Mike and Peter second
Last updated 23:43, Thursday, 10 April 2008
THE FOCUS was on rallying last weekend as the Brick and Steel Border Counties Rally attracted a lot of Cumbrian entrants for the event in Jedburgh.
It was also poignant as only two days later, on April 7, it was the 30th anniversary of the death of the greatest motoring borderer of all time, twice World Champion, Jim Clark, who live not a million miles away from Jeburgh.
However, the rally used the stages in the notorious fast and difficult stages of Keilder Forest which in the golden era of the RAC Rally was dubbed Killer Keilder because so many crews succumbed to its car-breaker reputation.
150 crews tackled the rally which was, in fact, two rallies in one – the National A which was won by Durham driver and twice Scottish Champion, Barry Johnson, at the wheel of the Andreas Mikkelson Ford Focus WRC but it was the National B part which had our local heroes doing battle.
Gretna’s Mike Faulkner and Peter Foy were delighted to claim second overall in their Evo 6 Mitsubishi, 23 seconds behind the winning Subaru Impreza of Ali Thornburn from beyond our boundaries.
But winning his class yet again was well-chuffed Crackenthorpe driver, Kris Hall with Chris Ridge on the notes in their Ford Fiesta which also claimed 18th place.
Kris is a member of the MSA British Rally Academy and has recently attended a training weekend which is based on sport psychology, fitness, media skills, nutrition, sponsorship and driving skills.
As Kris is a hardened competitor having started in grass tracking and with a rally ace dad, Dougie, I am sure that while any extra assistance Kris can get will help, he has already proved himself to be top driver in the making.
Carlisle co-driver, Alan Cathers, got his man, Rory Young, to sixth overall who was driving their Mitsubishi EVO 5.
Langwathby’s Marcus Noble was out in his immaculate Noble’s Garage Mk2 Ford Escort with Helen Hall on the maps and though he found the stages a bit rough and with only rear-wheel drive, he managed to get the classic rally car to 27th overall.
Five places below, in 32nd position, was Geoff Wilson and Richard Cook for West Cumbria in another classic Ford Escort Mk2 which also claimed second in class, while Carlisle’s Barry and Michael Lindsay did not have as an enjoyable time in their diminutive Kolbeh at Skitby Peugeot 106 GTi.
The small Pug found the rutted Keilder stages to be difficult and ended up 38th overall and third in class which is rare from them as they have so much class-winning silver they could supply the Royal Mint.
Keilder will soon be roaring with the sound of high-powered rally cars as Cumbria’s premier rally, the Pirelli International sponsored by Tesco 99, has a fantastic entry of top drivers in exotic four-wheel cars as well as a huge contingent of classic rally cars to delight the crowds.
Based in Carlisle, where the start and finish will be in front of the Town Hall, the service area is at the Rally Village at Carlisle Airport where fans will be able to get up close and personal with the crews.
The Historic cars are flagged off on Friday, April 18, at 6pm with the Internationals off at 7.30 for four stages in Kershope and are due back at 8.30pm onwards.
Both start Saturday from 7am with the Historics due to finish at midday with the Internationals at 6pm.
The National part of the rally will start on Saturday at midday and do four stages before a City centre finish at 5pm.
