Border Battle for Hard Charging Historics

A fantastic entry of almost 80 cars will contest the Historic Section of this weekend’s Pirelli International Rally, the Carlisle based event is the 2^nd round of the MSA FUCHS Lubricants British Historic Championship and the action is sure to be fast and furious as the crews battle for honours over four high-speed stages in the giant Kielder Forest complex. The rally entry is dominated by Ford Escorts with the Hillman Avenger of Ieuan Rowlands/ Emyr Hall the only non Ford amongst the top 10 seeded crews who will be led away by Paul Barrett / Dai Roberts who are followed by championship regulars Matt Robinson/ Dave Robson, Steve Bennett/ Osian Owen and Rudi Lancaster/ Guy Weaver however they will all be looking over their shoulders for next up is the hard charging Steve Bannister, a man with many Kielder victories to his name, including the 2014 Pirelli event, he will certainly be one to watch. Further down the field,  Category 1 for the older cars should see a good battle with the Porsche 911s of Rikki Proffitt and Dessie Nut up against the Lotus Cortina of the ageless Bob Bean while Category 2 sees the Hillman Avenger of Elliott Rettalick locking horns with the Escorts of Rob Shuttleworth and Stuart Cariss. Local crews tackling the rally include Penrith’s Stuart Egglestone/ Brian Hodgson in a Ford Escort, also Escort mounted are Spadeadam Motor Club members Phil and Caroline Jobson and Rob Graham/ Helen Harkness. The Historic Section of the Pirelli International Rally has an early start with the first crews leaving the start at Borderway Mart from 07:30 am, after blasting over the Kielder stages, the first crews are expected back there, with the leaders arriving from 12:30 pm. There will be ample facilities for spectators to see the awards presented and to take photos or collect autographs.