It was a good afternoon for three crews from Mickleton Service Station in the the Jack Frost Stages Rally on Sunday, December 7.
The event ran over seven stages around the circuit with 61 starters.
The first local crew into the stages would be car 6 Ian Bainbridge and St John Dykes in a VW Polo GTI R5.
Ian, more familiar with driving in forest events, would soon find himself in a battle for the podium places, sitting third overall after the first three stages and lunchtime service.
It would be a slightly more frustrating morning for Alistair Hutchinson and his daughter Emma Hutchinson in their Renault Clio.
They would have a quick morning and be in a great tenth overall position and second in class, but a 10-second penalty for shortcutting, which they couldn’t understand, just dropped them further back to 12 seconds from the class lead.
They would be closely followed by cousins Andrew and Joe Hutchinson, also in a Renault Clio.
It would be a smooth morning for the pair with no mistakes and just a second behind the other family Clio.
Similarly, having a good start to the day was father and daughter Mark and Hannah Thompson in a Peugeot 206 GTI. They would move into fourth in class on the third stage of the day, setting consistent times.
Heavy rain was enough to have streams running across parts of the surface, creating a real challenge for the crews.
The conditions would initially suit Ian and St John in the R5 Polo, setting a second fastest time on stage 4.
But over the following stages they would lose time to fourth overall dropping position with one stage left.
A big push on the final stage would see them sliding off the circuit into the gravel trap, fortunately, the car crawled it’s way out but cementing fourth overall and first in class. Still a great achievement for the pair.
For the other three local drivers running in class 5,6, the afternoon would see the class leader go off track, getting stuck. The drama would continue for Alistair and Emma with a further 30 second penalty which they couldn’t understand, and a spin.
Despite this, they would set three top ten times across the afternoon, finishing eighth overall and first in class.
They would be followed behind by Andrew and Joe who’d have a big moment themselves aquaplaning off the circuit but managing to safely rejoin and continue. They’d finish ninth overall and second in class.
Mark and Hannah continued their consistency to 13th overall and third in class.
The result meaning a class 1-2-3 for local crews with all three cars prepared and run by Mickleton Service Station.
The overall event was won by Patrick O’Donovan & Ashleigh Morris in a Hyundai i20 R5.
