Peterborough Motor Club
Alnite Rally
1995
 1994 Three Rivers Rally |  1995 Kent Rally |
1994 Three Rivers Rally | 1995 Kent Rally |
Running the virtually contour-free South Holland fen, Brian Otridge (CoC) had decided to draw from events held on similar territory across the North Sea and use all tulip navigation. With no taxing hills to slow cars, he had laid out a twisty 180 mile route featuring 64 time controls and 34 PCs on maps 131 and 122. This was to ensure that, even with the straight forward navigation, no one would escape penalties, whilst the majority of competitors could follow the complete route.
Starting from Springfields of Spalding the route dived straight into the standard sections, with a loop to the south of Weston and Moulton, ending up just north west of Holbeach. Most crews completed this with little trouble with only a few penalties recorded among the later starters. This would be the pattern for the first leg, as the route wound it's way east to Long Sutton and back to Spalding for the first of three petrol halts. With only a few unmarked triangles and the dubious 'yellow' at Elder Lodge to contend with 9 crews remained penalty free at first petrol. Among the more usual Escorts and Novas, Andy Watson & PRAR were mixing it in Andy's Peugeot 405 Estate, and Jeremy Rodgers & Mark Feardon 1st Semis in an even more unlikely Maestro! The punishing schedule was already taking it's toll on the novices with Baker/Cooper taking a 30 minute lead.
Moving on from petrol, the second leg struck out north towards Boston. The new A16(T) was to cause much confusion as the new alignments did not match either the tulips or the map. This was to ensure that only 3 crews made it to second petrol clean. Baker/Cooper dropped only one minute in this leg to take an almost unassailable lead in the Novices. Retiring at this point were Damian Conway & Simon Tebbutt after a small 'ploughing' exercise in their AX.
The third leg was notable for the only white of the night, and a very brief excursion onto map 122. Tim Tordoff & Ian Frazer met their downfall in this leg, starting it as one of the crews still clean. They had a nightmarish set of wrong slots in their 1300 Nova which dropped them from contention. Thus, only Ivan Molyneux & Graeme Presswell and Biss/Woodman were to emerge from this leg unpenalised. Six other crews were snapping at their heels with single figure penalties and should any misfortune occur these crews were ideally poised to strike. Baker/Cooper had a torrid time in this leg, cutting route and passing the novices lead to Richard & Maggie Chapman. Rogers/Feardon maintained their solid run leading the Semis.
The fourth leg, back south to Springfields, was to be the turning point of the event. Otridge had provided the route cards in the form of a road book, with the order jumbled to deter casual plotting, but by the time they left third petrol many of the expert navigators had the route on the map. To cause some confusion Otridge had thrown in a few decoy routes and thus nobody was to survive the last leg unpenalised. Missing codeboards were to be a topic of discussion over breakfast after the course opener putting them out had gone astray. This was to cause most crews to drop time as they double checked - better to drop one minute and get the board than drop thirty for missing it (as Biss/Woodman can confirm)!
The final sort out allowed Michael/Barrett to leap-frog Watson/PRAR into 2nd place, also passing Paul Wright & Paul Collins who took 4th. These three crews were separated by the space of two minutes having entered the quarter in the opposite order. Molyneux/Presswell dropped down the order with a 4 minute wrong slot, hanging on to hold fifth place.
By offering a choice of route for the final sections, Otridge managed to alleviate any 'pre-plot' complaints. The penultimate section was only confirmed as crews departed STC62, and with a very tight schedule and two difficult unmarked triangles to be negotiated, only Robinson/Wheeldon managed to avoid penalty at STC63 (and then by only 10 seconds). Several crews only dropped one minute, but the majority two. Biss/Woodman were amongst the one minuters, but the stiff penalty for missing PC63A left them 10th. After querying the codeboard, which all bar three of the finishers had spotted, their penalty stood. This handed the win to last year's winners Robinson/Wheeldon, three minutes ahead of Michael/Barrett. Almost two hours separated first and second Semis with an accounting error initially placing Rodgers/Feardon (long time leaders) ahead of Witford/Fern. Curiously the novices were the closest, with just 2 minutes separating Baker/Cooper from the Chapmans.
Thus it was left for the winners to thank the marshals and reiterate last year's statement that 'the Alnite is the best event east of the A1'. Brian Otridge took this moment to announce his retirement as CoC, although he hopes to continue to pass on his experience and knowledge.
