ARC / RD1 / NORTH WEST STAGES 2024
10/04/2024WORDS BY DAN MORRIS | FEATURE PHOTO BY: ANDREW SCOTT
The 2024 Protyre Motorsport UK Asphalt Rally Championship would hope to build on what was a very successful 2023. The championship would kick off at the bi-annual North West Stages in Garstang, Lancashire. A strong entry would contest the opening round, with over 100 crews registering for the championship.
The first round would consist of a planned 60 stage miles, with two loops of 5 stages. However, due to a string of accidents and an errant farmer parking on a stage, the mileage would be drastically reduced with much of the first loop unfortunately cancelled.
On Friday evening, a sizable crowd assembled to welcome the event, which kicked off with a ceremonial start in the centre of Garstang. This was a resounding success, with streets filled with spectators, local establishments bustling with activity, and fans eagerly taking photos with cars and drivers.
Photo: Callum Black & Jack Morton | Andrew Scott
MORNING LOOP
Onto Saturday morning, and the serious business started. Constant rain over the past few weeks had made some of the stages treacherous with mud and isolated sections of standing water, whereas others were completely dry, making tyre choice difficult to say the least.
The last-minute registration of James Williams would add an unexpected twist to the opening round, given his status as a top competitor in the British championship.
Despite reporting an engine misfire from his Fiesta during the initial half-mile of the opening stage, reigning Asphalt champions Callum Black & Jack Morton opened their championship defence by posting a time 9.7 seconds faster than everyone else through the opening Beacon Fell test. “The start lights froze, and then I had a misfire through the first half-mile of the stage which cleared itself” he explained. James Williams would be in second, driving cleanly and adjusting to a car he had driven to Estonia and back to collect just a week before. “Really hard to judge the grip, just didn’t want to throw it off”. Just 0.4 behind Williams was East Ridings event winner, Mark Kelly, with Simon Bowen making an impressive start in his older S2000 turbo Fiesta just another 0.3 seconds back.
Photos: Callum Black & Jack Morton | Simon Bowen & Craig Simkiss | Andrew Scott
Before most crews had the opportunity to complete the stage, James Ford and Neil Shanks were involved in a significant off, blocking the stage and resulting in its cancellation leading to Notional times being assigned down the leaderboard. Fortunately, the crew walked away from the incident, and we look forward to seeing them out at The Manx.
Photo: James Ford & Neil Shanks | Andrew Scott
In SS2, Black maintained his lead, extending it by just one second over James Williams who was adapting quickly to the new car. Neil Roskell & Dai Roberts were unfortunate recipients of notional times on the first stage but were quickly up to speed with the third quickest, 5.3 seconds further back. Hugh Brunton was fourth quickest over Long Knotts and moved up to third overall, with Simon Bowen continuing his strong start in fourth overall with Mark Kelly dropping down to fifth.
Unfortunately, this stage would also be cancelled after David Wright & Paula Swinscoe’s Fiesta got loose after a heavy landing and hitting a tree. With the car stuck horizontally across the road, the organisers had little choice leading to more notional times. Again thankfully the crew were okay.
Photo: David Wright & Paula Swinscoe | Andrew Scott
Only eleven cars managed to complete stage 3, amid rumours of a farmer parked in the stage, leaving organizers with little choice but to cancel it. Among the eleven crews, only four were ARC registered, each experiencing differing fortunes as they made it through Crossgill. Callum Black would “run out of talent” and hit a wall breaking a rear toe link. After coming up with some sort of solution involving cable ties, Black managed to drive out of the stage, but unlike those ahead, the clerk of the course would decide that he should be given a stage maximum – a time three minutes slower than the notional! This left James Williams in the lead, he and Mark Kelly were the only two drivers who had managed to complete every stage in some sort of normality. In SS3, Williams would be seven seconds quicker than Roskell, with Mark Kelly/Will Atkins three seconds further back. This moved Kelly up to second overall (albeit on level time to Hugh Brunton) and Neil Roskell into fifth.
Photo: James Williams & Ross Whittock | Andrew Scott
Due to the field being spread out over several stages, significant in stage time loss, and various other logistical nightmares, the organisers made the tough decision to cancel the remaining two stages of the morning loop. All cars were sent back to Myrescough College for service, with hopes of resuming the afternoon loop as planned.
Overall positions after the morning loop
| POS | LEADERBOARD | TIME |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | #7 J.WILLIAMS / R.WHITTOCK | 17.22.8 |
| 2 | #6 M.KELLY / W.ATKINS | +20 |
| 3 | #23 H.BRUNTON / D.STURROCK | +20 |
| 4 | #26 S.BOWEN / C.SIMKISS | +20.1 |
| 5 | #16 N.ROSKELL / D.ROBERTS | +21.6 |
AFTERNOON LOOP
James Williams and Ross Whittock led the Protyre crews into the afternoon loop, and despite struggling with their tyres, increased their lead to 32.6 seconds, quickly getting used to the Hyundai with increased seat time. Although second on stage, Callum Black had a mountain to climb, the stage maximum dropping him down to 53rd overall, over three minutes off the lead. Mark Kelly would be third, trailing Williams by 12.6 seconds, but securing sole possession of second place as Hugh Brunton’s tyre choice cost him time dropping him from second to fourth, with Neil Roskell moving onto the podium with a “big push in there” and was only 3.7 seconds off Kelly ahead.
Photo: Neil Roskell & Dai Roberts | Andy Cook (Xlerate.media)
Onto stage 7 and Callum Black/Jack Morton would be quickest, moving up twenty places to 30th overall. James Williams was second and extended his overall advantage to a relatively comfortable 37.1 seconds. Neil Roskell would be third, the slicks he’d opted for working for him on the greasy stages and moving him to just 1.1 seconds behind Mark Kelly/Will Atkins.
In a repeat of this morning, James Williams would comfortably win the run through Crossgill, extending his lead by another 6.2 seconds over Mark Kelly, who continued to lose time to the chasing Neil Roskell. The gap between Kelly and Roskell was now less than a second. Hugh Brunton had started to fall behind the two ahead in fourth place, but still had a 10-second cushion over former championship winner Steve Wood, who had slowly climbed the leaderboard after a risk-free start.
Heading onto the fast open moorland of Hawthornwaite for the first time, Williams secured his third win in four stages, giving himself a 43.3-second lead heading into the final stage. The battle for second continued, with Mark Kelly this time extending his gap to Roskell, beating him by 2.9 seconds and giving himself a small advantage heading into Nicky Nook. Hugh Brunton now trailed the podium places by 43 seconds but seemed poised to claim an impressive fourth place. Simon Bowen would take 6.5 seconds out of Steve Wood and in doing so would reclaim fifth place.
Photo: Mark Kelly & Will Atkins | Andrew Scott
The rally concluded with the challenging 10.07km of the notorious Nicky Nook stage. James Williams and Ross Whittock experienced a drama-free run at the front, securing yet another stage win, their fourth of the afternoon, claiming round one of the championship by an impressive 49.5 seconds. Drama ensued behind as Neil Roskell slid into a bale on the final bend, resulting in significant damage to his Fiesta. However, a remarkable push earlier on in the stage had propelled him into second place overall. Neil and Dai successfully managed to limp the car back to Garstang.
Mark Kelly and Will Atkins lost six seconds on the final stage, grappling with the mud churned up by crews ahead of them and possibly opting for a more cautious approach than Roskell. Nevertheless, securing third place marked a positive start to the season, gaining them valuable championship points.
Hugh Brunton and Drew Sturrock would be content with fourth place, and they had “enjoyed the stages once we finally got going!” Just behind, Simon Bowen managed to successfully fight back after a puncture, overtaking and then fending off Steve Wood to win the hard-fought battle for fifth place.
Photos: Hugh Brunton & Drew Sturrock | Steve Wood & Kenny Hull | Andrew Scott
What of Callum Black and Jack Morton? The pair made an impressive climb of over forty positions during the afternoon to finish tenth and secured some hard-earned championship points. The pair will be eager to bounce back on the Manx, having consistently set top 3 stage times all afternoon.
| POS | FINAL LEADERBOARD | TIME |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | #7 J.WILLIAMS / R.WHITTOCK | 45:10.5 |
| 2 | #16 N.ROSKELL / D.ROBERTS | +49.5 |
| 3 | #6 M.KELLY / W.ATKINS | +52.7 |
| 4 | #23 H.BRUNTON / D.STURROCK | +1.36.0 |
| 5 | #26 S.BOWEN / C.SIMKISS | +2.29.0 |
NEXT TIME
As alluded to above, the championship moves on to the Isle of Man for a 204 km doubleheader on the infamous closed roads of the Manx National. Stay tuned to Xlerate for a comprehensive report on the event.
