Molly wins again in the UK - 2 in a row!

[geralds]

MSA British Rally Championship

Rally 1 & Swift Sport Cup

The only non Suzuki in the Rally 1 class within the BRC is the Civic of another Irishmen Joseph McGonigle and Patrick Brides. It was looking like an Irish whitewash until the pair spent seven minutes in a Kielder ditch on the second of Saturday’s stages.

This left the battle for Swift Sport Cup and Rally 1 honours the same, Luke Pinder & Peter Scott having pulled clear of the chasing Suzukis on the four stages. Unfortunately he went off on stage six, leaving the way clear for another scrap between Australia and the UK West Midlands. Aussie Molly Taylor and Jemma Bellingham traded times with Richard Sykes/Simon Taylor right up to the penultimate Kershope test, where the Midlander had an engine mount break.

Taylor was certainly surprised to take the class win for the second time [AUDIO see below], 22 year-old Manxman David Harrison delighted to be elevated to second with his co-driver Glyn Thomas after rear suspension problems. Gordon Nichol & Emma Morrison overcame problems with their notes again to take third, McGonigle eventually finishing fourth.




Rest of the report:

With their car totally destroyed by fire, the retirement of Guy Wilks/Phil Pugh left another titanic fight between Keith Cronin/Gregg Shinnors and Mark Higgins/Bryan Thomas for victory on the Pirelli International Rally. The penultimate stage saw Cronin take 7.8 seconds off Higgins’ 10.2 second lead at the final service, leaving another nail biting final stage in prospect.

As the results finally came through, there was a cheer from the crowd gathered around the computer terminal at rally HQ, Cronin and Shinnors taking their second successive victory in their debut season in the MSA British Rally Championship. [AUDIO]

The winning margin was just two seconds, the 22 year-old Irish driver snatching 4.4 from Pirelli TEG Sport driver Higgins on the 8.7 mile Valley stage. [AUDIO] The winning margin is even closer than on round one back in March, where Cronin stopped the clocks nine seconds before Higgins.

After Phillip and Simon Morrow's excellent run ended stuck in a Kielder ditch, Team JRM Lico’s David Bogie/Kevin Rae took an excellent third place in their nearly new Mitsubishi Evo 10, [AUDIO] having only driven their 2008 Evo Challenge prize once before. Nearly a minute and a half back from the leading pair, the young Scot headed Northern Ireland’s Alastair Fisher by a mere 1.8 seconds.

The newcomer to four wheel drive had multiple BRC Champion Rory Kennedy alongside, the pair incredibly close to taking third overall, having taken eighteen seconds off Bogie in the final test.

Jonathan Greer and Anthony O’Conaill were happy enough with their progress on the rally, although slightly disappointed that they were pipped for fourth by Fisher. The pair might struggle to make the next round though, as the team has several cars hired out overseas and may be short of manpower.

Dave Weston Junior re-united with regular co-driver Dave Robson for the event, taking sixth place behind Greer. The young Scot declared it a good weekend overall with more miles under his belt in the new car, although still struggling on the faster sections.

Icelandic Rally Champion Daniel Siguardason managed seventh place in Stuart Jones’ brand new Evo 10, the amiable character also using Jones’ co-driver Andy Bull. The car looked slightly second hand at the finish though, after he put it on its side, not losing too much time on his preferred gravel surface.

One of several newcomers to the British Rally Championship, Chris Firth, set some good times and thoroughly enjoyed the event in his older spec Subaru. The only damage to the car caused when a marshal misunderstood a request to re-affix a flapping bumper, instead trying to remove it completely.

(Coverage from round 2 of the MSA British Rally Championship, the Pirelli International Rally, will be on Sky Sports 3 on Monday 20th April at 8pm. For full TV listings click HERE)

MSA British Teams’ Rally Championship

Bogie’s result coupled with his stand-in team-mate Siguardason seventh place means that Team JRM Lico overhaul Pirelli TEG Sport to lead the MSA British Teams’ Rally Championship by eleven points. TEG driver and reigning Pirelli Star Driver Adam Gould’s retirement meant only Higgins scored, but the team still remain ahead of Revolution Wheels. Rob Swann opened their 2009 account after swapping to an older specification car, as his N14 is being shipped to Barbados shortly after the Pirelli. His team-mate Euan Thorburn failed to score after an oil pipe caused a small fire, ending his rally.

BRC Classes and Cups

Rally 3 & MSA British Junior Rally Championship

It was a successful rally for the Irish, Craig Breen and his Welsh co-driver joining Cronin on the top podium step for their excellent Rally 3 class win. Not only did the youngster fend off all other two wheel drive opposition, but he secured victory in the Fiesta Sport Trophy earlier in the day when the BRC Challenge finished at lunch time. [AUDIO]

Not content with these two feats, he took the final top ten position overall in the BRC and with it the top MSA Junior points too, moving him into the lead of the prestigious category. His fantastic result attracted the attention of the Pirelli Star Driver judges and he adds another Irish flag to the list of finalists in the BRC’s Pirelli Star Driver final; the winner of which will take a fully funded drive in the 2010 British Rally Championship.

After a stunning drive by Finnish ace Matti Rantanen was cut short with a crash earlier on, it was an all Fiesta Rally 3 podium; Kyle Orr and Rob Fagg taking runner up spot in the two litre BRC class. They struggled on the final stages, but the fuel pump maladies were not enough to drop them into the clutches of Manxmen Martyn Jones and Kris Killip, who ended the day pleased with their gains in confidence.

Rally 2 & Citroën Racing Trophy

In an almost all Irish clean Sweep, the Northern Irish had a look in as well in the form of Marty McCormack. He and co-driver Phil Clarke took victory in both Rally 2 and the Citroën Racing Trophy, enduring huge amounts of dust inside the car to cruise to a four minute lead at the finish in Carlisle. [AUDIO]

Mark Gamble/Steve Link’s car sounded decidedly unhealthy at the finish, the exhaust that had been threatening to fall off all day eventually letting go on the penultimate stage. The cheerful Wolverhampton driver was pleased with his performance despite the problems, stating that being reasonably close to the higher spec Max Kit cars was encouraging.

Jason Pritchard took third in both categories, his excellent pace on Saturday negated by spending over half an hour in a ditch on stage two of the rally. Thankfully for the Welshman, International timing meant he stayed in the rally, but he occupies the very last finisher’s place in the BRC taking 30th overall.



Diesel Rally Cup

To further add to the Irish theme on the Pirelli International Rally, Lancashire domiciled Irishman Fin McCaul recovered after poor stages on Friday to overhaul diesel rivals Steve and Tony Graham. His win was all the more pleasing as he couldn’t understand his lack of early pace and needed the points after a non-finish in Wales. [AUDIO]

For full results from the Pirelli International Rally or visit the events own website
Supplied copyright free
Press contact: Simon Moss
m: +44 (0) 7968 585534
e: simonmoss@rallybrc.co.uk
Further information on the MSA British Rally Championship can be found at British Rally Championships

[Trevor]

Photo of Molly competing in the Pirelli International Rally



Photo is by Kyn Chung, who I met in Norway, he normally follows (photographs) the British Championship, but does quite a few WRC events as well.

Kyn also has quite a few other good photos from the event. Like this:

[geralds]

Written by Team release
Monday, 20 April 2009

Fast female Molly Taylor made it a second win in a row on the Carlisle-based Pirelli International Rally in the UK at the weekend.

Australian Molly and Cumbrian co-driver, Jemma Bellingham, battled stages in the notorious ‘Killer Kielder’ and Kershope Forests in their Monster Sport Europe and Motorsport Insurance Services-backed Suzuki Swift Sport.

The girls left the start at Carlisle Racecourse on Friday evening, for two stages in Kershope Forest. Running later down the field, meant that they would be completing the stages just as it was getting dark.

They didn’t quite get off to the start they’d hoped for, the rough nature of the stages caused them to bend a steering arm which slowed them down. They continued through SS2, determined to get through the tricky stages and back into service. At the end of Leg 1, the girls were lying third in the Swift Sport Cup, but only twenty seconds behind leader, Luke Pinder.

Leg 2 began early on Saturday morning with four stages in the Kielder Forest Complex. In SS5, the girls managed to claw back some time from fellow Suzuki competitor, Richard Sykes, moving into second place. The following stage, SS6, the girls took the lead of the Swift Sport Cup after Luke Pinder crashed out of the rally.

In service Molly commented, “We were all pushing really hard and I was trying not to take too many risks as I knew we still had lots of stage miles still to go. It was a real shame to see Luke off the road, but I had to keep focused. With the fast tricky stages, I had to keep concentrating on the notes and keeping the car neat to avoid the huge ditches!”

Their lead was short lived, though, when Richard Sykes took 2.9 seconds back from them. The girls were then affected by the hold-up when Guy Wilks’ car caught fire. They assumed the rally was over and had settled for second place in the Swift Sport Cup, when the organisers announced they would still run the two final stages of the day in Kershope, so the title was still up for grabs.

Determined to have a good battle with Richard Sykes for the win, the girls set out on SS11 with the plan to push as hard as they could without taking any major risks, however they were given the lead by default as Sykes suffered mechanical problems mid-way through the stage.

“We were genuinely disappointed to see Richard stopped in stage as I was looking forward to comparing our times with him at the finish,” Molly added. “The rally has been a real rollercoaster for us this weekend. We struggled with the rough stages on Friday night, and then we had the battle with Luke and Richard for the win. It’s a huge relief to have finished and to win again. We’ve taken maximum championship points for the first two rounds, which will really help us for the rest of the season.”

Molly and Jemma won the Swift Sport Cup by 1 minute 16 seconds from David Harrison.

The girls will take to the forest again next weekend on the Betta Somerset Stages in a rallyschool.co.uk backed Nissan Micra. The drive was kindly offered to them by John Goff after they won the first round of the Swift Sport Cup in Wales.

[red pulsar guy]

Nice work!