Round 2 : Malcolm Wilson Rally – March 8

FOCUS ON THE LAKES!

As the REIS BTRDA Rally Series moves to the Lake District for Round 2, the Malcolm Wilson Rally on March 8, the current Gold Star® Champions, Euan Thorburn/Paul Beaton, return to the scene of their first success of their 2013 campaign.

Having retired from the recent Wyedean Forest Rally, they will also be looking to open their account in this year’s series.

Both Thorburn/Beaton and Wyedean winners David Bogie/Kevin Rae are currently dividing their time between the BTRDA and Scottish Championships. Although Thorburn leads his rival in the latter, following victory on the recent Snowman Rally, he now really needs a result on the Malcolm Wilson if he is to mount a serious defence of his crown.

Be that as it may, it will certainly be a big ‘ask’! Bogie, himself, was victorious on the event in 2008 and then Paul Bird, who won it in 2004/6/7, is back with Aled Davies in the ‘hot-seat’!...

All three of the aforementioned drivers are at the wheel of Ford Focus WRCs, a fact which will doubtless not have escaped the attention of the event sponsor. They are joined by those of Stephen Petch/Ian Windress and David Wright/Michael Wilkinson.

Petch’s Wyedean ended in a ditch on the opening stage, while Wright’s 2014 BTRDA Series starts here.

Luke Francis/John Roberts took a podium finish in the Forest of Dean - their former Group N Mitsubishi Lancer EVO9 is now uprated to Class B13 and, as they arrive in Cumbria, the pair are second in the Gold Star table. Ollie Mellors’ Proton Satria wasn’t far behind them and a good run in Cumbria will do wonders for his current sixth in the points.

In the Group N ‘Production Cup’ battle, the EVO9 of Russ Thompson/Andy Murphy holds the upper hand over the similar car of Roland Llewellin/Jamie Edwards. Both crews will be present to continue their friendly rivalry and they will be joined by the Impreza of Toni Carannante/Martin Auskerin.

Meanwhile, having registered a DNF on the Wyedean, Tom Naughton/Andi Mort (Lancer EVO9) are looking to the Malcolm Wilson as an opportunity to put their season back on track.

With several of the leading REIS Silver Star® Championship runners, following the Wyedean, absent on this occasion, the table is likely to look significantly different after the second round. However, it should perhaps be remembered that defending Silver Star Champion and current leader, Matthew Robinson, didn’t score a point until the Somerset Stages last April.

Even that was not one of his better days, but there is still plenty of time for any one of a number of drivers to move to the fore.

The Morris Lubricants BTRDA® 1400 Championship has the makings of an even-more competitive-than-usual series this year! Mat Smith/Giles Dykes wrung their little Ford Ka’s neck on the Wyedean to finish 11th overall and take maximum points, but the Vauxhall Corsa of Dave Bennett/Alistair McNeil was only one place and 14 seconds adrift at the end of the day.

Given a clear run, Justin Lawson/Paul Hargreaves (Nova), Dan Gray/Matt Rogers

(Peugeot 106) and Dave Brick/Rob Woodhouse (Nova) will all be there, or thereabouts, giving no-one any margin for error whatsoever!

The BTRDA® Rally First Championship is currently the preserve of Neil Andrew/Dom Adams, courtesy of a superb run in their VW Lupo on the Wyedean. They won the category by more than a minute and now head for north-west England with the express intention of capitalising on their advantage.

Second-placed Rory Jones/Tom Hughes (MG ZR) will also be on hand, obviously to do everything in their power to ensure this doesn’t happen!

Being class-based, after the first round of the MSA English Rally Championship, there will always be a number of ‘joint’ leaders and it’s only following the next one - in this case the Malcolm Wilson Rally - that there is the possibility of a lone leader emerging.

Well, that will be up to Mat Smith, Neil Andrew and Mike Harris (1600cc Ford Puma) to sort out amongst themselves. However, if they each win their respective classes again, then the battle moves on to Round 3 etc!...

Some local issues have forced the organisers of the Malcolm Wilson Rally to instigate a number of changes to this year’s event, not least of which will see the first car leaving the start at M-Sport’s Dovenby premises at 7am on Saturday.

Eight classic Lake District stages later, the first car will arrive back at the Rheged Centre for the finish at 2.30pm that afternoon.

For further details of the Malcolm Wilson Rally, visit http://www.malcolmwilson.co.uk/