Last updated 20:13, Thursday, 23 October 2008

THERE was disappointment and jubilation for West Cumbria Motorsport Club crews at the Keith Knox Stages rally, a round of the ANECC championship, at the Otterburn Ranges.

Richard and Edwin Cook, the ANECC champions, were lying a superb third overall when a wheel-nut broke on their Sam Clark-sponsored Astra, forcing them to retire.

The only consolation is that they still lead the ANECC championship by 10 points with only two rounds left.

Before disaster struck the Clarks were only headed by three and two seconds by two four-wheel-drive cars despite the damp conditions.

Willie Jarman and Mark Fisher had a rather better day in their Willie Jarman Plant-sponsored Escort Cozy and with a clear run set several top-10 times.

Their best was a fifth and they finished ninth overall, sixth in class and first in their class in the ANECC championship despite doing the last four stages with no anti-lag as their clutch was slipping.

This puts them right behind Richard and Edwin in the ANECC championship with 70 points.

Sian Beatty/David Antrobus had a good day and despite the greasy conditions their Highmoorside Enterprise and Nuvia-sponsored Ford Ka came home 35th overall and third in class.

But the best news is that she received 20 points for her class in the ANECC championship which clinched the class title.

The credit crunch is hitting everywhere and with finances low and Christmas on the horizon even the beloved sport of rallying is taking a battering, but it is not as bad as some people make out. Rallying can be done on a budget.

At the beginning of the month the Mull Rally up in Scotland had over 150 cars and on the Cheviot/Keith Knox stages there were just under 100 competing. It just seems that some people only report on a rally when it has either been cancelled or something goes wrong.

West Cumbria Motorsport Club even had a new rally this year, the Greystoke Stages, pulling in a full entry of nearly 60 cars and then, in September, running a brand new event for Cumbria, an Autosolo.

The club has huge ties with the Malcolm Wilson Rally and with two other motorclubs helps organise and run the event.

The club sets up and runs a stage, organises the scrutineering on the Friday night and even runs the start on Main Street, Cockermouth, and on this year’s event had 10 crews taking part.

The club has regular meetings at the Sheep and Wool Centre, Cockermouth, where they do such things as tabletop rallies, quizzes and video nights.

There will be a three-event club championship next year and the Greystoke Rally.

The club has just over 90 members but at least three-quarters of these are active in some form of motorsport, mainly rallying but also hill climbs, sprints and endurance events.

For more information on the club, visit its website at www.wcmcrallying.co.uk