFORTUNATE FIELD
Organiser: Border MC When: April 10 Where: Cadwell Park, Lincs Championships: Motorsport News Circuit Rally Championship, ANCC Stages: 8 Starters: 81
David and Alice Tinn spent the first five stages chasing Ashley Field/janice Moore’s Darrian, but a broken driveshaft put Field on the sidelines and handed victory to the Tinns’ Proton.
Field had started the day at a terrific pace, looking for a second consecutive win in the Motorsport NEWS/MSVR Circuit Rally Championship to consolidate his lead in the series.
“I was just on it from the start,” he said after taking nine seconds out of Tinn on the opening stage.
Graeme Bell/russ Radford’s Proton had started well too and entered into a duel for third with Andy Fenwick/chris Lawrence’s similar car. Fenwick had the edge after stage two, but Bell retaliated and claimed it back on the next run. But after Bell touched a bank, spun and stalled on stage five, he lost 30 seconds and left Fenwick clear in third.
The fancied Ford Escort of Paul Swift/ Carl Williamson was an early retirement, after they hit the first chicane on stage one and broke a balljoint.
Field had built his lead up to 22 seconds after three stages, but Tinn held the gap on stage four after the leading Darrian broke a rosejoint at the end of the stage. He more than made up for any delay by increasing his advantage on the fifth stage to 50s. “It had all been going so well then we came down a narrow track, I changed down and we lost drive, a shaft had broken,” Field explained after the issue on SS6.
Tinn was into the lead but it was James Sharrock/stuart Faulds’ Escort that moved into second place, 35 seconds off the lead but now two seconds up on third-placed Fenwick.
“Ashley had been in a class of his own and the dry weather and tight stages didn’t suit our car really,” said Tinn. “But it ran perfectly and, apart from tyres and fuel, we never touched it all day,” he added after cruising through to win by 40 seconds.
Following Field’s retirement Sharrock was able to consolidate second and took the Class D spoils and now heads the championship with one round remaining. Bell continued to chip away at Fenwick’s advantage but still they held station in third and fourth.
11 Mike Bayliss/ Craig Sharpe-simkiss (BMW Compact); 12 Nigel Mummery/ Fiona Scarrett (Ford Focus WRC05); 13 John Griffiths/ Nigel Wetton (Impreza); 14 Andy Bird/ Plug Pulleyn (Vauxhall Chevette); 15 Dave Roberts/ Dave Owen (Escort Mk2); 16 Matt Tarbutt/joff Haigh (Impreza); 17 Mike Taylor/ Martin Haggett (Sunbeam Lotus); 18 Alex Cannon/ Ray Keith (Impreza); 19 John Mcdowall/ Robert Pattison (Escort Mk2); 20 Justin Lawson/ Paul Hargreaves (Vauxhall Nova). Class winners Lawson/ Hargreaves; Paul Sheard/ Steve Hallmark (Mazda MX-5); Gilks/ Boyns; Sharrock/ Faulds.
On their first visit to Cadwell Park, John Indri/ian Jones’ Fiesta R5 finished strongly. They climbed from 10th on stage two to complete the top five, only four seconds down on Bell. “I just lost too much time on the opening stages, but got quicker after Dave Tinn gave us advice on lines etc, which helped us a lot. We started as one of the slowest and finished one of the quickest,” he said after topping the concluding stage.
Peter Stephenson/patrick Walsh’s Subaru had been fifth early on, but lost time on the tight stage five and dropped to eighth, with Steve Quigley/tom Hitchings’ Renault Clio suffering similarly. Craig Pennington/wayne Priest’s Mitsubishi E4 therefore held sixth over the last three stages.
Stuart Gilks/michael Boyns’ Sunbeam, Stephenson, Quigley and Mike English/andy Robinson’s Escort rounded off the top 10.
Justin Lawson/paul Hargreaves took a second Class A win in a row in their Vauxhall Nova after taking the lead from Joe Cunningham and Marc Fowler on stage three. He also won a set of Michelins. Alex Mill/ryan Watkins’ Nissan Micra was third after Ken Sturdy/richard Wood’s Nova broke an engine mount on stage four.
Paul Sheard/steve Hallmark’s Mazda MX-5 was never headed in Class B, with John Marshall/kari Bates’ MG ZR and Matt Wood/pete Kettle’s Vauxhall Corsa second and third all day.
Class C remained Steve Quigley/ Tom Hutchings’ domain until their Clio was overcome by Gilks/boyns’ Sunbeam from stage five, with English/ Robinson’s Escort third.