MCCORMACK WINS THE ULTIMATE NATIONAL RALLY
FULL REPORT FROM THE ROGER ALBERT CLARK SHOWPIECE
Marty Mccormack and Barney Mitchell were the heroes of the day as they won the Roger Albert Clark Rally for a third time as the mammoth event finished on Monday afternoon.
Ultimately, this biennial event became a two-way contest as Mccormack went head-to-head with the similar Ford Escort Mk2 of Jason Pritchard and Phil Clarke. The gap ebbed and flowed and they were seldom more than a few seconds apart on each stage. However, when Pritchard dropped 50s with a puncture in Greskine on Sunday morning, Mccormack extended his lead to an uncatchable margin.
“Absolutely fantastic! We’ve had a brilliant rally and fought hard from the start,” said Mccormack.
“Jason and Phil are great lads to race against and it’s been a tough battle all weekend. Monday was the toughest day, trying to manage the lead is so difficult.”
The 13th edition of the event was longer and tougher than those that went before with 300 stages miles across 32 special stages and four-anda-half days of action. From Thursday night in Wales to Saturday evening it was fog that was the biggest challenge and for many of the
130 starters, just getting to the finish in Carlisle was a huge victory.
Thursday-friday
It turned out to be only six-and-a-half miles for just the frontrunners, but the visit to Radnor set the tone for the weekend. The Welsh hills were at their most malevolent as thick fog hung over the higher parts of the stage. The route was trimmed to one run only and the action was further curtailed when Alan Walker’s Escort Mk2 caught fire.
But before that, Mccormack and Pritchard established themselves at the head of the rally. Pritchard caught and passed Matthew Robinson’s Escort Mk2 in the truly demanding conditions and went four seconds up on Mccormack with Roger Chilman a further four in arrears. Robinson dropped over a minute and others suffered more lost seconds before notional times kicked in after the stoppage.
Paul Barrett had struggled in the fog but that was the least of his problems come Friday morning in Wales when he went out on the opening Crychan stage with terminal engine problems. He was quickly joined by fellow Northern Irishman and Escort Mk2 runner Adrian Hetherington with similar issues.
However, Mccormack was more than holding up Northern Irish honours in Pritchard’s backyard and won six of the eight stages. But it was still close and only 13 seconds split them as they loaded up on Epynt for the trek north to Carlisle. “We’ve had a fantastic day and I’m really pleased to be on the pace in Wales,” said Mccormack. Pritchard said: “I maybe tried a bit too hard this morning and was a bit ragged.”
Half a minute back, Chilman was doing his own thing but fourthplaced Robinson was left to rue the Radnor fog. “If we’d not dropped that time last night, we’d have been with them,” he said after a strong day in Wales. Simon Webster and Rudi Lancaster rounded out the top six ahead of young guns Henri Grehan and Ben Friend. “That feels like a win,” said Friend after a generally disastrous season, although he did need a quick gearbox change at service.
The fierce pace at the head of the Pinto-pack put Josh Browne and Stuart Egglestone into the top 10 but out went the glorious Toyota Celica of Gregoire de Mevius with engine woes.
Saturday
Saturday was one of those days that will go down in Roger Albert Clark folklore as a massive challenge with over 100 stage miles, persistent rain and, later on, fog to rival Radnor. “Thicker than Devon clotted cream,” said Lancaster of his home county.
There was no gentle lead-in after the haul north as nearly 17 miles in Kershope was the opener for a day of long stages across Kielder and back. Robinson knew he had to attack and was just one second down on Mccormack in the first Kershope stage, went quickest in Ash Park but then had to park up on the second run of Kershope with a gearbox problem. It was a sad end to the start of his charge after he’d been pushing hard.
Meanwhile, Pritchard had taken just one second back from Mccormack in Clintburn (SS14) before the latter grabbed six seconds back in Chirdonhead, the following stage. The rally left the main block of Kielder for 12 miles in the now fog-bound Harwood and Pritchard drove an epic stage to slash the lead margin from 37s down to just four.
“It was very difficult in there and I was probably a bit slow,” said Mccormack before learning of Pritchard’s time. Pritchard commented: “We got through it, thanks to Phil on the notes, but there’s a long way to go yet.”
Suitably stung, Mccormack immediately bounced back in Pundershaw to grab half a minute back and end the day 33s to the good. With Robinson out, Chilman settled back into third but was now over five minutes down and running his own rally.
Browne had been absolutely flying in his Pinto-engined Escort Mk2 and was third quickest through Clintburn, but he rolled out of the rally in Chirdonhead.
The same stage claimed Webster when he went off and, before the end of the leg, Friend was out with alternator failure.
Through it all came Egglestone into fourth from Wayne Sisson, who had his Mitsubishi Galant running much better after a troubled time in Wales. Lancaster slotted into sixth from the increasingly impressive Us-based Irishman Barry Mckenna.
Sunday
Sunday was another big day with 70 stage miles in southern Scotland, starting with 11 miles in Greskine where low cloud hung broodingly over the higher parts of the stage.
Nothing much changed at the head of the rally as Pritchard edged McCormack by a single second after 12 minutes of flat-out motoring. After losing 10 minutes in a Kershope ditch on Saturday, Grehan was back with a bang to go third fastest from the quietly consistent Chilman.
However, it was the second run of Greskine (SS21) that played a pivotal role in the lead contest. Around halfway through the stage, Pritchard picked up a front puncture. He carried on but had dropped 50s by the finish which put McCormack's lead out to 1m26s.
Over the balance of Sunday's stages, McCormack was peerless and took a string of fastest times to extend his lead to 1m49s by the time the weary survivors arrived back in Carlisle.
"We kept our noses clean and had a good day, but there was a bit of patchy fog," said McCormack, who was now firmly on course to become the first driver to win the event for a third time. Once again, the Scottish leg had dealt Pritchard a killer punch.
In the wake of the big two, Chilman ran another strong day but accepted that a gap of more than seven minutes meant that third would be his lot unless either of the top two
went out. Egglestone had a good day to edge ahead of Sisson for fourth while Mckenna moved up to sixth at the expense of Lancaster who dropped a lot of time.
A misfire stopped brothers Leigh and Chris Armstrong in Twiglees and dropped them out of the top 10, while Grehan fought his way back up to ninth to split Christophe Jacob and Stefaan Stouf. Their fight was for the honour of Belgium and Jacob took a 14s lead into the final day.
Monday
Monday was no walk in the park as another 60 stage miles awaited in the central block of Kielder to deliver a proper sting in the tail, climaxing with a second run through the daunting 17-miler in Bewshaugh.
For Mccormack and Pritchard, the day started as one of stalemate. “We’re not going to catch Marty on pace alone,” said the chaser, knowing that his Greskine puncture had cost him too much. Mccormack, meanwhile, was not about to throttle back. “We’ll just keep doing what we’re doing,” said the leader.
However, Mccormack did rather misjudge the pace on the opener in Whitrope and dropped 20s. That was his alarm call and over the next three stages he dropped only a handful more to take a margin of 1m22s into the final stage.
There was a poignant moment for the leading duo when they suffered their only puncture of the rally when a rear tyre deflated in the regroup control after Falstone 2. Crucially, it had not impacted Mccormack’s pace through the stage. “The luck of the Irish,” said Pritchard.
And so it all came down to the final 17-miles in Bewshaugh as the rain settled in to make sure the stage was a fittingly tough climax to a truly challenging rally. Pritchard did all he could and clawed back 30s to bring the margin back to less than a minute, but Mccormack was the victor.
Chilman remained third as Sisson pipped Egglestone for fourth by just one second. Mckenna was a last stage casualty, so Grehan took sixth from Geoff Bell. Further down the top 10 there was disaster for Jacob when he slid off right at the end of the first Falstone stage and dropped around 10 minutes.
Lancaster, too, was in trouble and lost a lot of time with ongoing fuel problems that dropped him to eighth as Dave Bennett and Paul Street took mighty top 10 finishes.