BIRD TAKES CARLISLE VICTORY
A win has thrust the ford focus driver into contention.
With just one stage win and an illhandling car unsuited to the tight confines of the Kielder Forest, few would have predicted Paul Bird taking victory on the BTRDA Carlisle Stages last weekend.
But in doing just that, the Cumbrian’s title chances were given a shot in the arm with a second triumph of the year as rivals Stephen Petch and Matt Edwards hit trouble.
Bird’s victory margin of 21 seconds over Edwards at the finish relied more on patience and care in variable conditions than outright pace. However, it was this prudent tactic which allowed the local man to extend his points lead over Welshman Edwards.
“It’s been some day: a real battle of attrition,” said Bird.“i knew I was under some pressure being at home, because I genuinely struggle doing a gravel rally after back-to-back Tarmac events [in Barbados].”
Bird’s path to victory began inconspicuously as he struggled to wrestle his cumbersome Ford Focus WRC07 through the stages. Bemoaning an “undriveable” and “awful” car, Bird also lamented his decision to run reinforced Pirelli K4 tyres instead of the harder K6s throughout the morning after lacking grip.
A switch to the latter and a win on the first test after Service on Kershope (SS4) was the step Bird needed, especially after rally-long leader Petch’s hopes were dashed on the 14.88-mile stage.
Defending champion Petch made the trip westward from Bishop Auckland knowing a first win of the season was required if he was to stand any realistic chance of retaining his title.
The day began brightly for Petch who was just one second behind Edwards after SS2 (Newcastleton) before hitting the front when the Welshman’s power steering failed at the start of SS3 (Ash Park 1).
Alongside co-driver Michael Wilkinson, Petch built a 15-second margin over Bird ahead of service but got caught out as torrential rain hit SS4, a mistake sinking his Ford Fiesta RS WRC into a ditch.
“It was about 10 miles into the stage and I thought I’d got enough speed off for a five-right hairpin left but as I turned in, I knew I wasn’t going to get round the corner,” he said.
“We hit a tree stump on Michael’s side which stopped us suddenly and tipped us a bit. I don’t know how the spectators got us out but they did, but realistically the championship is now gone.”
Charlie Payne also fell victim to the conditions and ended what had been a promising rally in the same ditch as Petch.
The 2016 champion Payne enjoyed a positive start to the event and ran solidly inside the top four heading into Kershope. Just 13 seconds behind eventual winner Bird and eager to make up time on the wet roads, Payne arrived too quickly at the scene of Petch’s slipup and pitched his Fiesta into a roll on the opposite side of the road. He and co-driver Dale Bowen emerged unscathed but out of the running.
While Edwards avoided the perilous ditches, his rally was no less eventful. A loss of power steering on two separate occasions forced the British Rally Championship points leader to work much harder to bring his Ford Fiesta home a distant second, with co-driver Darren Garrod resorting to changing gear and using the handbrake while Edwards wrestled the R5.
Following back-to-back victories on Rallynuts and Plains, Edwards kicked off proceedings in much the same fashion by edging Luke Francis’ Ford Fiesta by three seconds on Florida – the de facto SS1 following three stages from the Historics on Friday evening.
He looked set to repeat his performance at Newcastleton before losing “approximately 30s” while the power steering was reset.
Amid the plumes of hanging dust produced by Edwards’ car, Francis then crashed into retirement after losing visibility a handful of miles from stage end.
“We caught up with Matt, who had a problem and got blinded in his dust. Then I basically just turned into a corner that wasn’t there,” Francis explained.
“We made a mess of trying to get the car back onto the road which is frustrating as Matt was only two seconds off the fastest time.”
Despite a new arm being fitted at service, Edwards’ steering failed again, leaving the Colwyn Bay driver wondering what might have been.
“The win was there but we can take a lot of positives from a work ethic point of view today,” Edwards reflected.
“We had no power steering from the third stage so we were driving it to keep it on the road and try not lose too much time.”
The surprise package of the day was undoubtedly Scottish Rally Championship regular Michael Binnie, who set a stunning time on the final stage to claim the bottom step of the podium in third.
The 25-year-old from Berwickshire recovered from a minor excursion five miles into SS2 to run sixth for much of the event. Alongside new co-driver Richard Simmons, Binnie emerged from Kershope unscathed despite fitting their Mitsubishi Lancer E9 with the softer Pirelli K4s, to usurp Pat Naylor and Sacha Kakad with the joint-fastest time on the final stage.
“I surprised myself with that one,” beamed an ecstatic Binnie.
“We had a couple of moments in Kershope but we just tried to keep it clean and not do anything silly.”
Binnie ultimately prevailed in a closely fought battle for the podium which could have been taken by any of four drivers.
The most unfortunate of that quartet was arguably Russ Thompson, whose stellar effort to jump from eighth to third in Kershope was undone on the second run through Ash Park after dropping seven minutes. He had hit a stump which broke a hub, and the car crabbed to the end.
That allowed Naylor to easily secure N4 honours with a calmly taken fourth overall ahead of Kakad’s Fiesta.
Kakad’s rally was another case of missed opportunities after losing more than 40 seconds due to an engine cut out on SS2. He and co-driver James Alridge produced a stirring fightback before being forced to tread carefully on an “obscenely rough” SS6 and losing a possible podium finish.
Behind Kakad, Ian Joel brought home the older Ford Escort RS in a respectable sixth place after struggling with grip and the hanging dust early on in the event. The veteran enjoyed a clean run through the opening stage but lost a couple of seconds due to an overshoot and being on harder MRF tyres. Nevertheless, Joel produced more consistent times following service to finish one place ahead of Peter Stephenson.
In his first event since the Grizedale Stages in December, Stephenson spent much of the morning loop getting reacquainted with his Ford Focus. Although his gear selector lights failed him in SS2 and SS3, he eventually finished seventh ahead of Stephen Simpson (Fiesta), the luckless Thompson and Ian Bainbridge (Subaru Impreza).
Keeping out of trouble amid the chaos though was Bird, whose victory on home turf was a significant one.
“I’ve got superbikes commitments and my son’s [Frank] racing and I think some rounds clash. But it’s looking more likely I’ll have to concentrate on myself to win the title,” Bird said.
Edwards remains Bird’s closest points rival with his third podium in succession but will have to rely on bulletproof reliability if he is to mount any sort of defiance next time out on the Nicky Grist Stages (July 14).