Win/win scenario for Tom Cave in Cumbria and Wales
Posted: May 31, 2011 12:39 PM
Teenage rally driver Tom Cave enjoyed a near perfect two days of rallying this weekend, with an outright win and a class win to his name. He and regular co-driver Craig Parry finished Saturday's Malcolm Wilson Rally in sixth place overall and first in class N4, then followed that up by winning Sunday's Mid Wales Stages rally outright at their first attempt.
Driving their 2004-specification Group N Subaru, prepared and run by Davis Motorsport services and fitted with Pirelli BRC tyres, 19 year-old Cave and Parry knew it would be a tough weekend; two rallies, each a full day of stage action, separated by almost 180 miles, with the Malcolm Wilson rally based in Cockermouth and the Mid Wales stages, in Newtown.
Tom laid out his stall on the Malcolm Wilson early; he and former BTRDA Production Cup champion Tristan Pye were trading times on almost every stage, with occasional times from former British Championship contender and Sky Sports BRC presenter Robbie Head in amongst the action. However, Tom and Pye began to stretch out a lead at the head of the field, swapping class position as they went.
However, Pye hit problems towards the end of the event and heading into the last pair of stages, Tom found himself with a 22 second margin over the nearest competitor. With just two stages to run, Tom elected to back off slightly for the final two tests to safeguard the result.
Having collected his trophy, and a very useful points haul for the BTRDA Gold Star, Production Cup and Junior Driver awards, he and Parry headed south on the M6, ready for another day of action at the wheel of the Impreza.
Tom and Craig began the event - eventually at 12.00 - in their trademark style, by attacking from the start. Although there were only four stages making up the event, they were all long, in the region of 10 miles each and very demanding - they had formed part of last year's Wales Rally GB route.
As he has done on the last few events, Tom set the fastest time on the opening stage, going through some 11 seconds faster than both an N12 Subaru and a World Rally Car. He maintained the momentum to arrive at the day's service, after the second stage, with a 28second lead at the head of the field.
He and Craig continued where they left off and by the time they arrived at the finish ramp, had increased their lead to almost 44 seconds and with it, took the outright win of the event.
Speaking on Sunday evening, Tom said: "This has been a fantastic weekend - I am absolutely shattered now but it's been amazing.
"On the Malcolm Wilson, I was slightly surprised at Tom Naughton's pace to begin with but then, Craig and I found a really good rhythm in the car. It all seemed to click and it felt manageable and competitive. It was really important to find that feeling, I think, as we needed to maintain the pace throughout the day and it's especially satisfying considering it's such a old car - we really had to drive the door handles off it to stay ahead of the Evo9s...
"On Sunday, on the Mid Wales, I knew the first stage reasonably well from Rally GB in the past and I knew that if I pushed hard, we might catch the others napping and get them on the back foot. As it transpired, that's just what happened - we took time out of them and they had to push to catch up and that meant that it was more likely for them to make mistakes.
"I think this weekend, everything just came together - I feel I was driving better than I have done for a long time, Craig was perfect on the notes, the Pirelli BRC-spec tyres worked really well and the Davis Motorsport boys gave us a really good car.
"This weekend has given me a lot more confidence and experience as we look ahead to the Bulldog rally, the next round of the British Rally Championship. We just need to keep this momentum going..."
This weekend's results mean that Tom now leads the BTRDA Production Cup and Junior Driver Award, is fourth in the BTRDA Gold Star Driver category and second in the British Rally Championship.
His next event will be the second round of the BRC, the Bulldog Rally, on 2 April.
KUMHO-SHOD CARS ACHIEVE A ONE-TWO ON THE MALCOLM WILSON RALLY
Posted: May 31, 2011 12:35 PM
The win by Andy Burton and Robin Kellard in their Peugeot Cosworth on last weekend’s (Saturday, March 5) Malcolm Wilson Rally brought Kumho’s tally of 2011 rally victories to three in just three weeks. Moreover, with the Subaru Impreza of Roger Chilman and Andrew Sankey finishing second overall, and the Mitsubishi Evo IX of Stephen Petch and John Richardson coming home eighth, Kumho-shod cars filled three of the top 10 places on this popular event.
Saturday’s meeting was the 36th running of the Malcolm Wilson rally, which was sponsored by the man himself and based at his immaculately presented M-Sport premises at Dovenby Hall, Cockermouth – the home of the Ford WRC rally teams. The competition was run through stunning Lake District scenery, for which the 45 miles of prime forestry commission roads were split into seven special stages.
With the first two rounds to his name, Burton already has a handy lead in the eight-rally Silverstone Tyres BTRDA Rally Championship, the next round of which is the Somerset Stages event on April 16.
Said Kumho’s European Motorsport Manager Steve Thompson, “Andy is clearly on a roll and our gravel tyres once again proved to be the best rubber for the job. We will continue to look after our growing number of runners to the best of our ability and hope the season continues as successfully as it has started.”
'No Excuses' for Bird on Malcolm Wilson Rally
Posted: May 31, 2011 12:34 PM
Penrith rally driver Paul Bird saw his hopes of a record breaking fourth win on the Malcolm Wilson Rally disappear when he could only manage a fourth placed finish on his local event in the Lake District today.
Along with Scottish co driver Kirsty Riddick, the Frank Bird Poultry Ltd-sponsored and D-Mack tyres-shod Ford Focus WRC pairing were hopeful of a good result on their home round of the Silverstone Competition Tyres BTRDA Rally Series following a fine second place on the opening round at the Wyedean Rally last month.
With dry conditions in the forests around Keswick and Ambleside, Bird was only sixth fastest through the opening Comb stage before dropping even more time in Hobcarton before recovering a little in Greystoke to hold fourth place at Penrith Truckstop service, 30 seconds down on leader Hugh Hunter (Ford Focus).
Into the two Grizedale tests which saw the demise of the Kawasaki World Superbike team boss when leading last year, and despite charging hard, Bird still couldn't make inroads into the leaders and arrived back at second service in Penrith some 38 seconds adrift of Andy Burton's Peugeot Cosworth now in the lead.
With a few adjustments made to the Dom Buckley-prepared car, Bird headed off to the final two stages in Greystoke and Wythop hoping he could at least make the podium but it wasn't to be and he arrived back at the Cockermouth finish in fourth position and unable to add to his victories in 2004, 2006 and 2007.
Despite the result, the good news is that Bird and Riddick hold second place in the championship table going into the third round which takes place on April 16th with The Somerset Stages based in Minehead.
Paul Bird: "No excuses! I just simply didn't drive well enough today and against this level of competition, that's what happens. There was nothing wrong with the car, everything was absolutely fine, it was down to the driver today and the harder I tried the more mistakes I made and lost even more time. You get days like this and after two retirements in the past two years on this event, I'm pleased to see the finish this year. I'll take consolation in that we are still second in the championship and go to Somerset knowing I seriously have to up my game if I'm to win this championship. Today was a setback, but it's certainly not over yet."
Results
Posted: May 31, 2011 12:31 PM
1 Andrew Burton/Robin Kellard - Peugeot Cosworth - 0:49:10
2 Roger Chilman/Andrew Sankey - Subaru Impreza - 0:49:17
3 Charlie Payne/Craig Thorley - Ford Focus WRC - 0:49:38
4 Paul Bird/Kirsty Riddick - Ford Focus WRC - 0:49:50
5 David Howells/Julian Wilkinson - Subaru Impreza - 0:51:22
6 Tom Cave/Craig Parry - Subaru Impreza - 0:51:24
7 Tom Naughton/Horace Saville - Mitsubishi Evo 9 - 0:51:38
8 Stephen Petch/John Richardson - Mitsubishi Evo 9 - 0:51:51
9 Jamie Anderson/Ella Flynn - Mitsubishi Evo 9 - 0:52:04
10 Richard Cook/Edwin Cook - Subaru Impreza - 0:52:19
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