MCKNIGHT TAMES PENDRAGON
Organiser: Kirkby Lonsdale Motor Club; Eden Valley MC & Northallerton Automobile Club When: September 11 Where: Warcop, Cumbria Championship NETRC; ANWCC; ANCC; KLMC Stages: 8 Starters: 94
Greg Mcknight and Laura Marshall took what proved to be a convincing Pendragon Stages victory bringing their Mitsubishi Lancer E9 home over a minute clear of the Ford Escort Mk2 of runners up Martin Hodgson and Tony Jones.
Last year’s winners Simon Bowen and Richard Robinson set the early pace in their Subaru Impreza WRC. Then in SS3, trying to take evasive action to avoid the Lotus Exige of Alistair Inglis and Tom Hynd, both cars finished up in a ditch and out of the rally. Also retiring at this point were Gary and Gordon Adam who had been in second place before hitting a wall in their Escort Mk2.
That left the way open for Mcknight, who was forced to use his gravel-spec Evo when parts for his Escort Mk2 failed to arrive, to snatch a lead that he wouldn’t relinquish. Escort Mk2 pairing Mark Borthwick and Aaron Mcclure’s role as his closest challenger ended on SS4 with suspension woes allowing Hodgson to take hold of second place for the rest of the rally.
Colin Gemmell and Derek Keir claimed third place on SS3 and the Impreza crew were another who wouldn’t be moved. Alistair Tough and Dee Addison grabbed fourth when fellow Ford Escort Mk2 incumbents Stephen and Louise Hope retired their example with mechanical problems in SS5. Tough had to survive issues of his own, losing the rear part of his exhaust on SS6 before developing gear selector problems at the start of SS7.
A close battle for fifth went in favour of Andy Bird and Shona Macgillivary in their Vauxhall Chevette. Class 3 winners Stephen Thompson and David Crosbie were happy to finish sixth after a troublesome day with a misfire and a last stage brake issue with their Ford Escort Mk2.
Stuart and Alan Paterson also had a misfire issue but brought their Impreza home seventh having survived a visit to a SS3 ditch that caught out a number of crews.
An altercation with a bale on SS2 necessitated a change of steering arm for Sean and Dave Robson’s Citroen C2R2 Max but, with no further issues, they finished eighth overall and first in Class 2.
Ross Hunter and Callum Atkinson brought their Peugeot 205 home ninth ahead of the Escort Mk2 of Rob Snowden and Tommy Rogers who edged ahead of Tommy Graham and Mike Bailey’s Lancer E6 on SS8.
Stephen Bethwaite and Ann Forster claimed Class A honours in their Vauxhall Nova after narrowly avoiding the embarrassment of running out of fuel on SS6 as a result of a faulty gauge.