STRONG LINE-UP FOR CARLISLE STAGES CLASH
David Henderson, Elliot Payne and Stephen Petch will go head to head on this Saturday’s Carlisle Stages as the three Ford Fiesta Rally2s tackle six stages in the Kielder complex.
As the final round of the Scottish Rally Championship, as well as the final round of the British Historic Rally Championship, the Carlisle event has drawn a 90-strong entry and it is Henderson who is top seed following on from his victories on the Galloway Hills and Trackrod rallies. New BTRDA Gold Star champion Payne will follow him away from the start at Kielder Castle. Other leading four-wheeldrive entries include Scottish frontrunners Jack Armstrong, Michael Binnie and
Angus Lawrie.
The leading non-historic twowheel-drive cars are the Ford Escort Mk2s of John Crawford and Paddy Munro. Meanwhile, a contingent of Irish crews are travelling over for the event, including Mark Donnelly in his Ford Fiesta R5. Donnelly has only rallied in the UK forests a couple of times before and has no experience of the
Kielder stages.