Chris Ingram in action at the TSH Stages. Photo Credit: Rallymadphotography.co.uk

By Jonathan Jackson

Two events over two days with more than 200 miles separating the two resulted in a bumper weekend's action for the Kick Energy Pirelli Junior 1000 Rally Championship – Round 4 of the 2011 season at the TSH Stages in Cornwall and the Cornbury Rally Show in Oxfordshire being the events in question.

Ten Juniors began the gruelling two day TSH Stages based at RAF Portreath, Cornwall – firm favourite with the Championship competitors after the first visit to the venue in 2010. Sixteen year old Chris Ingram, fresh from his first victory of the season at Round 3 of the championship, entered the event as favourite for victory and he duly delivered, taking a sixteen second victory at the end of the event.

However, Ingram and co-driver Michael Gilbey didn’t have it all their own way, with Matthew Thompson and Alistair Dodd keeping the duo on their toes throughout the ten stage event. An overshoot late on day one dropped the latter pairing to third, behind the Citroen C1 of Alex Rossiter however, an inspired early morning charge saw them immediately climb back into second place – exchanging times with the similar C1 of Ingram for the lead.

Unfortunately, Rossiters’ run of good fortune ended with a puncture half through day 2 however; despite the time loss the fifteen year old maintained a creditable sixth overall, claiming vital points following disappointment at the previous round at Down Ampney. The closing stages of the event saw Josh Davey claw in the third placed Toyota Aygo of Ellis Belton, the pair swapping times throughout day two, with Davey snatching third by one second on the final stage.

Further down the leaderboard, returning Junior Arron Newby suffered a drive shaft failure on day one, resulting in the youngster dropping to the tail of the field before restarting on day two to record consistent stage times and gaining valuable seat time in his Nissan Micra.

At the end of the event, it was Chris Ingram who secured the all important 31 points for victory as the Kick Energy Pirelli Junior 1000 Rally Championship army move to Blyton for Round 5 of the 2011 season and to an event Ingram took his first victory on in 2010 – the Jack Neal Memorial Rally.

Juniors star at Cornbury Rally Show weekender!

Whilst their fellow competitors were fighting for seconds in Cornwall, the top three Championship contenders entering the weekend were at Cornbury Park for the first Cornbury Rally Show. Run by the same organisers as the hugely successful Chatsworth Rally Show, which the Formula 1000 Club has supported for a number of years, the show offered the fantastic opportunity for those in the South of the UK to experience Rallying first hand and, Cameron Davies, Aaron McClure and David Humpston were on hand to demonstrate the excellence currently found in the Kick Energy Pirelli Junior 1000 Rally Championship.

Running as part of the demonstration runs, alongside the Ford Fiesta and Mini WRC’s, the three Nissan Micra pilots entertained the crowds, promoting Britain’s only Rally Championship for drivers aged between 14 and 16 years.

It was not only the crowds that the three sixteen year olds entertained as, for the second year running, the F1000 Club managed to pull together three Rally stars for an unofficial ‘Stars vs Junior’ Challenge with the Juniors driving first, before a switch-over, allowing the stars to drive the three 1000cc cars. Jimmy McRae, Gwyndaf Evans and John MacCrone agreed to the challenge over the 1.2 mile Cornbury special stage;

“Attending events like this is vital for the growth of Formula 1000 and, despite the move to Cornbury for The Rally Show we enjoyed a successful weekend and are pleased to bring Junior Rallying to this part of the UK – an area we don’t visit often enough” explained PR Officer Jonathan Jackson, “To be able to get the stars in the cars for the second year running is a great boost for us and is fantastic PR for all concerned”.

The next round of the Kick Energy Pirelli Junior 1000 Rally Championship is this weekend Jack Neal Memorial Rally at the recently revamped Blyton Park where Chris Ingram goes in as pre-event favourite to repeat his victory at the event in 2010.

For further information on the Championship please visit www.formula1000.co.uk or visit the Championships’ Facebook Page ‘Kick Energy Pirelli Junior 1000 Rally Championship’








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