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| John Stone wins 2004 event | Reports by Phil James of
pro-rally
John Stone and Kath Rumney won this High Moor Motor Club event bringing their Metro 6R4 home twenty-three seconds ahead of the Escort Cosworth of runners-up Richard Banks and Steve Taylor.
Seventy-five cars made the start at Three Sisters for this ANWCC, SD34 and F1000 counter and Stone and Banks were joint quickest off the mark a second up on the Darrian T90 of Rob Dick/Barry Green with the Corsa of David Burns/Steve Hallmark a further two seconds adrift.
Dick was quickest on the second stage to share the lead with Stone before the Metro man pulled out a two second advantage on each of the following two stages. These two then set joint fastest time on stage five before the Darrian was struck down by a faulty clutch bearing and failed to start stage six. Billy McMillan/Jim Smith had already retired by this point with a malfunctioning differential doing nothing for the V6 Clioıs handling.
Stone continued to set fastest time on all of the afternoonıs stages with Banks consistently running second best. Burns did enough to keep the Mk II Escorts of Hardman and Jones at a safe distance who in turn had Cromptonıs Sunbeam hot on their heels.
Richard Leach/Helen Singleton had to run their 1400 Nova in Class 2 with the 1600s and had been as high as eighth overall before being overhauled by more powerful machinery. They made a top ten finish behind class rivals Steven and Julie Hughes in the 106 and a pair of Mk II Escorts driven by Peter Jones and Howard MacPherson.
John Wood/Richard Wood took Class 1 honours in the Corsa but lost out in the battle for SD34 Title honours by a single second to the Datsun Violet of David Blackburn/Stephen Coates.
Top Ten:
1. John Stone/Kath Rumney (Metro 6R4) 25:36
2. Richard Banks/Steve Taylor (Escort Cosworth) 25:59
3. David Burns/Steve Hallmark (Corsa) 26:34
4. Brian Hardman/James Lacey (Escort Mk II) 26:43
5. Hugh G. Jones/Dylan Jones (Escort Mk II) 26:46
6. Dale Crompton/Matt Atherton (Sunbeam) 26:51
7. Steven Hughes/Julie Hughes (106) 26:58
8. Peter Jones/James Robertson (Escort Mk II) 27:02
9. Howard MacPherson/Derek Schofield (Escort Mk II) 27:09
10.Richard Leach/Helen Singleton (Nova) 27:14
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F1000
Matt Davies/Martin Bentley kept their Micra led the field from start to finish to take a well earned haul of maximum championship points.
Their closest rivals for much of the day were Autotest ace Steve Johnson, with daughter Heather on the maps, who had been a second slower on the opening stage before matching the leaders time on the second.
Davies then eased ahead to open up an eight second gap by the end of stage eight. By this time Paul Bebe/Stuart Thomas had caught the Johnsons and some scintillating times over the remaining three stages saw them snatch second.
Outside the top ten the Minis of Daniel and Nicola Nieroda and Stuart Jenner/Brian Sizer completed a 100% finishing rate for the F1000 starters.
Top Ten:
1. Matt Davies/Martin Bentley (Nissan Micra) 30:48
2. Paul Bebe/Stuart Thomas (VW Polo) 30:54
3. Stephen Johnson/Heather Johnson (Nissan Micra) 31:01
4. Keith Markham/Peter OıDougherty (Daihatsu Charade) 31:10
5. Robert Eastwood/Michael Potts (Mini) 31.17
6. Claire Moran/Gill Cotton (Nissan Micra) 32:04
7. Risto Laine/Anthony Peacock (Suzuki Swift) 32:05
8. Mark Livesey/Dave Wilson (Nissan Micra) 32:31
9. Rob Jones/Claire Thomas (Mini) 32:39
Clive Baty/Matt Gregory (Renault 5) 32:43
| | Results click link on right |
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