Riverside Furniture Stages
It was good to see the effort of new committee member Mike Terry finally come to fruition. Mike only joined the committee early in 2008 and from that moment he took on the role of organising the event. Working closely with senior committee member and experienced Clerk of the Course Richard Beaumont, the pairing organised a very well received event from the competitors.
For this years event it had been decided to experiment with the use of tyres for outline parts of the course and this seemed to work extremely well. Jurby has been renowned in the past for being a sea of cones and at some times very confusing, with the use of tyres though it was possible to show the route and limit the confusion so often seen. So far competitor feedback on this use has been very positive, if anyone else would like to pass any feedback to the organisers please e-mail webmaster@druidalemc.org.im , the club committee would be very grateful for this may help us in plans for the 2009 event.
A big thank you from the club to all those who attended Jurby on Friday evening to assist in the setting up of the venue. Mandy Millward and here team ensured that all the controls, merge boards etc were in the correct position, Kevin "Kitten" Goldsmith, Kris Killip, Les Postelthwaite and team laid out all the cones, put out and took in all the tyres which was no easy task. I am sure all competitors will thank all those involved for putting on an enjoyable day.
The event was won by the husband and wife team of Mark and Eunice Cubbon in there Mitsubishi Evo 7. Congratulations to them not only for there event win, but also there third straight Eurocars Motorsport Manx Rally Championship (MRC) maximum score putting them at the top of the leaderboard.
Runner up on the day and second in the MRC were 2007 Champions Rich Curphey and Andrew Holmes debuting there recent acquisition, the ex-Steve Quine Vauxhall Astra. This was a great result for the pairing on there first run out and more so after a late night prior to the event after problems with the gearbox on there new yoke. Well done to the guys for getting the car out, a really show of there determination and dedication to there sport.
Taking the final podium spot is former DMC Chairman Kex Walker with Dannii Matthews co-driving. Kex was seen to be sliding the BMW around in his usual style but making sure he caught no cones. Been a while for Kex but a great way to come back on the third round of the championship after his round 2 early retirement.
Earlier in the event both Noel Kelly and Jasper Kirkpatrick held onto top 3 positions but cone penalties and spins respectively put paid to there podium aspirations, Noel taking Class E (4WD Turbo) and Jasper taking Class D (RWD 2 Litre) honours in the end. It was great to see Jasper back at the front after a string of retirements, and rumours have it that could be the last we see of him in the Astra as he purchased a new stead for the reminder of the season.
Other Class wins went to Class A:- Kevin Vindy / Will Rand (Vauxhall Corsa), Class B:- James Pettigrew / Emma Kennaugh (Vauxhall Corsa) and Class C:- Nigel Cannell / Nick Kaighan (Vauxhall Astra).
A number of crews experienced problems on the event hampering there progress. Matt Bettridge in his Peugeot was reporting power problems and despite investigation no reason could be found. The second half of the event proved the turning though when the problem just disappeared. Ian Bailey was enough to experiencing bad look, Stage 5 saw him break two drive shafts at the same time. Again determination was to be seen when he and co-driver, present DMC Chairman Rob Fagg were seen to push there Vauxhall Astra from the stage stop line back to service. Half a mile may only sound a short distance but with a small incline built it was clear to see it had taken it out of the guys when they finally reached the service area. There was to be no rest for Ian though as he had to then change the shafts. It was great to see Steve Quine diving in to help Ian and change both shafts and have the car ready to go in 15 minutes.
Young driver Graham Allison had a bit of a day to forget, he clipped a fence which sent his wing mirror through his door window and onto his nose causing a bit of bleeding, lucky for him a nurse at the stage arrival was able to sort him out. Later in the day it was to get worse, rolling his Vauxhall Nova exiting one of the cone gates. Lets hope the damage is not too bad and we see Graham back out soon.
There were also a number of debutants to Manx stage rallying on the day, Evan Kelly co-driven by Chris Cain (Vauxhall Nova) finsihed in 20th, Nigel Cordwell (Driving a Peugeot 205) in 21st, John Collins (Driving a Vauxhall Astra) 22nd, Peter Corkish (Co-driving John O'Hagan) in 23rd and Tomos Roberts and Phill Halsall (Peugeot 205) in 24th.
Again thank you to everyone involved from Druidale Motor Club for making the event a success and again we would be most grateful for any feedback.
The next event for the club will be the Duke Stages in September. There is currently a lot of speculation regarding this event and an announcement is to be made in early July at the latest. This event will also be the fourth round of the Eurocars Motorsport Manx Stage Rally Championship when it will be seen if anyone can stop the Cubbon's making in four.
03/03/2008
21/11/2008