Bird ends 2019 soaring high with Croft victory
Christmas Stages
Organiser: Northallerton Automobile Club When: December 15 Where: Croft Circuit, N Yorks. Championships: North of England Tarmacadam Rally Championship Stages: 8 Starters: 81
Seventeen years after his father Paul took victory on the same event, Frank Bird added his name to the Christmas Stages winners’ trophy after a resounding performance at Croft.
Driving the Ford Focus WRC07 and fresh from winning the Knockhill Stages the previous weekend, the 20-year-old Cumbrian, along with co-driver Jack Morton, held off the challenge of eight-time winner
Kevin Procter and co-driver Patrick Walsh (Ford Fiesta S2000) with
Gordon Morrison and Ed Kelly third (Fiesta R5).
It wasn’t all plain sailing for Bird, though, as he was one of a number of crews hit with a 10-second penalty for a chicane infringement on the icy opening stage.
But, from SS2 onwards and aided by a spin from Procter, he was never headed, winning all the remaining stages with ease. Local hero Procter valiantly chased but had no answer in the tricky conditions.
After two stages, Bird led Procter by eight seconds and by half distance his lead was 21s. The single-seater racer continued to stamp his authority into the afternoon and by SS6 his advantage was at 39s. But rather than ease off, he pressed home his superiority as darkness fell to cross the finish ramp 52s ahead of a magnanimous Procter, who in turn held off Morrison – third for a second successive year – by almost another minute.
Only after the finish did Bird admit he’d been keeping an eye on the oil pressure for the final couple of stages, and the team had turned the power down as a precaution. It mattered little as he concluded his first year in rallying in style with another emphatic victory.
The top six was completed by
Tony Bardy/reg Smith (Ford Focus WRC00), Paul/jessica Swift (Ford Escort Mk2) and comeback driver David Henderson with co-driver
Ian Forgan (Escort Mk2).
Former Motorsport News Circuit Rally champions Ian Woodhouse/paul Rowland (Escort Mk2) took seventh ahead of Martin Hodgson/tony Jones (Escort Mk2) while another young prodigy, Daniel Hiorns, and co-driver Daniel May took ninth in their Subaru Impreza. John Griffiths/nigel Wetton rounded out the top 10 in a similar Impreza.
With a near-capacity entry, the classes were hard fought, with Andy Fawcett/chris Purvis (Vauxhall
Nova) clinching the 1400cc win and Des Campbell/craig Forsyth (Peugeot 206) doing likewise in the 1600cc class. The two-litre class went the way of Martyn Tinker/iain Peterson (Lotus Exige) with Classes 4 and 5 being won by
Swift and Bardy respectively.