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Witch Way Road Rally 2002

Pendle & District Motor Club

27th/28th April 2002

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It was second time lucky for the Semi-Expert crew Christopher Day/Richard Chalmers as they took a narrow victory on Pendle DMC's Witch Way Rally. They had missed out on a podium finish on the 2001 event after picking up two fails on the last time card. In 2002 they kept on the pace to bring their Mini Cooper home just over a minute ahead of Ryemoor Trophy winners Jon Lawson/Chris Pringle in their Legacy.

Thirty six crews tackled the event, which counted for the Northern, North Western, West Midlands, Cumbria and SD34 championships. Having moved away from January in the hope of better weather conditions, all the April showers seemed to come at once as standing water and often torrential rain made it tough going for the drivers and very unpleasant for the marshals.

In the absence of the 2001 winner Paul Holmberg, who was chasing Welsh championship points on the Night Owl, Carl Hawkins/Iain Tullie led the field away from Gargrave into what was effectively a pre-plot regularity section. This took crews north up the classic Kingsdale and Deepdale roads before heading West to Sedbergh and then south down the Lune Valley to first petrol at Kirkby Lonsdale.

Day/Chalmers, on their home patch, set the pace right from the start, ending the regularity on 5m 32s. Michael Pedley/David Pedley (Ford Escort) were second on 7m 08s, with Lawson/Pringle on 8m 10s. Hawkins/Tullie lost nine minutes when an alternator lead broke halfway through the regularity, forcing them to complete the section from Barbon Manor to Devil's Bridge by torch light. They limped into petrol to repair the problem.

The second and third cards took crews back to the north east of Kendall for two sets of plot and bash standards sections, timed to the minute, before returning back south to a second petrol halt. These were a real challenge for the navigators as the twisty, hilly Cumbria lanes made plotting on the move difficult and there were many reports of mal de nav.

Lawson/Pringle overcame their two emergency illness stops to drop just two minutes on this loop, taking them to within 40 seconds of Day/Chalmers. Some six minutes further back were Malcolm Grisdale/Bob Hargreaves in a Subaru Coupe, another four minutes separating them from Phil Wright/Paul Bosdet in a Golf. The similar car of Eden Valley pairing Nigel Bowers/Richard Todd dropped out of fourth place with a fail at TC26.

Four crews were caught out with WD's at TC15, this ended the Pedley's challenge, while punctures forced the retirement of Simon Cottrell's Subaru and ANCC championship leaders Sandie Taylor/Paul Taylor (Peugeot 205).

The final card took crews south east to the lanes around Ingleton and Clapham Station, before one final section timed to the second in Tosside. Day/Chalmers sealed their win on this section, pulling out nearly 30 seconds on Lawson/Pringle who remained a comfortable second, some nine minutes up on Grisdale/Hargreaves. Hawkins/Tullie edged past Wright/Bosdet to take fourth, a further three minutes adrift. A storming run on the last card brought Chris Astley/Paul Coombes (Ford Escort)to within three seconds of fith position.

Clitheroe crew Andy Proctor/Jason Crook took the semi-expert award, as Day/Chalmers had collected overall honours, while Shane Swindells/Stew Dale were the first of the five novice crews who made the finish, their winning margin was just over thirteen minutes.

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OVERALL RESULTS

	Pos	Driver	Navigator	Car	Penalty
	1	Christopher Day	Ric Chalmers	Rover Mini	10m 40s
	2	Jon Lawson	Chris Pringle	Subaru Legacy	11m 56s
	3	Malcolm Grisdale	Bob Hargreaves	Subaru Coupe	21m 04s
	4	Carl Hawkins	Iain Tullie	Vauxhall Nova	24m 02s
	5	Phil Wright	Paul Bosdet	VW Golf GTi	25m 03s
	6	Chris Astley	Paul Coombes	Ford Escort	25m 06s
	7	Dave Jones	Baz Green	Vauxhall Astra	26m 53s
	8	Ian Knowles	Neil Harrison	Ford Escort	31m 23s
	9	Chris Leach	Jolyon Robinson	Peugeot 205 GTi	31m 23s
	10	Iain Scott	Jez Harris	Toyota Corolla	38m 23s
	11	Gavin Smith	Michael Ogram	Peugeot 205 GTi	45m 50s
	12	Terry Martin	Simon Bentley	Peugeot 205 GTi	46m 27s
	13	Bernard Watkins	Adam Roper	Vauxhall Cavalier	48m 37s
	14	Andy Proctor	Jason Crook	Vauxhall Astra	57m 03s
	15	Andy Whittaker	Charlie Tynan	Peugeot 205 GTi	1h 11m 59s
	16	Shane Swindells	Stew Dale	Peugeot 205 GTi	1h 35m 38s
	17	Damien Whittle	Stuart Evans	Peugeot 205 GTi	2h 44m 59s
	18	Nigel Bower	Richard Todd	VW Golf GTi	1F 31m 02s
	19	Mark Whitford	Steve Porter	Toyota Corolla	1F 33m 18s
	20	Bill Chadwick	Alan Edwards	Ford Sierra	2F 59m 43s
	21	Tony Watkin	Medwyn Evans	Vauxhall Nova	2F 1h 47m 59s
	22	Paul Whitelock	James Carlin	Renault Clio	2F 2h 14m 59s
	23	Simon Daly	Sarah Whitham	VW Golf	5F 2h 39m 48s
	24	Phil Harvey	Andrew Porter	Ford Escort	6F 1h 48m 42s

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