COMPLETING NATIONAL SERVICE
ALL THE NATIONAL RACE AND RALLY REPORTS, STARTS
In his first year of contesting the Motorsport UK Asphalt Rally Championship, Alan Kirkaldy took his first win on the Cheviot Stages, during a weekend when Jason Pritchard retained his title. Kirkaldy and co-driver Cameron Fair had to withstand a fierce onslaught in their Ford Fiesta R5 from Damian Cole/ Andrew Roughead, as the Fiesta RS
WRC driver sought to take a seventh championship title.
The winning margin at the finish was just three seconds, as gearbox issues hampered Cole’s challenge and he ultimately had to concede the title to Pritchard/phil Clarke, who overcame a day-long misfire in their Ford Focus WRC05 to secure the title for a second year running.
With championship points close between Cole and Pritchard there was the potential for the pair to be equal by the end of the event. In such a case, the title would have been decided in the favour of the faster driver on the opening stage. Cole made a concerted effort on the test and was two seconds quicker than his rival, and after the first loop of four stages returned to service as equal leader having been lucky not to lose any time after he spun over the flying finish of SS2.
Equal with Cole after the first loop was Kirkaldy, who admitted that he had encountered some “scary bits” along the way. After engine issues on the Mewla, Pritchard thought the problem was linked to the water injection system of his Focus WRC05, and while a fix improved matters the car was still suffering a misfire at times. In worse trouble were Paul Mackinnon/paul Beaton, whose Fiesta R5 had a turbo pipe come off, dropping them out of contention.
Over the second loop, Kirkaldy was fastest on two of the first three tests with Cole fastest on the other as the pair both beat the bogey on SS8. Kirkaldy moved into an eight-second lead as Pritchard’s day got no better, with the intermittent misfire not helping his cause. Meanwhile John Stone/michael Gilbey were having a great run, holding fourth position from the start in their Fiesta RS WRC, Stone admitting “we’re going as fast as we can, and as fast as we dare!”
Stage nine resulted in another fastest time for Kirkaldy who was revelling in the conditions, and wasn’t concerned about reports of impending rain, as he increased his lead to 11 seconds.
Cole in second was beginning to experience gearbox problems with his Fiesta RS WRC and he had to short shift as well as avoid using second gear. Meanwhile, Pritchard had turned the anti-lag down on his Focus WRC05 but found the car not as responsive as a result.
Gordon Morrison/calum Macpherson were trying to find a suitable set-up for their new Fiesta R5, which was bottoming out at times, and the pair went on to finish in sixth position despite a moment onto the grass on SS8. Mark Jasper/don Whyatt had led the two-wheel-drive crews before departing from seventh position with engine issues in their Ford Escort Mk2, while Chris Ford/neil Colman were making their way back up to the top 10 after losing time early on with severe brake issues on their Fiesta R5.
With the stage directions reversed for the fourth loop, the top three remained the same, with Cole taking a second out of Kirkaldy despite worsening gearbox issues. Pritchard wasn’t faring much better with his misfire, while fourthplaced Stone was enjoying his day.
For the final loop, Cole decided to go all out and used all the gears. Two fastest times ensued, but he was still three seconds behind a happy Kirkaldy. “I’m delighted,” the jubilant winner said, “I wanted a podium but never expected to be first.” For Cole, the disappointment of gearbox issues thwarting his challenge meant he had to be content with second on the event and the championship, while Pritchard said he was “glad to see the finish, it’s been a stressful day with all our issues”.
Stone’s good run continued as he finished fourth ahead of Frank Bird who was having his first Otterburn run and only his second pacenote event. With Jack Morton alongside, he took an excellent fifth in his Focus WRC07. Behind sixth-placed Morrison, Richard Slinger/stuart Walker overcame an overshoot and big spin on SS5 to finish seventh in their Mitsubishi Lancer E6. Lee Hastings/michael Cruickshank overcame early misfire issues to finish eighth in their Subaru, ahead of George Mackey/tony Cope’s similar car.