When a sudden and intense snowstorm engulfed Croft Circuit in a blanket of white, Ingleby Barwick’s Martin Peters rubbed his hands with glee.
Knowing that the adverse weather conditions would suit his Citroen Saxo far better than the more powerful cars, his hopes of success in the Autogas 2000 Jack Frost Stages Rally in association with Cartersport were high.
Sure enough he and co-driver Darren Wilcox from Stokesley were top of the class two (1400-1600cc) standings and riding high in the overall leaderboard too.
But the severe weather affected the timings in stage two - in which Peters and Wilcox had really made their mark - resulting in all the times being scrapped and each crew being given a maximum of 10 minutes instead.
With conditions improving, they found themselves much further down the standings and their chance virtually gone of adding a class win to the one they achieved in the recent Swift Signs Christmas Stages Rally at the same venue.
“We had a bit of everything,” said Peters, “icy tarmac, wet tarmac, dry tarmac, snow on the tarmac...
“The first stage went reasonably well for us but then the snow really started to come down.
“We put some skinny snow tyres on that gave us some good grip and we were up to ninth overall and first in class.
“But the snow had come down so quickly and there were some timing errors, so our times were cancelled and we were all given a stage maximum.
“That cost us a minute and 40 seconds. A lot of people gained time as a result but we lost a lot.
“After that the weather started getting better and that suited the more powerful cars.”
Peters and Wilcox went on to finish fourth in class and 23rd overall - still an excellent finish in a rally that attracted 91 entries.
“We still had a great day and I’m pleased enough with where we finished,” said Peters, who has confirmed he’ll contest the national BTRDA Rallycross Championship this year, “but I’m frustrated because if we hadn’t had our stage two time scrubbed we could have won our class or at least finished second and finished in the top 10 or 15 overall.
“We were passing cars that set off 30 seconds in front of us within half a lap!”
Also happy with his performance was Stokesley’s Ian Horn who, with Brotton’s Bob Brown beside him, was 34th and seventh in class two in their Vaxuhall Nova.
“We were 17th overall after stage three,” said Horn, “and that was after we’d lost the use of the wipers.
“With what we’ve got, I’m happy with how we did. We were two big blokes in a 27-year-old car so to finish only eight places below Paul Swift in his Escort is pretty good going.”
Arron Newby and John Cope took their Subaru to an impressive overall win in the event, edging out the MG Metro 6R4 of three-times winners Chris Wise by 17 seconds.
Peter Stephenson - boss of Billingham-based Able UK - and Ian Windress were third in their MG ZR, a minute and eight seconds behind.
“Considering we only came to Croft to test the diffs in the gravel car, to then win the event is an absolute bonus and a mega start to the year,” said Newby.
Chop Gate brothers John and Mark Gaskin (Citroen Saxo) scored an excellent 15th overall finish and were second in class two.
Guisborough taxidermist Dave Hornbrook, partnered by Ann Forster, was 17th overall and 12th in class five in his Mitsubishi Evo 6RS.
No comments:
Post a Comment