AFTER a podium finish on the recent Swift Signs Christmas Stages Rally, Graeme Bell and Russ Radford from Northallerton went a couple of places better to take a debut win in their Bellford Developments-backed MEM Proton Millington Satria Neo on the Cartersport-supported Jack Frost Stages Rally last Sunday.

Heavy rain greeted competitors at Croft Circuit for Darlington and District Motor Club’s annual extravaganza and quickest out of the blocks was Mark Jasper’s Ford Escort Mk2 which who stopped the clocks a second ahead of the MG Metro 6R4 of Peter Smith with Brompton-on-Swale’s Geoff Wright and Chris Sanderson in third in their Booth Construction-sponsored Ford Fiesta S2000.

Already in trouble, however, was last year’s winners, Guy Smith and Patrick Walsh, who struggled with problems on their Ford Fiesta R5 and dropped half a minute due to a broken steering rack which ended their challenge, but continued in the event for testing purposes.

Malton driver Rob Snowden powered his Ford Escort into contention with stage wins on the next two tests but as the track dried, SS4 proved pivotal to the results. Guy Smith won the stage ahead of Bell but an incorrect tyre choice dropped Snowden nearly half a minute meaning he was left to rue the decision despite hanging on to a slender three-second lead at the interval. It was to prove a costly mistake.

By SS5 the track was rapidly drying as Bell pulled two seconds back on Snowden meaning they went into SS6 just one second apart before Bell rammed home his advantage ahead of Smith and Thirsk pairing Chris Wise/Tracey Taylor-West who were now getting to grips with their newly-acquired Ford Fiesta S2000 in third. It all meant Bell’s lead was up to 14 seconds as dusk started to fall on the North Yorkshire racetrack.

Smith was quickest on SS7 ahead of Bell as Snowden dropped more time to his rival but just to stamp his authority on the event, Bell won the final stage ahead of Wright and Snowden to eventually take the victory by 30 seconds over Snowden. Wright, in only his second outing in the car, took fourth ahead of Wise with Mickleton’s Alistair Hutchinson and Aycliffe co-driver Tom Bruce seventh in their Lightning Signs-backed Renault Clio, taking the Class 3 win in the process.

Thirlby’s Ben Cree, along with Durham co-driver Andy Brown, impressed on their debut in the SGP Motorsport Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 which came as their prize drive for winning the SG Petch ANECCC Championship as they took 13th overall, three places ahead of Guisborough pair Dave Hornbrook and Matthew Sample in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 4.

Alun Pearson from Swainby and co-driver Simon Brook claimed 18th overall and fourth in class in their Peugeot 205 whilst the Bishop Auckland pair of Rob Burke and Steve Perry ended up 24th overall in their Subaru. Northallerton’s Larry Carter and George Smith finished 30th overall and sixth in class in their Yorkshire Van Lease-backed Peugeot 206 with the Mitsubishi Lancer of Teessiders George Scott and Ian Jackson in 33rd overall.

Leeming Bar’s Dave Johnstone and Pickhill co-driver Bruce Lindsay took 34th overall and seventh in class in their Chonka MOTs-supported Peugeot 205, two places ahead of Whitby’s Neil Marshall and Guisborough co-driver Mick Scrimgour’s similar car. Wensleydale co-driver Rachel Foster guided Mike Percival to 37th overall and ninth in class in their Fosters Coaches-backed Vauxhall Corsa, with Chop Gate brothers Mark and John Gaskin finishing 39th overall and 10th in class in their Citroen Saxo.

Pickhill co-driver Kari Bates took the Class 6 win along with John Nicholson on the way to 40th overall in their Ford Escort, just ahead of Darlington father and daughter, Kev and Ashleigh Tennick in their Peugeot 306. Thirkleby driver Rob Herrington and Thirsk co-driver Charlotte Wainwright finished 42nd overall in their Subaru whilst Northallerton’s Charlie Taylor, along with Exelby co-driver John Richardson, continued their test programme in their Ford Escort to end up 46th overall.

Stockton driver Martin Peters, along with Hutton Rudby’s Jason Leaf took 47th overall and 11th in class in their Preston Farms MOT-backed Citroen Saxo, just one place ahead of Redmire pair David Bowers and Andrew Foster in their Vauxhall Nova. Northallerton brothers Andrew and Richard Chandler took fourth in class on their way to 51st overall in their 1300cc Ford Escort with Staindrop’s Colin Butler and co-driver Andrew Hutchinson finishing 54th and 13th in class in their Renault Clio.

The tricky conditions contributed to 15 of the 75 starters not seeing the finish including Durham’s Ed Todd and Andy Hutchinson who lost a wheel on SS3 on their GTM Coupe. The same stage claimed Richmond’s Luke Searle and Darlington co-driver David Cox’s Rover S1600 whilst SS6 ended the hopes of Bedale pair Ben Farrow and Ben Searle’s Peugeot 205 with exhaust problems. Hamsterley driver David Coatsworth accompanied by Pickhill co-driver Chris Pattison retired their MG ZR on SS5 whilst SS7 accounted for Thirsk’s Nick Kitching and Andrew Trollope in their Ford Escort.