Round five of the Ulster Challenge Rally once again provided an astonishing finish on the roads of Antrim. In a script worthy of a bestselling thriller, lightening has struck twice for Jack Rowe.
Heading into the final two stages, Rowe, who had vowed not to tangle with pacesetters, Richard Archer and Richard Sykes, found himself leading the field home to victory from third place yet again. Friday’s event saw the seventeen year old pick up the points after the two leaders failed to complete the final stage, only for the same thing to happen again on Saturday.
At the afternoon service halt Rowe decided that Sykes and Archer were not his main title threat, and to let them scrap it out between themselves. His policy of trying to keep Championship rival Simon Moore at bay seemed to be the more sensible option.
The Rally started with a gruelling test of both man and machine with a fifteen mile stage at Slieve Gallion. Former BRC entrant Sykes, was determined to put his round four woes behind him and set the early pace.
By the halfway mark Sykes and his co-driver Simon Taylor led the way, looking for their maiden victory of the season. But, on the penultimate Langford Lodge stage, disaster struck, a mechanical issue putting the Citroen C2R2 Max out of the rally. While Simon Moore and Emma Morrison were struggling to cope with missing wheel nuts on their Renault Clio, the result of shearing a wheel off the previous night, Rowe took advantage and set fastest time.
At this point, Archer still led by seventeen seconds over Rowe, with just the nine-mile Tardree stage acting as the finale. And what a finale it proved to be!
The first car on the road was Archer and sadly it was the first off the road too. The former-Kris Meeke S1600 Vauxhall Corsa crashed out blocking the road and causing the cancelation of the stage. Fortunately, both Archer and his co-driver John Connor were unhurt.
The unexpected early ending to proceedings left Jack Rowe once again on top of the podium for his second straight Challenge victory. Simon Moore and Emma Morrison salvaged second place with a herculean effort, in a battle scarred Clio, to keep the pressure on the new Championship leader Rowe.
Third place went to Alex Parpottas who admitted to “having a much better day today” in his Fiesta ST. The Ford driver finished just 0.9 of a second ahead of fellow ST competitor and Blackburn local Phil Scholes in fourth.
Gary Pearson had another good rally finishing sixth overall and first in RC1 class honours in the little Super1000 Nissan Micra.
Likeable Manxman Kevin Vondy finished a credible seventh and in doing so took maximum RC2 class points in his Vauxhall Corsa. With his total of 88 points so far this season being insurmountable, Vondy becomes the RC2 Champion.
RC3 winners and tenth overall were Ruary MacLeod and Neil Thompson in a Honda Civic, adding to the variety of machinery in the Dulux Trade MSA British Rally Championship support series.
Jack Rowe’s victory has garnished the Doncaster teenager with a 30-point lead over Simon Moore in the championship ahead of round six in September.
As the crews head to the forests of Yorkshire next month and back to a loose surface, the 2011 Challenge title is still all to play for.
Round five of the Ulster Challenge Rally once again provided an astonishing finish on the roads of Antrim. In a script worthy of a bestselling thriller, lightening has struck twice for Jack Rowe.
Heading into the final two stages, Rowe, who had vowed not to tangle with pacesetters, Richard Archer and Richard Sykes, found himself leading the field home to victory from third place yet again. Friday’s event saw the seventeen year old pick up the points after the two leaders failed to complete the final stage, only for the same thing to happen again on Saturday.
At the afternoon service halt Rowe decided that Sykes and Archer were not his main title threat, and to let them scrap it out between themselves. His policy of trying to keep Championship rival Simon Moore at bay seemed to be the more sensible option.
The Rally started with a gruelling test of both man and machine with a fifteen mile stage at Slieve Gallion. Former BRC entrant Sykes, was determined to put his round four woes behind him and set the early pace.
By the halfway mark Sykes and his co-driver Simon Taylor led the way, looking for their maiden victory of the season. But, on the penultimate Langford Lodge stage, disaster struck, a mechanical issue putting the Citroen C2R2 Max out of the rally. While Simon Moore and Emma Morrison were struggling to cope with missing wheel nuts on their Renault Clio, the result of shearing a wheel off the previous night, Rowe took advantage and set fastest time.
At this point, Archer still led by seventeen seconds over Rowe, with just the nine-mile Tardree stage acting as the finale. And what a finale it proved to be!
The first car on the road was Archer and sadly it was the first off the road too. The former-Kris Meeke S1600 Vauxhall Corsa crashed out blocking the road and causing the cancelation of the stage. Fortunately, both Archer and his co-driver John Connor were unhurt.
The unexpected early ending to proceedings left Jack Rowe once again on top of the podium for his second straight Challenge victory. Simon Moore and Emma Morrison salvaged second place with a herculean effort, in a battle scarred Clio, to keep the pressure on the new Championship leader Rowe.
Third place went to Alex Parpottas who admitted to “having a much better day today” in his Fiesta ST. The Ford driver finished just 0.9 of a second ahead of fellow ST competitor and Blackburn local Phil Scholes in fourth.
Gary Pearson had another good rally finishing sixth overall and first in RC1 class honours in the little Super1000 Nissan Micra.
Likeable Manxman Kevin Vondy finished a credible seventh and in doing so took maximum RC2 class points in his Vauxhall Corsa. With his total of 88 points so far this season being insurmountable, Vondy becomes the RC2 Champion.
RC3 winners and tenth overall were Ruary MacLeod and Neil Thompson in a Honda Civic, adding to the variety of machinery in the Dulux Trade MSA British Rally Championship support series.
Jack Rowe’s victory has garnished the Doncaster teenager with a 30-point lead over Simon Moore in the championship ahead of round six in September.
As the crews head to the forests of Yorkshire next month and back to a loose surface, the 2011 Challenge title is still all to play for.
To follow all the goings-on during the season, check out the new website at www.rallybrcchallenge.co.uk and follow us on twitter at @BRC_Challenge.