Gale extends BHRC lead for XS Racing

News from XS Racing (Chesterfield)

Jonathan Gale and XS Racing consolidated their overall lead in the 2010 Dunlop/WONAGO.com MSA British Historic Rally Championship on round three, the Severn Valley Historic Rally on Saturday (5 June).
 
Gale and James Whitaker had another fine run in their Sunbeam Tiger, despite dust being a major issue on the very dry Welsh stages. But second place in category one allowed them to extend their championship lead to seven points after three of the eight rounds. Once again the car ran faultlessly throughout the rally.
 
Gale battled all day with the Porsche 911 of reigning champion Dessie Nutt and traded times across the opening four stages, leaving the result to be decided in the long 15-mile stage in Radnor. At the end of the stage, Nutt emerged ahead despite some queries over the timing and Gale accepted second place. “We had a good run but had an overshoot and it wasn’t enough,” Gale added.
 
Meanwhile, Peter Smith and Russ Langthorne claimed second in class C4 in their Porsche 911 despite dropping two minutes in the long Crychan stage. The result, after another trouble free day for the Porsche, keeps them in the top 10 of the overall championship and fourth in category two.
 
It was an incident-packed day for the third car from the XS Racing stable as Philip Wylie made his 2010 championship debut, co-driven by Howard Pridmore in their Escort Mk1. Unfortunately, although the car ran without any problems, three punctures, including two at once, cost them a lot of time. But the encouraging aspect of their rally was that, on the two stages where they had a clear run, their times were very close to those of the class leaders.
 
On the same weekend, the XS Racing team was busy at the Chatsworth Rally Show, fielding four cars. Steven Smith had his first competitive outing of the season in his Porsche 911 and duly won the historic element of the event against strong opposition. Smith also campaigned his newly prepared Triumph TR7V8 and took second in the GT and sportscar competition.
 
One of the stars of the show was the Vauxhall Firenza Can-Am of Mick Strafford, which has been built and developed by XS Racing. He was later presented with the Colin McRae Award for the most entertaining car of the event and Mick was thrilled when Jimmy McRae presented the award. McRae senior had driven the car during the show and reported that it was a super car. XS Racing boss Jon Cropper also competed at Chatsworth in the team's Ford Escort RS2000 hire car.
 
This weekend (13 June) the team will be back in action at the Abingdon Rally Car-Nival, when the Firenza of Strafford will continue its development programme ahead of a planned BHRC debut on the Tour of Flanders in September. Cropper will also contest the Abingdon event in the RS2000, while Peter Egerton will use the event as a shakedown for the Isle of Man Historic Rally in a freshly prepared BDG-powered Escort RS1600. A week later, Jonathan Gale and Peter Smith will represent XS Racing on the Mid Wales Stages, round four of the Dunlop/WONAGO.com MSA British Historic Rally Championship.
 
XS Racing specialises in all types of historic rally preparation and parts supply across a wide range of cars. XS Racing can be contacted on 01246 233777.