Fylde coast drivers have to settle for second spot

Organised by Wigan and District Motor Club, and held within the confines of the town’s Three Sisters circuit, it saw Hambleton duo Paul Murro and Callum Cross finish second overall in their Ford Fiesta R5.

They had shared the lead after two stages with the eventual winners, Mark Kelly and Rob Sadler.

Having passed the flying finish to that second stage, Murro and Cross crashed into the trackside tyre wall and left one side of their car with significant bodywork damage.

From that point onwards, the Fiesta of Kelly and Sadler took control with a string of fastest stage times.

It looked likely that Hambleton’s Simon Bowen and his Blackpool co-driver, Craig Simkiss, would finish third.

However, the South Shore Motor Club crew were denied a podium place after their Fiesta S2000T suffered a gearshift issue at the start of the final stage.

That allowed the Darrian T90GTR of Mark Smith and Tim Nunn to gain a three-second advantage, demoting Bowen and Simkiss to fourth place.

Freckleton’s Barry Armer was debuting the Peugeot 106 he had prepared for rallying throughout the winter months.

A fifth stage gear selector issue, that was fixed in service, proved to be the only teething issue with the car as, together with co-driver Rob Bryn Jones, he finished 41st.

Kirkham’s Rob Jones and Clifton’s Johnny Knight took the Blackpool & The Fylde College Motorsport Division’s BMW Mini Cooper to 26th place, 13 seconds behind the Ford Escort of Lytham St Annes duo Roy Wadsley and Steve Wilson.