Christmas Stages Rally at Croft

[The Count]

Northallerton Automobile Club’s annual Christmas Stages Rally takes place at Croft Circuit near Darlington next Saturday (28th December) with not only a capacity 90 car entry, but one of the strongest ever fields set to contest the annual event.

Leading the way will be four times winners and defending champions, Kevin Procter from Scruton and his Little Langton co driver Dave Bellerby, in their Procters Coaches Subaru WRC. The local pair has been victorious in four out of the last five years and start as favourites again but it won’t be a foregone conclusion as there are a host of top crews intent on wresting honours on one of the most popular festive motorsport events in the country.

Pickhill’s Chris Wise once again brings his iconic MG Metro 6R4 to Croft looking for that elusive first win on the event whereby once again he’ll be sharing the car with Tracey Taylor-West. Also expected to be challenging is the Ford Focus WRC of rising Cumbrian star Peter Taylor with County Durham co-driver Jack Morton on the maps and the driver who is rapidly making a name for himself could well spring a surprise.

After missing the event for the past couple of years, 2005 winners, Scotch Corner's Tony Bardy and Richmond co-driver Reg Smith, are back in action in their Nissan Sunny GTi-R but following is a car that Smith knows all about. That’s because the unique Proton Millington of Ben Mellors and co-driver Alex Lee is one which Smith occasionally competes in whilst working for the World Championship MEM team which runs it. However, both Mellors and Lee suffered a nasty accident on last month’s Malton Rally which necessitated hospital treatment so this will be their comeback.

Teesside businessman Peter Stephenson swaps his gravel-specification Ford Focus WRC for his Subaru Impreza and is expected to be co-driven by Northallerton’s Ian Windress whereas Darlington’s Paul Swift always goes well on the event and will be looking to add to his considerable successes in his Ford Escort Mk2 which he’s sharing with David Cox.

The second of the Mellors siblings is Ollie and he drives the Ford Escort Mk2 normally used by brother Ben whereby he’ll be co-driven by Jemma Champion, wife of former Mitsubishi Challenge winner Ryan whilst the Yorkshire pairing of Craig Pennington and Michael Calvert will also be in action in their Mitsubishi Lancer.

Completing the top ten is Catterick Village ace Martyn Tinker along with teenage Welsh co-driver Jacqueline Jones who will look to continue the form which has seen them land a club championship already this season.

In addition to a top ten which wouldn’t look out of place on a British Championship event, the event features a host of local drivers hoping to perform well in front of an expected bumper crowd at the North Yorkshire venue.

Hutton Rudby pair Ian and Stephen Woodhouse will fancy their chances in Class 4 in their Ford Escort Mk2 whilst Mickleton garage proprietor Alistair Hutchinson and Barnard Castle co-driver St John Dykes will prove a major threat in Class 3 in their LPG-powered Renault Clio.

Geoff Wright from Richmond has repaired his Nissan Almera Kit Car since a heavy accident in the Isle of Man earlier in the season and is back in action whereas the battle for Class 1 honours is expected to be fought out between Witton Gilbert’s Andrew Fawcett and Durham co-driver Chris Purvis (Vauxhall Nova) and the Richmondshire Constantine brothers, Mark and Andrew, in their Vauxhall Corsa.

Aiskew’s Joe Cunningham and co driver Glen Coates will be hoping for another good showing whereas the Durham pairing of Ed Todd and Andy Brown traditionally go well in their unique GTM Coupe. Northallerton duo Graeme Bell and Russ Radford had a recent fourth place overall at Blyton in their Ford Escort Mk2 so will be hoping to continue that good form and the four-wheel drive battle will continue with Guisborough taxidermist Dave Hornbrook (Mitsubishi) and Stokesley’s Darren Wilcox in his Subaru.

Whashton brothers Paul and Chris Alsop usually go well in their venerable Talbot Sunbeam whilst Citroen Saxo rallycross aces John Gaskin from Chop Gate and Ingleby Barwick’s Martin Peters are sure to figure also. Also in recent rallycross action was the Northallerton duo of Darren Grimston and Larry Carter (Peugeot 206) and the pair will again be in action although Grimston was still determining his choice of car right up to the event,

Thirkleby is well represented with Rob Herrington (Ford Escort) and Jon Trenholme (Subaru) as is the Whitby region with Alan Hick (Peugeot 206), Ian Horn (Vauxhall Nova) and Neil Marshall (Peugeot 205). Darlington drivers Kev Tennick (Peugeot 205) and Craig Hesse (Subaru) will also be in action, so too will Bill Bates from Sinderby (Lotus Exige), Bedale’s Ben Farrow (Peugeot 205), Hutton Rudby driver Kevin Liddle (Citroen Saxo) and Thirsk’s Andrew Chandler (Ford Escort).

The action starts at 9.00am with gates opening at 8.00am. Adult admission is £10 each with accompanied children aged 15 and under admitted free. More details at www.croftcircuit.co.uk

Christmas Stages Rally – Top 10

1 Kevin Procter/Dave Bellerby Subaru Impreza
2 Chris Wise/Tracey Taylor West MG Metro 6R4
3 Peter Taylor/Jack Morton Ford Focus WRC
4 Tony Bardy/Reg Smith Nissan Sunny GTi-R
5 Ben Mellors/Alex Lee Proton Millington
6 Peter Stephenson/Ian Windress Subaru Impreza
7 Paul Swift/David Cox Ford Escort Mk2
8 Ollie Mellors/Jemma Champion Ford Escort Mk2
9 Craig Pennington/Michael Calvert Mitsubishi Lancer
10 Martyn Tinker/Jacqueline Jones Lotus Exige

Full seeded entry list: https://www.rallies.info/webentry/2013/xmas/entries.php

[The Count]

And before anyone says 'you've missed so-and-so...', this is the copy of a newspaper report that I've submitted to the Darlington & Stockton Times and Northern Echo whereby they are mainly interested in competitors within a 20/30 mile radius of Darlington, so hence it refers to some (but not all) who fall within that geographical location...

[geordiecriag101]

Another great event and well done to everyone involved and congratulatons to Kevin Proctor on another win, even if his scoobie was a bit battered by the end of the day. roll on next year. here's sum of the action i managed to get, all comments welcome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXDyFXmAyFw