The Christmas Stages Rally - Tuesday 27th December 05 By Matt Rudd

Next Page

Photograph Gallery.

The 2005 Christmas Stages Rally was held on 27th December. The rally itself was all based at the legendary Croft race circuit near Darlington (North Yorkshire). Unfortunately, I wasn't there for the whole of the rally due to snow (mainly in East Yorkshire). This was actually the first time I had ever been to a tarmac event in the 4 years I have been spectating, the nearest I had got to a tarmac event previous to this rally was the 2 Bramham Park stages on the Roger Albert Clark Rally.

The entry for this event depicted a large variety of cars and drivers. These included Tony Bardy in the Nissan Sunny GTIR, the MG Metro 6R4 of Phil Gallagher , Phil Morton's Datsun 120 Coupe and the new Msport spec Fiesta of Ian Gillespie co-driven by Matthew Wilson who is going to be driving in the 2006 World Rally Championship. By the time we had got there it was about stage 2 of the event.

The first few cars had by now already gone through the stage. We were located on the grandstand area of the circuit.

Alex Taylor in the Subaru Impreza got it wrong coming out of the specially made chicanes and ended up going sideways and then right into the gravel trap. Only a fraction of time seemed to be lost as he was soon in reverse and back on track. On lap 1 of this stage, the Nissan of Ian Coleman also got very sideways at these chicanes, as did Ryan Champion in the Vauxhall Chevette.

At the first part of the multiple chicanes, Car 14; Dave Campling spun his Ford Escort then Car 15 had to avoid the recovering Campling. As the stage progressed the weather did worsen - now the drivers had to contend with bursts of hail and snow.

Phil Morton, on both laps of this stage, had spins on his first lap. At one of the corners before the chicanes he managed to do a full 360° and then on his second lap at the chicanes he ended up sliding onto the grass. Neil Ayre, on his second run in the Vauxhall Nova, just clipped the gravel bank, forcing a large volume of gravel onto the track. Then another spin at the chicanes - this time it was the Mini of Mitch McGarth.

There was a minor gap between the stages and in that time we had changed position, this time we where on the long straight opposite the start/finish line. This was also close to where the finishing part of the stage merged with the main circuit. The main excitement from this location did come in the form of cars been caught by other drivers which did repeatedly happen throughout the stage. This included drivers like Bill Bates and Ian Horn. As you can tell by the paragraph length, not much else happened in this run!

For the next run through the stage, I moved to the corner where the actual merge was for the circuit and stage finish. Tony Bardy was the first through this tight right into a slightly faster left and he managed to kick one of his wheels up. Car 4, Bob Dennis came into this section at the same time as Martin Fox, so Fox did lose some time as the track wasn't wide enough to pass.

Continued..... Next Page

Check the thisisUll.com Gallery Photograph Gallery   Gallery , Photographs courtesy and Copyright ©  Matt Rudd 2006

Sports, Rally - The 2005 Malton Forest Rally By Matt Rudd

	This years Malton Forest Rally took place on the 11th of December which was, for me, a great way to spend my birthday. This year it was the 3rd running of the event which was created in 2003 to replace the Dalby Gravel Sprint. The rally consisted of 9 stages at 3 different locations which meant each stage was repeated 3 times with slight modifications for each run Read more...

Sports, Rally - 19th - 22nd November 05 - Roger Albert Clark Rally 2005 By Matt Rudd

	The Roger Albert Clark (November 19th-22nd) is probably one of the most well known events in the British rally calendar. Last year the rally was resurrected by the Delacy Motor Club and following a great success, the rally returned once again this year. And with a stage at Bramham Park near Leeds on day 2 of the 4 day rally spectacular, I just had to attend. Read more...

Sports, Rally - The Hamsterley Forest Rally 2005 - 13th November By Matt Rudd

	The Hamsterley Forest Rally, only in its second year after its cancellation last year for lack of entries, returned back on the 13th November. The event itself was all based within the Hamsterley Forest complex, near Bishop Auckland in County Durham. The rally attracted a great entry; just slightly over 100 cars had entered which was the events maximum entry. Top names entered in the Read more...

Sports, Rally - The 2005 Trackrod Rally Yorkshire - 8th to 9th October 05 By Matt Rudd

	Yorkshire's biggest off road motor sport event returned to the forests of North Yorkshire on October 8th and 9th. This was of course Rally Yorkshire the penultimate round of the Kwik Fit Pirelli British Rally Championship. Apart from the BRC cars which ran both days the rally incorporated many almost support rallies these included the Landrover Challenge, British Historic, Read more...

Sports - Sunday 18th September 1.00pm - American Football Returns To Its Roots In Hull!

	The new Hull Hornets A.F.T have agreed a deal with the Ennerdale Sports Centre, Sutton Road, Hull. The Hull-City-council-owned centre last staged a competitive American football game in the late 1980s, when the city's former team the Kingston Liberators played at the site, although many people still associate the Ennerdale complex with American football in the city. Read more...

Sports, Speedway - Wednesday 13th July - Hull CPD Vikings v Glasgow Tigers KOC 2nd leg By Mark Oliver Photos by Adam Jennison

	Hull CPD Vikings: 44 Glasgow Tigers: 46 Heat 1 Re-run after Stancl fell on the first bend of lap 2. In the re-run Branney touched the tape so opted to go off 15m. In the second re-run Leverington won from the gate closely followed by Sanchez. Branney never really made the ground up from 15m back. Read more...

Sports, Rally - The 2005 Rainworth Skoda Dukeries Rally - Saturday 18th June By Matt Rudd

	The Dukeries Rally, like the North Humberside which was my last rally, is a round of the BTRDA rally championship. The rally took place on June the 18th which was one of the hottest days of the year which meant for the competitors lots of dust. The rally was based at Mansfield while most of the stages were in the Sherwood Forest complex. Read more...

Sports, F1 - Motor Racing - How Pathetic! By Matt Rudd

	I have always been a fan of motor sport, whether it was Rallying , Moto GP or Formula One. However on Sunday it was the US Formula One Grand Prix. To be honest this was the most pathetic race I have ever seen, instead of about 20 cars on the starting grid only 6 came onto the track these were the 2 Minardi's , Jordan's and Ferrari's. Read more...

Sports, Water Skiing - Splashing Out for The Summer By Michelle Dee and Lottie Clark

	Twenty five years ago Tony Edge a leg amputee formed the British Disabled Waterskiing Association. Tony Edge lost a leg in a flying accident during World War II. He believed there was an easier way to enable amputees to water-ski and he along with others formed the organisation to provide many disabled people a unique Read more...

Sports, Football - What a night. Liverpool European Champions By Gregory Anderson

What a night. Everything I've believed about football - Steven Everett spoke of it - has been kicked into row Z. Much will be written and spoken about the night Liverpool became football kings of Europe, and rightly so. Milan's first goal was, we must admit, a sickener. A set-piece from the first attack in the first minute. Traore - showing us the skill that scored that Burnley own goal - started as nervous as Read more...

Sports, Boxing - Fight Club By Stephen Allen

	Nobody told me I should do boxing. It was only my cousin Gavin who told me about the St Paul's Boxing Club when I was eleven. Gavin took me down there the first time. I didn't know what to expect. As we pulled up I saw a small brick building, with a blue sign saying St Paul's. Read more...

Sports - The Beverley 2k Fun Run By Eleanor Smith Age 7 and Eleanor's Mum
	I thought the Fun Run was very tiring but I tried to carry on. My Mum and my brother's friend Ross were doing it too. I wish I could do the big run when I'm older. When I was doing the Fun Run I had a stitch in my tummy but I carried on. My medal was excellent. I showed it too my class in 2FB Anlaby School. They wanted to do the Fun Run as well. My friend Eden was very very happy to see I had a medal and Read more...

Sports - Beware of the Cat - Beverley 10k - Sunday 15th May 05 By Mike Pullon
	The 2003 Beverley 10 k was , at 44 , my first attempt at any sort of competitive running for about 30 years. As part of a weight loss, and fitness gain, plan over the previous year I had been running about 2 miles a day and felt that this event would be a good test for me. My goal was to finish and if possible not last. In the event I found that the motivation Read more...

Sports - 2005 Beverley Annual Fun Run 13 page Photograph Gallery By Mo
	Well as the website is utterly buzzing from a home page link at the Beverly Athletics Club thanks for that! I have got together this 13 page gallery of the Fun Run for you all...Enjoy. Coming up next is the 10 Race Gallery, shortly when I have my breath back..cheers Read more...

Sports - The Beverley 10k Run - Sunday 15th May 05 By Jonathan Rollison
	The Beverley 10k - what a fantastic morning - well done Beverley Athletics Club! This was my first ever running event since school - 26 years ago. The main highlight was to see my 11 year old in the fun run come storming back into the main arena at full tilt looking determined to get a few places up the field in the 2k race. He admitted later that he started the home sprint too early, but Read more...

Sports, Speedway - Why Speedway? By Danny Searle

	Why do I love speedway? My Dad used to go before I was born. As I started getting older I went more often. But I remember I was four when I first started to go. I can't remember the first time I went to Speedway. I can however, remember two of the riders, Jan Stapman and Joe Screen. I can't remember Read more...

Sports, Bowling - Ten Pin Bowling - Championship Golden Bowl in Turin - 4th - 10 April 05 By Dom Gall

	Reigning European Ranking champion Paul Moor from England defeated tournament leader Osku Palermaa from Finland in the title match, 210-205 and 227-215, to win the Championship Golden Bowl in Turin and 10,000 Euro. This was Moor's second victory of this year's European Bowling Tour after winning the second stop in Read more...