 Swan '99 Rally | 
|  Bruce Robinson Road Rally |
Swan '99 Rally |
| Bruce Robinson Road Rally |
Pendle District Motor Club ran their successful road rally on Saturday. A quality field of crews entered from all over the North of England and Wales. The event was a round of all the main northern road rally championships - Association of Northern Car Clubs, Power Zone of Padiham SD34 Motor Sport Group, Association of North Western Car Clubs and Cumbria Motor Sport Group. The field included Chris Wood who normally sits alongside David Higgins in a Group N Impreza, and also past road rally expert Paul Burns, who now works for MSD (who run the new Hyundai accents in the World Rally Championship).
The crews set off from Gargrave, near Skipton before heading out onto the lanes around Beacon Fell. Then on to first petrol at Forton Services on the M6. At this point the only crews that were still clean were last years winners Carl Hawkins and David Campbell in their nimble Nova GTE and Eastwood MC's Mark Whitford and Steve Porter. Closely following were Chris Melling and Chris Wood in their standard Astra GTE. From Forton they headed to Abbeystead and onto the tricky Trough of Bowland before a time recovery section over Lythe Fell. The run to second petrol, near Lancaster, was via the very tight and nadgery Haylots White. Local Semi-Expert crew Ashley Hodge and Charles Jahn humbled many an Expert with the fastest time here. Hawkins/Campbell had to retire with a combination of gearbox and fuel problems, making it a straight fight between the Peugeot 309 GTi of David Jones and Iain Tullie and Whitford/Porter's Toyota Corolla GT 1600.
The final section included such classics as Melling White, before the crews returned for breakfast at Gargrave. The event was very well received and everyone I {Neil} spoke to said they would definitely return next year. So far this event has run for three years and had a different victor every time. This was the first for a rear wheel drive car though. A well deserved victory for Whitford and Porter at their first attempt of this premier road rally.
Pos Class Crewe Car F h.mm.ss 1 A 1 Mark Whitford/Steve Porter Toyota Corolla GT 4.03 2 A 2 David Jones/Ian Tullie Peugeot 309 GTi 8.27 3 A 3 Gaven Smith/Michael Ogram Nissan Sunny 15.53 4 A 4 Malcom Grisdale/Bob Hargreaves Subaru Coupe 19.09 5 A 5 Roger Ashmead/Alex Hoult Peugeot 205GTi 19.38 6 A 6 Chris Melling/Chris Wood Astra GTE 20.17 7 A 7 Nick Patrick/Mark Hodgson Vauxhall Nova 37.38 8 B 1 Ashley Hodge/Charles R. Jahn Peugeot 1.6GTi 44.32 9 A 8 Keith Watkinson/Jeff Smith Toyota Corolla GT 44.55 10 B 2 Anne Johnson/David Coggins Vauxhall Nova 45.16 11 B 3 Andrew Proctor/Jason Crook Vauxhall Astra 47.28 12 B 4 Roger Tristram/Stan Appleton Peugeot 205GTi 49.17 13 A 9 Steve Head/Andrew Dugdale Vauxhall Nova SR 50.43 14 B 5 Simon Tate/Adam Roper Opel Manta 52.36 15 B 6 Craig Dickinson/Kev Haworth Mini 1275 GT 1.04.20 16 A10 Paul Burns/Graham Wild Skoda Favorit 1 44.52 17 A11 Chris Astley/Paul Coombes Escort MKII 1 45.08 18 A12 Brian Harrison/Leon A. Jones Ford Escort 1 1.06.46 19 B 7 Tim Foster/Heidi Winstanley Vauxhall Vectra Estate 1 1.09.00 20 A13 Steve Entwistle/Chris Day Mini Cooper S 1 2.03.29 OTL A Paul Schatz/Jeremy Hettrick Peugeot 309GTi OTL A Adrian Loxam/Katy Mashiter Volkswagen Scirocco RET A Carl Hawkins/David Campbell Vauxhall Nova RET A David Pedley/Paul Holmberg Ford Escort G4 RET C Alan Douglas/Andrew Barritt Mini 1275 GTM RET C Bernard Watkins/Daryol Laws Cavailer RET A Terry Martin/Simon Bentley Peugeot 205 GTi RET C Stephen Cawley/Dave Graves BMW 518 RET B Andy Morley/Phil Worthington Ford Escort MKI RET A John Pickavance/Richard Lumb Escort RET A Simon G. Harrison/Stephen G. Hill Ford Escort RS2000 RET A Peter Gorst/Derek Bateson Vauxhall RET C Mark Binney/Richard Moreland Nova
