by Geoff Mayes


Paul Bird took a triumphant local victory at the weekend on the Malcolm Wilson Rally, held in the forests around the Lake Districts.

Event sponsor and firm favourite was Malcolm Wilson, boss of M-Sport, the team that runs the Ford World Rally Team. Wilson Sr. was using the Ford Focus that his son, Matt, used on the Monte Carlo rally earlier in the year, in an effort to keep the trophy in the family - Matt having won the event in 2005.

With temperatures hovering around freezing and a light scattering of snow on the stages it was Wilson who won the first stage, but by a mere 1 second from Bird! An incredible third fastest on this opener was Alistair Tough, with a time that was only 8 seconds slower in his Production class Subaru Impreza.

Wilson, settling into the rhythm, then took a further 17 seconds out of Bird on the first run through Comb, one of the highest stages in the championship. Third quickest on this stage was 2005 BTRDA champion, Roger Chilman, in his Mitsubishi Evo 6. Both Chilman and Bird were lucky to escape unscathed after they clipped the same hidden tree stump mid way through the stage, launching their cars into the air!

Bird responded on stage 3, taking 4 seconds out of Wilson, whilst it was the turn of David Wright and Shelley Rogerson, in their Group N Impreza, to make the top three, with an identical time to Malcolm Wilson!

Stages 4 and 5 went to Wilson and Bird respectively, but then, with a 17 second lead, Wilson suffered power steering failure and retired from the rally, moving Bird into a comfortable lead of over a minute ahead of Dave Weston's Ford Focus WRC. Chilman was a further 1 minute 45 seconds behind, after being hampered by a puncture in the Grizedale stage.

Paul Bird consolidated his lead with wins on the next two stages, despite nurturing a car with a dodgy gearbox, and despite taking the final Greystokes stage easy, only dropped 3 seconds to Dave Weston, who took the stage win, and second overall.

Bird, full of compliments on his car, despite suffering niggling problems with 4th gear once more (he lost 4th completely during the Sunseeker Rally earlier in the month!) was full of praise for the rally and the other competitors.

Roger Chilman had reverted back to Matador Tyres after switching brands for last months Wyedean, and immediately had more confidence. He was pleased with a podium position and maximum BTRDA points, moving him into the lead in the championship.