The Riponian Stages Rally 2005 - Sunday 6th February By Matt Rudd (Age 14)

This was the first time I had ever been to this event and this event incidentally was my first of the year. At first light many crews weren't too happy with the conditions as many of the first runs through the stages were in heavy fog. Also the tracks were very slippery as it had rained the night before. 64 cars started this event out of the 69 cars that entered. By the end of the day, after 14 stages which added up to 40 stage miles, only 38 cars reached the finishing line.

Retirements included Jon Ingram (Ford Focus WRC), Jeremy and Paul Nolan (Ford Escort Cosworth), Selby's Charlie Gabb (Mitsubishi Lancer), Brandesburtons Keith Turner (Turner Plant Hire), David Brown suffered a minor fire in his Ford Puma and that was only 5 of the retirements. The Lightwater Valley stages were very tight and included a few massive jumps which a lot of cars suffered body damage from.

The forest stages near the market town of Helmsley did also have very tight areas within them.

I personally was on Riccal Dale (well according to one of the competitors anyway) some parts of the track were awesome. For example, near where I was there was a 90° right into a small straight, then down hill into a very tight hairpin left. It was great! At the 90° right there was lots of action.

Charlie Payne (Impreza WRC) went very wide, then later on, another Impreza instead of turning right, went left which woke up a few spectators and prompted the marshals to move their cars back - a fair bit of wheel spin - quite amusing!

Later on, the Escorts came - lots of sideways action and quality entertainment! Big thanks to Dave Hemingway - very, very sideways. After Kevin Procter, who was last year's winner (Puma 4x4) and after that Barry Johnson in his ex-Petter Solberg Impreza S9 WRC cars 1 and 2 - you could tell this was going to be a hell of a close battle to the finish line.

For the last part of the first run and the entire second run we headed down to the hairpin left a few hundred meters further into the stage. On the end of the first run there were lots of Scandinavian flicks going on - again, good entertainment. I got completely covered in mud - thanks to you guys and girls - the competitors.

On run 2, nothing major happened early on, then an Impreza tried to handbrake turn and he went right instead of left. Dave Hemingway (Mk2 Escort) spun his car on the turn so therefore had to spin it back round. Later on there was some great driving from another Mk2 Escort. On the approach his rear left wheel hit the slippery grass on the inside of the hairpin.

This spun him around but it was a full 360°. A few other cars cut the corner slightly, forcing a photographer to move back quite a few times. One of the fastest cars on the track was the legend that is Steve Petch (Hyundai Accent WRC). Steve was acting as car 0 for the second year running and a very good job he did too. His son, Steven finished 11th overall in his Subaru. Barry Johnson won the event after 40 competitive miles of fast paced action by a margin of 10 seconds.

Top 3

Barry Johnson and Stewart Merry - Subaru Impreza WRC Kevin Procter and Mike Gilby - Ford Puma 4x4 Brenden Crealey and Steve Harris - Ford Focus WRC This was another brilliant rally that I have been to and will definitely be going back to these great stages in 2006! Well done to the organisers - Ripon Motor Club www.riponmotorsportsclub.co.uk

Photographs courtsey and Copyright © Matt Rudd 2005

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