Express & Star

Richard Sykes nets first stage win

Stourbridge rally driver Richard Sykes overcame hugely challenging conditions to claim an impressive ninth-placed finish in the Malcolm Wilson Rally, which included his first stage win.

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The event started from the M-Sport World Rally Team headquarters at Dovenby in Cumbria with the first two stages taking place in Whinlatter Forest.

The weather was decent at the start venue but as Sykes headed to the opening stages in his Bathams Brewery, G I Sykes Ltd, The Body Clinic Pedmore, Staniland Marina and Summit Platforms-supported Mitsubishi Evo 9, it started snowing.

“The Whinlatter stages are pretty high up so were badly affected by the blizzard,” said Sykes.

“There were cars off all over the stages and survival became the aim. We got to the end, though, and were 11th.”

The weather improved slightly as the crews headed to the Greystoke stage near Penrith. The long straights in this stage gave Sykes the opportunity to use the power of his Evo and he was fastest of all the crews, moving up to seventh. It was Sykes’ first overall stage win.

“We were getting to over 100mph on the straights. It was a nice surprise to find we were fastest considering we were up against some very expensive world championship class cars,” he said.

Two runs of a short stage were next and Sykes dropped back to 11th after losing time when mud covered the windscreen causing visibility issues.

The infamous Grizedale Forest stage followed and, at 12 miles, it was the longest of the event. Sykes was fourth quickest to move up to seventh again.

“The short stage was like a mud bath and we were a bit ragged. Grizedale was completely different, the road was firm and the sun was shining. It was the most enjoyable stage of the event for us, it was so fast and flowing.”

The rally nearly came to an end in the next stage, Broughton Moor, as Sykes’ car left the road but thanks to 10 minutes of pushing and pulling by spectators he managed to get going.

Unbelievably there was no damage and, as the stage was short, the maximum time for it was five minutes so we only actually lost just over two minutes. We still dropped down to 14th though.”

A second run of the Greystoke stage completed the event and Sykes ended in style with the second fastest time to move him up to ninth.

“After the cautious start and the time on the logs I’m delighted to end up 9th. We showed that we’ve got the pace to be right up there fighting for an overall podium position. Thanks to Steve Link for stepping in to navigate, Aaron McClure for the car preparation and MRF Tyres which kept us going in the tough conditions”.

Ends.