Malcolm Wilson Rally - 03 Mar 07

Posted: March 5, 2007 12:12 PM

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Fiesta SportingTrophy- Tommi takes ‘First Blood’
23 competitors today started the first round of the 2007 Fiesta SportingTrophy, the Malcolm Wilson Rally, based at the M Sport headquarters in Cockermouth.

Of these, 20 year old Tommi Walster from Nottingham and co driver Tim Sturla emerged from the 45 stage miles of classic Lake District stages to win by 18 seconds.

Cold, bright conditions greeted crews as they set off from the town centre start in Cockermouth Main Street.

SS1 saw the crews tackle the 6.5 miles of Greystoke forest. The road conditions had benefited from extensive renovations over the winter period and it was 19 year old, Bristol based driver, Adam Gould, co driven by Simon Sparey who emerged fastest with a time twelve seconds quicker than closest rival.

Crews then had an opportunity to catch up with their teams for a 20 minute service in Penrith before setting off for the scenic journey south for two stages in the Grizedale complex near Coniston Water.

SS2, Grizedale South, was the longest stage of the day at 11.2 miles and saw Walster take one second back from Gould’s lead, only for Gould to re take the advantage on SS3, the seven miles of Grizedale North to take eight seconds from his rival.

In trouble on SS2 was Northern Irish driver, 18 year old Alistair Fisher. Starting SS2 in an impressive sixth position, the Enniskillen driver with the experienced Neil Dashfield on the notes suffered a technical failure which resulted in a lack of drive to the transmission.

Also in trouble was Stephen Parry Jones, taking over the Ford Fiesta ST from his father who contested the series in 2006, Parry Jones’ first rally in the Fiesta ended with an accident. While the car suffered damage and was unable to continue the crew emerged shaken but unhurt.

After the second and final service of the day in Penrith, the drivers set off for the final group of four stages. SS4 was a repeat of SS1, Greystoke. After making changes to the suspension set up in service, Walster shared fastest time with 18 year old, Northern Irish driver, Jonathan Greer from Carryduff and his co driver Jonny Hart.

For the final group of three stages based in the Whinlatter Valley near Keswick, conditions took a turn for the worse after a delay on the stages meant that crews where facing fading light and a sudden rain downpour.

SS5 saw Walster take one second from both his closest challengers Gould and Greer. However, on SS6 the 5.6 miles of Comb, the fading light contributed to a change in the lead as Gould had a tyre loose pressure early in the stage, compromising the handling of the car and lost 20 seconds in 5.6 miles to Walster.

SS7, Wythop, the 3.2 mile final stage of the event held a sting in the tail for competitors as a sudden downpour of rain, combined with the failing light, meant exceptionally hard driving conditions for the FST crews. Worst affected of the top three drivers was Gould, running later on the stages than his nearest rivals meant he experienced torrential rain and lost 21 seconds to the fastest driver.

In trouble on SS7 was Fraser Jones. Fraser, 25 from Ayr broke a driveshaft near the end of the SS6 loosing ten seconds, but would subsequently loose over one minute to his rivals driving through the final stage with one wheel drive, dropping from fourth to sixth in the final results.

At the finish of the event, Walster emerged from the gloom to win by 18 seconds from late charging Jonathan Greer with the final place on the podium going to Gould.

Tom Walster said:
“I am over the moon today – a great result. We had been working on a plan over the previous week in consultation with my colleagues in the MSA British Rally Academy and while we had to adjust it to the conditions on the day we were able to get the result we needed”

As a result of a successful results query by Colin Greer and Neil Ewing, the Scottish crew moved up to fourth overall and collected 20 championship points for round one.

Position Driver Total Time Points
1 Tom Walster / Tim Sturla 52:52 30
2 Jonathan Greer / Jonny Hart 53:10 25
3 Adam Gould / Simon Sparey 53:18 22
4 Colin Greer / Neil Ewing 53:51 20
5 Tom Curtis / Dai Roberts 54:03 18
6 Elfyn Evans / Richard Edwards 54:16 16
7 Fraser Jones / Lee Burgess 54:43 14
8 Bobby Mitchell / Seb Marshall 55:46 13
9 Liam Regan / Mark Ammonds 55:49 12
10 Eduardo Valdes / Diego Rumbo 57:29 11
11 Richard Archer / Tim Rodgers 58:27 10
12 Rory Hall / Gareth Roberts 58:40 9
13 Barry Greer / John Lemon 59:18 8
14 Chris Doherty /Simon Mills 59:48 7
15 Max Utting / Kim Baker 59:53 6
16 Clive Hilton / Dave Ingamells 01:00:15 5
17 James Everard / David Jobling 01:00:19 4
18 Philip Liddle / Ali Procter 01:02:08 3
19 Tim Sunderland / Tracy Lerpiniere 01:08:30 2

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BIRD ROMPS TO MALCOLM WILSON HAT-TRICK
In his native Lake District, Penrith rally driver Paul Bird saw off some stiff opposition to record his third victory on the Malcolm Wilson Rally today.

Having taken the win on his local event last year, Bird successfully fended off a challenge of friend and rival Steve Perez as well as Jon Ingram to take victory by twenty seconds in the Stobart VK and Vent Axia backed Pirelli shod Subaru WRC.

Grabbing the lead on the opening Greystoke stage Bird and Kirkby Stephen co driver Andy Richardson, making his debut on the event, gradually built on their advantage over the seven stages to cross the Cockermouth finish ramp twenty seconds ahead of Perez with Ingram six seconds further down in third.

Commenting on his victory Bird said "We had a trouble free run and only a puncture late on one of the Grizedale stages spoiled what would have been a perfect day but Steve and Jon really gave me a run for my money. I'm delighted to win second time out in the car and once again the TEGsport team did a fantastic job. But more importantly I've paid Perez back after he beat me on last weekend's Rallye Sunseeker! We're in good shape for the Border Counties Rally in a couple of weeks time and I'm really looking forward to trying to win that one."

The Brick and Steel Border Counties Rally takes place on March 24th based in Jedburgh whereby Bird lies in third position in the Hankook MSA Gravel Rally Championship.

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PEREZ POSTS SECOND ON MALCOLM WILSON RALLY
VK Vodka Kick rally driver Steve Perez had to settle for second place after a day of drama on today's Malcolm Wilson Rally.

The day started in dramatic fashion for Perez and Berwickshire co driver Claire Mole when they had to stop on SS1 to assist fellow Ford Focus WRC driver Andreas Mikkelson who had rolled in front of them. The subsequent time lost meant Perez was languishing down the order but sensibly the organisers awarded him a competitive time meaning he was trading seconds with eventual winner Paul Bird and the Ford Focus of Jon Ingram.

But a concerted push as the rally progressed saw him edge ahead of Ingram by six seconds but couldn't quite match local ace Bird's pace by the finish.
"I keep coming up against locals! After Marcus Dodd beat me on his local event last weekend I've come up against Birdy and he's done likewise in his back yard this time. It was a bit of a shame we didn't get a clean run through the first stage and that threw us out of our rhythm and it wasn't until late in the rally that we started to get it together again. Nevertheless two second places in as many weeks isn't a bad return but I'm going to switch my phone off as I can't bear the thought of Birdy bragging for the next couple of weeks!" said the Chesterfield driver.

Perez will next be in action on the Brick and Steel Border Counties Rally in Jedburgh which forms round two of the Hankook MSA Gravel Rally Championship, whereby Perez currently lies in second place.

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Malcolm Wilson Rally Results
1 Paul Bird/Andy Richardson (Subaru Impreza WRC) – 0:47:35
2 Steve Perez/Claire Mole (Ford Focus WRC) - 0:47:55
3 Jon Ingram/Ian Allsop (Ford Focus WRC) - 0:48:01
4 David Bogie/Rob Fagg (Mitsubishi EVO 9) - 0:49:20
5 David Wright/Shelley Rogerson (Mitsubishi EVO 9) - 0:49:57
6 Paul Benn/Richard Cooke (Ford Focus WRC) - 0:50:11
7 John Crawford/Ian Simpson (Metro 6R4) - 0:50:43
8 Iwan Rees/Aled Rees (Subaru Impreza) - 0:50:45
9 David Howells/Andy Morgan (Subaru Impreza) - 0:50:45
10 Alex Allingham/David Hackett (Subaru Impreza) - 0:51:03

Malcolm Wilson Rally

• 2007 Fiesta SportingTrophy UK