Round 4 – Sunday 8th July 2007.

Seventeen drivers signed on for Round 4 of the 2007 Rallysprint and it was nice to see the return of a couple of regulars from last season, Luke Collison reigning champion and Dave Daniels. Also making his debut was Seamus Ascott in his Corsa.

With all of the rain of the previous weeks there was some question over the condition of the stages, but with the exception of one chicane all parts were able to be used.

Baz had come up with three different stages and brought back some sections that had not been for several events.

Stage 1 was the traditional opener with the long blast down the straight into Paddys bend. Craig Schofield was first on the road and did a bit of sweeping for the following cars. Unfortunately Stage 1 saw the early departure of Dave Daniels in his Metro which developed a fairly major oil leak. Seamus Ascotts Corsa was also trailing a plume of blue smoke and everyone feared the worst, however it seemed to clear and was put down to over filling with oil. Stage 2 was a repeat of 1 and most people bettered their time as they got back into the swing of it, although Craig had to stop on the stage loosen his belts and turn on the fuel pump as his Escort ground to a halt.. This stage also claimed Luke who had to retire with a broken engine mounting.

Stages 3 and 4 included the hairpin at the top of the hill and the loop back in front of the paddock. Stage 3 did not claim anyone else but the same could not be said for stage 4. Pedro in his smart Peugeot 206 had been the most committed into the off camber 90 left onto the main straight to start the second lap, however on Stage 4 the Peugeot got slightly out of shape approaching the left hander resulting in Pedro clipping a bale on the inside of the corner which sent the car into a big roll ending up in the trees on the outside of the bend. Thankfully the car went into the trees backwards and landed on its wheels. Praise must go to Mick and Mel, the start line marshals who were both running to the car BEFORE it had come to a stand still, Mel sensibly bringing the fire extinguisher. As the dust settled everyone was more than relieved to see Pedro out of the car and walking away, and still smiling.

Whilst the car sustained some fairly heavy damage on the front end Pedro was fine has probably got it repaired as you read this. This accident does remind us that motorsport is dangerous and we should all ensure our cars are properly prepared and we have our belts and crash helmets correctly fastened etc. We have tried to make the venue as safe as possible but these things can still happen.

After lunch the remaining stages were completed, everyone giving Pedros corner a little more respect. Craig and Sam began to have clutch problems with their Escort and Craig decided to retire after Stage 5 to prevent any further damage. The rumour is Team Schofield are planning to debut their BMW on the next round which has previously been used for Ice Racing.

The last few stages passed off with out an incidents and the results were as follows :-

In Class A Roy Gravestock continues his clean sweep winning the class and finishing 4th overall. Alex Cannon came in 2nd in class and 5th overall, 20 seconds behind Roy. Colin Smith continued to get used to his Rover and finished 3rd in Class and 6th overall.

In Class B Darren Knights was 1st in class and first overall, Jim Hedgecock was 2nd in Class and second overall and Mike Bishop rounded off the top three.

Alex Cannon also took maximum points in the Junior class. This class was not well supported this round as exams and revision are taking priority for some of our regular drivers.

Spirit if the Rally award can only go to one person, Pedro. Despite having a big accident he was still the first person to pay his entry for the next round. Good man.

Darren Knights

Club Chairman.

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