Round eight: Trackrod Historic CupThere were two more category victories for Patrick Watts/Elgan Davies and Steven Smith/John Nichols on round eight of the 2006 Armajaro MSA British Historic Rally Championship, the Trackrod Historic Cup (7 October).The results set up a dramatic title showdown for the final event in Somerset at the end of October. Meanwhile, David Stokes/Guy Weaver and Neil Calvert/Michelle Calvert were worthy runners-up in their respective categories after a day of tough competition in the Yorkshire forests.Historic (category 1)"I'm not going loony," reported Watts at service after the first leg of stages, including the mighty 18-miler in Dalby. "The car's fine; a bit of understeer," was his only concern and they duly kept the Tiger comfortably ahead of the Lotus Cortina pack to take a resounding victory.
"I was trying to catch Patrick, but it's impossible. I'll have to get a Tiger," joked Neil Calvert after leading the chase of Watts/Davies. However, by the time crews returned to Pickering after the final two stages in Cropton and Gale Rigg, the gap was a minute and a half. Nevertheless, it was another excellent result for the Calverts as they went comfortably clear of the rest of the Lotus Cortinas.
Paul Mankin, partnered by Mike Robinson, had one of the best runs to date to claim third overall in category 1 in his Lotus Cortina and just edged the similar car of Chris Green/Dennis Turner in the process. "It won't pull past 6000rpm," said Green after the first three stages, suggesting some form of fuel regulator problem.
Having to stop and change a puncture in Langdale seemed to have cost Clive King/Bob Ward a chance of winning class C2 in their Mini Cooper S. However, the MG Midget of James Stait/Gill Cotton going off on the opening stage helped their cause and they managed to overhaul Mike Barratt/Jody Watson with a big attack in Dalby.
Then, Barratt/Watson suffered another cruel non-finish on the final leg, so King/Ward took the class from Adam and Ian Tomlinson (MG Midget). "Cracking stages; that's only his sixth ever rally," said Ian of his son in the driver's seat of the Midget.Post-historic (category 2)Smith/Nichols started as they meant to go on by attacking from the very beginning of the rally. Realising that they would tackle the Cropton and Gale Rigg stages after the modern field, they decided to push very hard through the morning stages and try to build a cushion for the later, and probably rougher, stages. It was a plan that worked perfectly. In the first four miles of the opening High Moor stage, the XS Racing Porsche was eight seconds up on the rest of the field and the margin was 42s at service. "We wanted a cushion going into the last two stages," admitted Smith, and they duly returned to Pickering 35s ahead.
Stokes/Weaver were clear in second, despite an early scare when the dashboard tried to catch fire on the way out of the start. They turned off the trip, and all was well. "We can’t catch that thing out of the corners," said Stokes, pointing to the Porsche.
A cracking third in post-historic went to Sean Lockyear/Chris Wood (Porsche 911). "I've not rallied for three months, so we had a slow start," said Lockyear before upping his pace well through the rest of the event. Being only three seconds slower than Stokes in Dalby was particularly pleasing. Andrew Street/Jez Mason had another good day in their 911, although any hope of chasing Lockyear was lost when the pink machine suffered gearbox dramas in Gale Rigg and they had to back right off to ensure a finish. Yet another excellent run in C4 netted fourth in class for the Porsche of Paul Drinkall/Roy Brown.
Despite starting at the tail of the field as a late entry, Vince Bristow/Dean Mitchell (Escort Mk1) claimed C2 in style and fourth fastest post-historic through Dalby in a 1600cc car showed just how hard they were trying. With John Worthing/Bill Robertson out on the opening stage when a screw fell out of the ignition of their Escort, the way was open for Ken Forster/John Stanger-Leathes to take the C2 title with second in class. "We're happy with second; we needed the points," said Forster.
Another class title settled was in C3, where Martin Kenny won the class to make certain of the title as Eddie Myatt came out of retirement to co-drive the Escort Mk1 for the first time.
