John and Alex Stone dominate another Three Sisters event with classy performance
Organiser: Wigan & District MC When: October 8 Where: Three Sisters Circuit, Wigan Championship: ANWCC; SD34; ANCC; AWMMC; Three Sisters Rally Challenge Stages: 12 Starters 51. John and Alex Stone completed a clean sweep of victories in the Three Sisters Rally Challenge bringing their Ford Fiesta S2500 home 20 seconds ahead of Mark Kelly and Andy Baker’s Ford Escort Mk2.
Having resolved some early overheating issues, the father and son crew headed the standings from the start, with Kelly, who struggled for traction in the early damp conditions, remaining as their closest rival throughout.
Andrew Morris and Chloe Thomas completed the podium places in another Escort Mk2 after ousting the Vauxhall Corsa of Ryan Burns and Steve Hallmark on stage four. Burns was ranked fourth by virtue of his faster opening stage time after tying with the Escort Mk2 of Mark Smith and his debutant co-driver Tim Nun.
Sean Cassidy and Sean Devlin took sixth place in their Fiesta ahead of the BMW M3 of Chris Ransley and Chris SharpeSimkiss. Ransley claimed the Heart of England Championship Driver’s crown after brake problems forced Andy Corner and Ade Camp to retire their Peugeot 205.
Stuart and Louise Gilks recovered from a slow start to end the day eighth in their Sunbeam Lotus, one second ahead of the Escort Mk2 of Graham Brindley and David Evans. Richard Poole and James Dowley completed the top 10 in their BMW M3. Results 1 John Stone/alex Stone (Ford Fiesta S2500) 27m47s; 2 Mark Kelly/andy Baker (Ford Escort Mk2) +20s; 3 Andrew Morris/ Chloe Thomas (Escort Mk2) +1m22s; 4 Ryan Burns/ Steve Hallmark (Vauxhall Corsa); 5 Mark Smith/tim Nun (Escort Mk2); 6 Sean Cassidy/ Sean Devlin (Fiesta); 7 Chris Ransley/ Chris Sharpe-simkiss (BMW M3); 8 Stuart Gilks/ Louise Gilks (Sunbeam Lotus); 9 Graham Brindley/ David Evans (Escort Mk2); 10 Richard Poole/james Dowley (BMW M3).
Class winners: Gethin Jones/tomos Williams (Vauxhall Nova); Burns/ Hallmark; Smith/ Nun; Cassidy/ Devlin; Cameron Davies/andrew Blackwood (Renault Zoe).