September 13, 2011

Mike wins Merrick!

Mike Faulkner secured a fantastic win in Saturday's ProTune Remapping Merrick Stages Rally and retained 2nd overall in the MSA Scottish Rally Championship following a start to finish victory in the BSW Timber supported Mitsubishi Evo 6.

Mike and navigator Peter Foy powered through the first stage, 8.8 miles in Graignell to take the lead from British Championship front runner Jonny Greer and Robbie Head.

Stage 1 times

1st Mike Faulkner 8 min 31 sec
2nd Jonny Greer 8 min 43 sec (plus 12 sec)
3rd Robbie Head 8 min 48 sec (plus 17 sec)

The second stage was 4.3 miles through Jenny Hill, Mike visited the undergrowth towards the end of the stage loosing 15 seconds, “the stages are very slippery and I we were caught out on a tightening L7” said Mike. The SupplyUK backed Evo 6 was a bit bruised, the service crew repaired the damage and realigned the rear suspension as Mike and Peter headed for stage 3 “we dropped a few seconds and reduced our lead to 8 seconds, we’ll take the next 3 stage of Glentrool to get back into our rhythm and ensure we can push through the final 13 miles of Black Loch”

Mike dropped a few seconds on stage 3, Glentrool East reducing his lead to just 3 seconds from Robbie Head. Stage 4 through Glentrool West, Mike was 4 seconds quicker than Robbie and increased his lead to 7 seconds. The final Glentrool stage 4.4 miles and Mike set a time of 4.02 with Robbie on 4.04 and Euan on 4.06. Such was the pace Mike and Robbie both beat the boggy and were credited with the boggy of 4.05.

The final stage was through Bloacklock, 12.3miles which included stage1 run in reverse. Mike was 7 seconds up on Robbie Head and 34 seconds up on Jonny Greer ”we’ll try hard in this one” said Mike “it’s a fast stage with lots of high speed corners it suites our style and we don’t give too much away to the active diff cars.”
Mike and Peter flew through the final test to extend their lead to 45 seconds and win take the victory.

Stage 4 times:

1st Mike Faulkner 11.25
2nd Euan Thorburn 11.55 (plus 30 sec)
3rd Robbie Head 12.02 (plus 37 sec)

“To secure victory is fantastic” said Mike at the finish “we came with a clear plan of winning the event but always new Euan, Robbie and Jonny Greer would provide a strong challenge. We made it a bit hard for ourselves with the off on stage 2, but we weren’t going to let the opportunity slip way. The final run through Blacklock was fantastic, very fast; we were very committed and pushing really hard but we were still surprised at the gap we managed to pull out”

ProTune Remapping Merrick Stages Rally final results

1 Mike Faulkner (Kirtlebridge)/Peter Foy (Bingley) Mitsubishi Evo 6 42.13
2 Robbie Head (Cartland)/Claire Mole (Kelso) Mitsubishi Evo 9 42.58
3 Wayne Sisson (Kendal)/David Macfadyen (Inverness) Mitsubishi Evo 9 44.00
4 Euan Thorburn (Duns)/Paul Beaton (Inverness) Mitsubishi Evo 9 44.00

Mike remains second overall in the MSA Scottish Rally Championship 2 points clear of Euan Thorburn with Robbie Head 4th. The next round in the McRae Stages on 1st October 2011.

Full details: www.merrickstages.co.uk and www.scottishrallychampionship.co.uk