| News ROLLING BACK THE YEARS Trackrod Motor Club are eagerly anticipating the return of the long-running BTRDA Rally Series to North Yorkshire for the first time in over a quarter of a century. The REIS - Get Connected sponsored championship - historically always among the best supported in the UK - will stage its penultimate round over 45 competitive miles of prime North Yorkshire forest gravel stages on Saturday, September 28th. Cropton, Gale Rigg, Staindale, Dalby and Langdale will be the scene of the Trackrod Forest Stages Rally which will run concurrently with, but as a completely separate event to the two-day Trackrod Rally Yorkshire, which incorporates the MSA British Rally Championship, and the Trackrod Historic Cup - the final round of the West Wales Rally Spares RAC and counting towards the Motoscope Northern Historic Rally Championships. The extremely compact overall route will start and finish in Pickering with scrutineering, central servicing and post rally festivities taking place at the town’s plushly refurbished Showground complex (see www.pickeringshowground.co.uk or www.ryedale-elv.com. Clerk of the Course Rod Parkin enthused: “We are really delighted to have the BTRDA back as the rounds of their championship seem to epitomise what rallying is, or certainly used to be, all about – fun and enjoying some excellent and challenging stages. “It seemed appropriate to resurrect the name Trackrod Forest Stages Rally as that was what the rally was called the last time our event was a part of the BTRDA series. “There will be no double usage of any of the five stages and the rally will end with Langdale which, at over 15 miles, is the longest stage of the entire weekend and potentially a sting in the tail. “We can assure all competitors, whatever event they take part in and whatever their hopes and aspirations, the same hearty Yorkshire welcome.” The Trackrod Forest Stages Rally also forms a round of four regional championships, ensuring a significant entry of local enthusiast pitting their skills against the BTRDA series regulars. Regulations and entry forms for all events are expected to be out in July.
YORKSHIRE’S MAJOR RALLYING FESTIVAL RETURNS TO PICKERING Rally Yorkshire, this year set for September 27th and 28th, is to return to Pickering and will have its headquarters at the market town’s newly refurbished Showground. The event runs during Friday evening and all day Saturday and is a scoring round of many major championships, notably the MSA British Rally Championship and the newly formed West Wales Rally Spares RAC championship - catering for Historic cars from the late fifties to mid eighties. There is also welcome return to the BTRDA (British Trial & Rally Drivers Association) Series competitors who have a separate one-day rally on the Saturday. Clerk of the Course, Rod Parkin says: “Our move to the superb facilities at the Pickering Showground will enable us to create a compact route for competitors since it is close to the fabulous stages in the North York Moors Forests where all the action takes place. Friday night will see two spectacular stages in the Dalby complex with additional stages during Saturday in the surrounding forests”. A recent independent survey concluded that the contribution of the rally to the local economy in 2012 was almost £1 million. Benefits to the tourism industry, local shops and amenities were sizeable as, from an estimated attendance of 16,500, over 60% of those who took part in the survey came from “outside the area” and three-quarters of the visitors stayed at least one night. A bumper entry is forecast for 2013 with the inclusion of the new R.A.C. Championship and Motoscope Northern Historic Championship, plus the return to the BTRDA series. Factor in the NGK Spark Plugs BRC Challenge, a feeder series to the British Championship, and the always eye-catching Land Rovers and the event offers a compelling combination of the best in modern, historic and four-wheeled motorsport for enthusiasts and the curious alike. **Issued by Trackrod Motor Club; further details from Keith McGhie on 01274 671112**
BTRDA RETURNS TO YORKSHIRE IN 2013 In 2013 BTRDA will be celebrating the Diamond Jubilee of the BTRDA Gold Star and BTRDA Silver Star Rally Championships and the 75th anniversary of the BTRDA. On the list of original events 60 years ago was the Scarborough Rally and so it is fitting that in 2013 the REIS-Get Connected BTRDA Rally Series will be bringing a new ninth event to the calendar with the inclusion of the Trackrod Rally based in Scarborough. The Trackrod MC event organisers will be providing a BTRDA style one-day Nat B event with its own route and schedule, with no double use and which will be open to all competitors. This event will also be a qualifying round of the MSA English Rally Championship, which is a class-based championship for 2 wheel drive cars up to 2000cc. To ensure that this additional event in the BTRDA Championship calendar increases competitor choice without increasing their costs, we will retain the best 6 scores to count but only from the first 8 events that a competitor starts. We are also very pleased to confirm that REIS and Get Connected will continue as the title sponsors for the BTRDA Rally Series in 2013. The BTRDA Rally Series is friendly, competitive and enjoyable and the most popular in the UK, proven by the 300 contenders who registered in 2012, competing on nine of the best stage events in the UK.
*These events are part of the MSA English Rally Championship which also includes the Tempest 2 Rally (2nd Nov) Go to www.btrdarally and www.englishrally.co.uk for more details
Congratulations Tom Cave & Craig Parry Winners of Trackrod Rally Yorkshire 2012
The 35th running of the Trackrod Rally Yorkshire was won by Tom Cave & Craig Parry in their Citroen DS3 R3. Other Events Winners Rally Yorkshire Results Available Click Here
TOO CLOSE TO CALL AS CAVE TAKES TRACKROD HONOURS Tom Cave was left celebrating in the Scarborough sunshine after emerging victorious from the closest ever finish to the Trackrod Rally Yorkshire on Saturday (September 29th). The 20-year old from Aberdovey edged a day-long battle with fellow rising Welsh star Osian Pryce, in a similar Citroen DS3 R3, on a tie-break after the two had shared exactly the same total time of one hour, six minutes, 21.4 seconds after over 66 miles of high speed rallying on the North York Moors. Cave and co-driver Craig Parry (Oswestry) claimed victory by virtue of having cleared the opening stage in Dalby Forest on Friday night quickest …but again by a mere tenth of a second over 15.45 miles! The duo were fastest over the first three stages before Pryce and Abersoch’s Iestyn Williams hit back, going quickest through Cropton and Dalby 2 and aided by Cave clipping a bank, to take an almost nine-second advantage going into the final test – 14 miles in Langdale Forest. Incredibly they emerged absolutely level on total time only for Cave to be given the verdict on a ‘tie break’: “I never make things easy for myself,” commented an almost disbelieving Cave afterwards. “When I made that mistake (clipping a back on the penultimate stage) I never thought I’d get nine seconds back but I just kept pushing until the very end!” Ireland’s Keith Cronin was largely happy to complete the rally in third place and so seal his third British title, adding to those won in 2009 and 2010, so moving alongside Mark Higgins in the all-time list and only behind Jimmy McRae (five times champion) and Roger Clark (four). Cave’s second win of the season – he took the Bulldog Rally of North Wales in March – secured second spot in the title race with Pryce finishing third. Bannister’s ascension to local legend status began in the late eighties when, in a similar Ford, he became the first driver to win the main Trackrod Rally three times outright and, a quarter of a century later, he is still thought by many to as quick as almost anyone over his native North Yorkshire forest tracks. The Historic Cup led the entourage into the dark at Dalby on Friday and was first to emerge, all done and dusted, over the finish ramp on the sea-side resort’s West Pier, just after 1pm on Saturday. Bannister and Scottish co-driver Louise Sutherland were fastest on each of the four stages to take the Historic honours by 1 minute, 34.8 seconds from the RS1800 Escort driven by Harrogate’s Tim Pearcey and Neil Shanks (Elgin), with Hollingbourne’s James Potter and Bob Duck, in yet another Escort, third. Stefaan Stouf and Joris Erard regularly bring their Mk1 Escort across from Belgium for the Yorkshire event as, not for the first time, returned over the North Sea with class spoils for cars registered prior to 1974, whilst Lydney driver Graham Waite’s stunning sixties Volvo Amazon reigned supreme in the oldest category. Clitheroe’s Russ Thompson led the BRC Challenge Rally 12 months ago before being frustrated but there were no disappointments this time as the Lancastrian’s Renault Clio proved fastest on each of the four stages comprising the main British Championship’s support series. Already crowned Challenge Champion Richard Sykes slid off in the dark and out of contention on Friday but even his continued presence in the Saturday sun could do nothing to match the relentless pace that saw Thompson quickest everywhere. After the drama surrounding Cave’s success, there was a further twist in the tale as the Ford Focus of Hartlepool veteran Peter Stephenson won the Trackrod Clubman’s Trophy for the second successive year, but only after Stephen Petch Junior (from Bishop Auckland) saw his Hyundai Accent’s 40-second advantage disintegrate during a traumatic final stage in Langdale.
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