Taylor and Bielby battle to seventh spot at Roger Albert Clark Rally (From Darlington and Stockton Times)

Taylor and Bielby battle to seventh spot at Roger Albert Clark Rally

2:08pm Friday 20th November 2009

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MORTON on Swale driver Charlie Taylor, along with Pickering co-driver Steve Bielby, were in action last weekend on the four-day long Roger Albert Clark Rally whereby they finished in a fine seventh place overall.

Driving the Charlie Taylor Garage Services Ford Escort Mk2, the pair got off to a cautious start on Friday evening’s spectator stages at Pickering Showground as well as a tricky forest stage in Langdale and held 14th at the overnight halt, just a minute off the lead.

Taylor, whose best result on the event is a pair of fourth place finishes overall, clawed back some time on the Saturday stages through his native Yorkshire and into the Kielder night stages and at the Carlisle halt, he had elevated himself to ninth.

Sunday saw the crews head north to Scotland before returning through the Lake District, and Taylor managed to climb to eighth as they headed in the early Monday morning fog through Kielder Forest and at the Carlisle finish ramp on Monday afternoon, Taylor had climbed to seventh and fifth in class.

Also in action was West Rounton’s Chris Blake and co-driver Tony Walker, from Barnard Castle, in their Northallerton Tyre and Battery-sponsored Ford Escort Mk I. Blake was a veteran of the old World Championship format back in the 1980s and was attempting the event in its modern guise for the first time.

Standing 37th after Friday night’s loop, Blake encountered problems through Yorkshire and dropped down the leaderboard but, just as he was fighting back, the car stopped on the second of the final day’s stages and forced them out.

WHITBY driver Nick Cook failed by just eight seconds to add his name to an illustrious list of winners when he was denied victory on last Saturday’s RAC Rally-supporting Kall Kwik Rally.

Along with co-driver Neil Colls, the Ford Escort Mk1 pairing had to give second best to rivals Dave Brick and Rob Woodhouse (Ford Escort Mk II) but it was a day long scrap in the Yorkshire forests and around the Olivers Mount racetrack in Scarborough.

Cook hit the front on the second stage around Olivers Mount and held on through Harwood Dale, but Brick took it back by a second in Langdale 1. From there, the pair traded blows throughout the day and, despite Cook being fastest through the final Langdale stage in darkness, Brick held on for victory.

Also competing in the De Lacy Motor Club-organised event was former Birkby residents, now living in Scotland, Carl and Rob Tuer who finished on the podium in third place in their Super 1600 specification MGZR, whereas Thirsk driver Mat Smith and co-driver Darren Smith, of Pickering, claimed a deserved fourth place overall in their 1600cc Peugeot 205 GTi.

Moulton driver Simon Cole and co-driver Steve Waggett, from Teesside, were also in action in the BMW Challenge and they claimed tenth overall, one place behind York driver John Clayton. The Northallerton pairing of John Tillett and Guy Kirby claimed 19th overall and fifth in class in their Ford Escort, whereas the Ripon pairing of Glyn and Mark Casey had to overcome a huge tenminute road penalty but saw the finish in 26th place overall in their Vauxhall Nova.

Sadly, three local crews didn’t see the finish, including Brotton’s Chris Birkbeck and Castleton co-driver Joyce Champion who retired their Opel Kadett on the second run around Olivers Mount and last year’s Kall Kwik winner Ian Davison got no further than SS4 in his challenge-specification 2.5 litre BMW 325i. Ripon brother and sister, Gary and Kirsty Beckwith, also retired their Ford Escort Mk II.

LEEMING’S Kevin Procter continued his winning ways with a double victory in the final round of the Irish Rallycross Championship held at Mondello Park near Dublin last Sunday.

Driving the Procter’s Luxury Coaches Ford Focus WRC, Procter saw off a strong Irish contingent to win the Supercar final ahead of Tommy Graham and the Yorkshireman fended off Graham in the Superfinal too to round off a memorable season of rallycross.

The annual awards presentation for the Rallycross Open Championship takes place at Ripon Spa Hotel next Saturday night with all the top drivers and teams in attendance and for tickets, priced at £35 each, or further details, please contact Peter Stott on 07791-900770.

THE popular Specsavers Christmas Stages Rally, originally scheduled for Monday 28th December 2009 at Croft Circuit in North Yorkshire, will now take place on Saturday, January 2 instead.

The organiser, Northallerton Automobile Club Ltd, was informed by Croft Circuit of the required change and following consultation with the committee, rather than cancel the event which attracts some of the leading competitors in the country, it was decided that both scrutineering and documentation, as well as the rally itself, will now take place just five days later than planned.

The change of date was due to the ramifications of the High Court Injunction served on Croft earlier this year, which now restricts the facility to a maximum of just 40 days of noisy track activities a year.

The necessity in having to alter the date from its popular Christmas Bank Holiday Monday slot, will be a major disappointment to thousands of fans who were expecting to attend but the event will return to the traditional date next year.

Despite the enforced date change, already entries are flooding in and over half of the 95 places have been snapped up within the first couple of weeks so prospective competitors are urged to enter quickly and regulations are available to download at www.northallerton- ac.co.uk.

STOCKTON and District Motor Club, in association with the F1000 Rally Club, will be running an event based entirely at Teesside Autodrome, near Middlesbrough, on December 6 2009.

The event is open to F1000 Rally Challenge specification cars, including Super 1000, and there is a separate event for F1000 Junior Rally crews. The organisers will be running at least ten stages with a mileage of at least 20 miles and four stages will feature a short loose section which is compacted shale.

Scrutineering and documentation will all take place from 7am on the Sunday and entries are restricted to only 35 cars.

Further information is available at www.formula1000.co.uk FORMER British andWorld Superbike Champion Neil Hodgson will make a rare visit to Northallerton on Tuesday, when he takes part in the latest North Yorkshire Road Racing Supporters Club chat show.

The chat show takes place at the Mowbray Suite at the Golden Lion Hotel and doors open at 7.30pm, with the show starting at 8:00pm. Admission is £3 for NYRRSC members, £5 for other guests, and there is the usual bar and raffle. For further information, contact Mike Reed on 07979-702338.

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