Last weekend’s Malcolm Wilson Rally gave competitors a bit more to think about other than the notoriously difficult stages in the beautiful Lake District region.

Eight stages were on offer in the forests of Hobcarton, Comb, Greystoke and Grizedale, but snow arrived late on Friday night leaving the opening three stages extremely treacherous, with both Hobcarton and Comb  high up in the Whinlatter Pass these were covered in snow, conditions did improve as the day went on but nearly every crew had a tale to tell of a near miss. 

Round 2 of the BTRDA series attracted a rather low entry of only 90 starters. 

After a good run on the recent championship opener in North Wales a few weeks ago, Steve Black with his Ross based co-driver, Paul Morris, were looking to build on a solid start in the SBG Group Suzuki Swift.

The event didn’t get off to a good start when power steering failure on Friday’s pre event test made it a very late night for the mechanics, then a puncture on the third corner of Stage 1 didn’t help, losing valuable seconds. Snow on the next two tests made it difficult to attack and a big push over the following four stages saw them climb the leader board. With more snow on the final test, it was a case of getting to the end, and finishing 29th overall 3rd in class. 

Newent’s Geoff Phelps, with Peter Wilson on the notes, had an excellent run in the difficult conditions to finish 27th overall and 3rd in class in his Escort RS1800.

Geoff’s brother, Tim, was also on the entry with Elwyn Manuel calling the notes in his 2.4 Escort RS, finishing 40th and 3rd in his class. He found it very difficult to use the power of the 2.4 engine in the slippery conditions. 

Rallying veterans, Brian Bell, and Raglan based, Paul Spooner, were hoping for a better run on round two than they did on the recent Cambrian, when they slid off the road in stage two in the newly acquired Ford Fiesta R5. They finished 35th overall and 6th in class.

The overall winners of the rally were Scottish duo, Euan Thorburn and Paul Beaton, in the 05 Focus WRC making it two wins from two rounds.See this week’s paper for more stories like this, available in shops and as a Digital Edition now.