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Local ace Ryan Champion’s hopes
of repeating his Trackrod Rally Yorkshire victory of 2006 evaporated when a
puncture half way through the long Langdale stage cost him over four minutes and
scuppered any chance the Castleton driver had of success.
Returning to the sport after an
enforced six month sabbatical, Champion was hoping to drive the latest
Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 on his home event but when the proposed deal fell
through, he resorted to using the Morgan Motorsport Subaru Impreza on the
Pickering-based Rally.
Despite not having not driven the
car competitively, Champion and co driver Craig Thorley from Pocklington were
soon in the groove on the opening two stages in Dalby to emerge in fourth place
and they held station through the Gale Rigg and Cropton tests to arrive at
Service just 23 seconds down on Mark Higgins in third.
A quick blast around the
Showground spectator stage saw them then head off to Langdale which is where
disaster struck for the Procter’s Coaches backed pairing, when eight miles into
the stage, a front puncture caused them to stop and change the offending wheel,
dropping four minutes in the process and relegating them to 14th
overall.
Bitterly disappointed, Champion
fought back in typical fashion with a string of top five times through the
remaining stages but in the end, had to settle for a tenth place finish.
“Having not driven
competitively for six months, I was a little rusty to start off with and
although the car didn’t have the speed to match the Mitsubishis, I was confident
of securing a podium. But the puncture put paid to that and it was effectively
game over and I’m very disappointed because a lot of people have helped to get
us to the start. I’d especially like to thank Kevin Procter, Phil Morgan and
www.extreme-rally.co.uk
for making it possible and I’m sorry I couldn’t repay them with a good result”
said Ryan.
Champion is undecided as to when
his next competitive outing will be although he is hoping to make an appearance
at the Northallerton Automobile Club organised Christmas Stages Rally at Croft
Circuit on December 29th.
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