PRESTON SHINES IN THE RAIN TO GRAB SLENDER VICTORY
Winning margin was just 12 seconds after close battle for Tyneside Stages glory
Organiser: Alnwick & DMC/ Berwick & DMC When: August 4 Where: Otterburn, Northumberland Championships: Scottish Tarmack Championship; North of England Tarmacadam; English Rally Championships Stages: 12 Starters: 69
Tom Preston and Andrew Roughead survived a war of attrition on the Otterburn Ranges last Sunday to win the Tyneside Stages Rally by just 12 seconds from Rory Young and Allan Cathers.
Preston rode his luck as, running first car on the road, his Ford Fiesta RS WRC hit a patch of gravel at a square-right halfway through the opening stage, and slid straight on. There was no contact and no damage but Preston dropped vital seconds. Daniel Harper had a similar incident in SS3 in his Mini WRC, but he too got away with just lost time.
At the end of the first loop of three tests, Young in his Fiesta R5 had a three-second lead over Preston with Harper a further nine seconds back, tying with the Ford Escort Mk2 of Andrew Kirkaldy.
When Kirkaldy disappeared in the fourth stage with a bent axle, the top three continued to battle furiously until the matter was settled on the final stage.
Claiming a touch of divine intervention, Preston’s Fiesta RS WRC left final service on wets and when the heavens opened he was home and dry.
First time out in his Fiesta R5 for 10 months, Young’s pace had kept him in touch all day and even though he was quickest in the final stage it wasn’t enough to catch the leader as Harper grabbed third.
Gordon Morrison finished a fortunate fourth in his Subaru Impreza. When he stopped at the finish line of SS5, the marshal told him a rear wheel was missing a chunk of alloy and yet the tyre had stayed intact.
Graham Coffey (Fiesta S2000) was fifth and Andy Fenwick rounded off the top six first time out in his new Fiesta R5.
Kevin Proctor’s Fiesta S2000 broke its input shaft, Alistair Inglis broke a driveshaft on his Lotus Exige and Phil Jobson had brake failure on his Escort Mk2. Stephen Petch was on course for a top-10 finish until he hit a patch of wet concrete on the final stage and his Hyundai Accent WRC slid into a ditch.
Alistair/andrew Hutchinson were the only two-wheel-drive runners inside the top 10, finishing seventh in their Renault Clio while top 1600cc runner Barry Lindsay finished 11th overall in his Peugeot 106 GTI ahead of Adam Hanner in his Ford Puma.
Stephen Bethwaite took the 1400 class in his Vauxhall Nova.
Results
1 Tom Preston/andrew Roughead (Ford Fiesta RS WRC) 50m30s; 2 Rory Young/allan Cathers (Ford Fiesta R5) +12s; 3 Daniel Harper/chris Campbell (Mini JCW WRC); 4 Gordon Morrison/ Calum Macpherson (Subaru Impreza); 5 Graham Coffey/chris Purvis (Ford Fiesta S2000); 6 Andrew Fenwick/daniel May
(Fiesta R5); 7 Alistair/andrew Hutchinson (Renault Clio); 8 Paul Kirtley/david Jones (Impreza WRC); 9 John Marshall/scott Crawford (Fiesta R5); 10 Richard Slinger/stuart Walker (Mitsubishi Lancer E6).
Class winners: Stephen Bethwaite/ann Forster (Vauxhall
Nova Sport); Barry Lindsay/caroline Lodge (Peugeot 106 GTI); Hutchinson/ Hutchinson; Willie Paterson/euan O’neill (Ford
Escort Mk2); Preston/roughead; Steve Bannister/callum Atkinson (Escort Mk2).