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2009/10 - Cheviot Keith Knox Rally (5 images) - created by Adge on 29/10/2009 at 19:44:00
Sunday 25th October was the final round of the BTRDA Asphalt Series Rally Champioship, the Cheviot Keith Knox Rally held over the Military ranges of Otterburn in the North East and with Team Adgespeed's Adrian Spencer and Mark Hewitt in their Subaru Impreza leading by 1 point from Mark Welch and Andy Wynn in an Escort Cosworth, Adrian and Mark needed to finish and beat them to win the championship. With last years winner Chris Jones (Focaru-Ford focus with subaru impreza engine/running gear) and Gary leCoadou (Toyota Celica GT4) lurking in the background waiting to pounce should Adrian and Mark fail to finish, the stakes were high.

The day dawned with heavy rain which at least meant that tyre choice was easy, but with the ground at the sides of the roads very boggy, going off the tarmac could prove costly.

The 1st loop of stages consisted of a 17 miler with a 3.5 miler to follow, before the cars could be serviced at the 1st service halt. On reaching 1st service Adrian was dissappointed to find that Mark Welch had stolen the initiative and taken a 10 second lead on the 1st stage, but set the same times on the 2nd. Adopting a sensible approach and losing 10 secs due to overshooting a junction slightly due to the conditions, was not the way to go if the championship was to be won, although Adrian's times were a match for Chris Jones and better than Gary LeCoadou who seemed a bit off the pace in the conditions.

The 2nd loop of stages which was a repeat of 1st loop and maximum attack was going to have to be the order of the day and with slightly drier conditions Adrian blasted through the 17 miler setting 5th fastest time and more importantly was 28 seconds faster than Mark Welch and with another 2 seconds gained on the shorter stage, Adrian and Mark put the pressure back on to Mark and Andy by taking a 20 second lead and moving upto 7th O/A.

The 3rd loop of stages consisted of 4 stages, a 7 miler, 5 miles, 2.5 miles and 16 miles. The 1st stage of the loop and Adrian set the 4th fastest time and was 33 secs faster than Mark Welch and increased the lead by another 9 secs over the next 2 stages. On the last stage Adrian and Mark lost some time when they caught and had to pass George Mackey who was struggling with no power after the turbo pipe came off on his EVO, but disaster struck for Mark Welch when the front diff failed and they were forced to retire. This meant that Adrian and Mark only had to finish to take the championship. The times also showed that they had pulled out a lead over last years champion Chris Jones and not wanting to win the championship by default, Adrian and Mark wanted to be 1st BTRDA on the event.

Going in to the last loop of 4 stages, a repeat of the previous loop, Adrian and Mark took no chances on the three shorter ones losing only 3 secs to Chris Jones, but with the times not available until the finish, they decided to push again on the last stage to hopefully maintain their lead. This nearly proved to be a mistake, as having just passed Chris Marshall and Simon Hunter who were having problems with their Evo, when exiting a short gravel section back on to the tarmac the car aquaplaned across the road due to the worsening conditions into small ditch running along side the road, glanced off a fence post, missed a row of trees and shot back onto the tarmac, without hitting anything hidden in the grass or losing much time, much to the amusement of Chris and Simon following behind. Pity they didn't have an in car video camera. After a change of underwear, Adrian and Mark steadied themselves and took no further chances over the last 3 miles to the finish.

It was jubilation and relief for Adrian and Mark as they crossed the line to win the 2009 BTRDA Asphalt Series Rally Championship to repeat their success in 2007. They also were 1st BTRDA crew which was the icing on the cake by beating last years champion as well and 5th O/A and only lost out on 4th O/A by 3 secs.

All in all its been a great season and the outcome was not what was expected at the opening round back in March.

Adrian and Mark would like to thank RED Industries, Hazwaste Environmental, Mukjunkie and Cheshire Diesel Services for their help and support throughtout the year. Also to the marshalls and event organisers who make it all possible and not forgetting Steve and Paul at Adgespeed for car preparation and on event servicing.

Adrian and Mark are now looking forward to getting the new Impreza rally car ready for next years championship to hopefully give the WRC cars a run for their money.

Watch this space.