Rally Isle of Man

The 2016 Rally Isle of Man saw the return of the BRC to the Island and whilst the championship had been decided there was the prospect of Elfyn Evans & Craig Parry (Fiesta R5) coming up against their stiffest competition of the season. Craig Breen & Scott Martin (DS3 R5) were the number one seeds but there rally was over on stage 3 so it was Mark Higgins & Darren Garrod (Fiesta R5) who would take the battle to Evans. Evans took the lead from stage 2 and held it until Friday night when Higgins made a fight back. With 6 stages ahead Higgins held the lead but Evans caught Higgins with two stages to go. The pair swapped fastest times on the final two stages but Evans held on to take victory by 5.9 seconds.

Tour of Britain

After numerous visits to cycling events in recent years, it had been some time since we last saw the Tour of Britain (the early 1980’s). We caught three stages in total, stage 5 from Aberdare to Bath and then the two stages in Bristol. It was great to see Steve Cummings (Dimension Data) take an overall tour victory after a superb effort across the 8 days. A stunning effort from Rohan Dennis (BMC Racing) on both stages in Bristol saw him capture 2nd place, just 26 seconds behind Cummings and 12 seconds ahead of Tom Dumoulin (Team Giant-Alpecin).

Woodpecker Rally

A wet Woodpecker saw Charlie Payne & Carl Williamson (Fiesta) seal the 2016 Gold Star title with a 3rd place finish. His main rivals Luke Francis & John Roberts (Evo IX) were fastest on the first stage but then rolled on stage 2 and with it their championships chances disappeared. Stephen Petch & Michael Wilkinson (Fiesta R5+) were fastest on stages 2 & 3 and held a 19 second lead after stage 4, at 2nd service. Jamie Anderson & Ross Whittock (Fiesta R5) went fastest on the final 3 stages to secure 2nd place overall but Petch had done enough to win by 8 seconds.