Collister & Yates make perfect start on March Rally

New pairing Jess Collister and Adam Yates (Subaru Impreza) swept to an impressive victory on the March Navigational Rally that took in the Friday night section of the recent Three Legs of Mann Historic event.

Collister is the reigning IOM Navigational champion, but that counted for little such was the different challenge presented by the Historic Endurance Rally Organisation, with average speed regularities and timed to the minute sections new to all, as was evident after a briefing prior to the event.

The opening average speed regularity took in Creg-ny-Baa, Conrhenny plantation, Barroose and Glen Roy, and the Subaru pair put in the best performance, 34 seconds off the target time for the 11 minute section. Former champions Matt Bettridge/Ian Postlethwaite (VW Golf) were 6s back, with Jess’s brother and father, George and Graham third, enjoying a one-off run in a Vauxhall Corsa to sample this event with a difference!

Next up was Dhoon, Ballaglas, Cornaa, Maughold and Hibernia to finish at the Ramsey hairpin. It was the same top two, Collister/Yates dropping 33s to the target over 27 minutes, and Bettridge/Postlethwaite 44s. Third best was an excellent showing by Class A debutants James Hampton and reigning Class B champion Jess Quirk, 50s off target in their Nissan Micra.

Already catching the tale-end of the historic field, the final regularity began on Ramsey promenade, taking in the Dog Mills, Glascoe, Andreas and West Craig before reaching the Guard House halt at Jurby. An impressive best were Andrew Holmes and 15 year-old Katie Fox, just 5s off the target over a 21 minute section. Collister/Yates were 15s back, just 1s ahead of Hamption/Quirk.

Overall at the halt the eventual winners led by 31s from Bettridge, with Hampton 31s further back in third and Holmes fourth.

The second half of the night was much more akin to a usual IOM Championship round, although it opened with a section around the Jurby motordrome and surrounding areas that proved very difficult to navigate in total darkness on a rain soaked night.

From there the first section took in Bretney and the Cronk to finish at Ballaugh, before the next run up Druidale, Sartfield, Little London, Lynague, Callin’s Lane and Ballgyr to end at Peel.

With the different timing system employed, staying on your due minute throughout was vital, as the event continued on the Garey from Glen Maye, Round Table, Ronague, South Barrule plantation, then onto St Marks, Tosaby and concluding with a complicated navigational section in and around Archallagon plantation.

Across the second half the Collister siblings tied for best performance, Jess and George dropping just 3m30s apiece to fill the top two overall places, Jess’s performance with Yates good enough to have been a stunning fourth overall in amongst the expert historic field!

Bettridge dropped 7 minutes to finish third, with Hampton just holding off a last-minute entry from Martyn Jones/Rory McCann (BMW Compact) for fourth by 22s.

Non-experts class victory went to Leigh Jones/Ollie Lockwood (Citroen Saxo), who were second best on the regularity sections to father and son John and Ciaran Tear (Ford Puma), before overhauling them on the road rally sections to win by just 44s as Steve Ormond-Smith/David Cluckie (Peugeot 206) took third.

David Craine/Conor Bailey-Bridson (Ford Focus) made a late decision to compete and were rewarded with victory in the Beginners class, as all 14 crews completed a highly successful event.

• Druidale Motor Club announced at the weekend that next months Mayflower Navigational Rally has been postponed. Combined with the postponements of the January and 87 Rally events, only one of the four intended rounds of the 2017 Isle of Man Navigational Championship has run (the March Rally). It is hoped to re-schedule some of the events.

March Navigational Rally Results Penalites
Class A – Experts h:mm:ss
1 Jess Collister/Adam Yates (Subaru Impreza) 0:04:57
2 George Collister/Den-Graham Collister (Vauxhall Corsa) 0:06:51
3 Matthew Bettridge/Ian Postlethwaitee (VW Golf) 0:09:06
4 James ‘Scampi’ Hampton/ Jessica Quirk (Nissan Micra) 0:16:37
5 Martyn Jones/Rory McCann (BMW Compact) 0:16:59
6 Luke Tunney/Barrie Ford (BMW E30) 0:21:28
7 Andrew Holmes/Katie Fox (Vauxhall Astra) 0:39:25

Class B – Non Experts
8 Leigh Jones/Ollie Lockwood (Citroen Saxo) 0:27:05
9 John Tear/Ciaran Tear (Ford Puma) 0:27:49
10 Steven Ormond-Smith/David Cluckie (Peugeot 206) 0:35:54
11 Gavin Batty/Maxx Bradshaw (Ford Puma) 1:02:27
12 Ross Tunney/Adam Ackers (BMW E36) 1:28:07

Class C – Beginner
13 David Craine/Conor Bailey-Bridson (Ford Focus) 0:57:35
14 Peter Hindley/Damien Losh (BMW E36) 2:47:01

Chris Boyde – Manx Rally Media