UK: MG Rally round one summary

Beebe and MG Go To Top of The Class

Matt Beebe (pronounced Beeby) and Richard Devenport not only won the first round of the MG Rally Scholarship in their Heartland Evening News/ Trinity Motors MG ZR 1400, but won the 1400 Gp N1 class too. Dan Whitman/ Chris Neale were 2nd in the Scholarship and 3rd in Gp N1 in the Central Independent News/ Friarsgate of Lichfield entry. Considering the North Humberside Rally, which uses some of the fastest forestry stages in the UK, was the first ever for all the scholars, the results spoke volumes for the maturity of the scholars and the soundness of the Creative Media selection process.

It was a cold and damp morning at the famous Olivers Mount motor bike race track in Scarborough where six MG ZRs, immaculately prepared by the works MG Sport & Racing team, lined up for the first Special Stage. Sitting behind the wheel of each car were six nervous Rally Scholars alongside their more experienced co-drivers.

In the event the MGs all completed the course in one piece, the new drivers showing remarkable restraint on their first competitive outing. Two or three of them did get a bit lost on the road sections and Nicola Brown (and several fellow competitors) went off into a huge patch of mud and lost several minutes trying to get out.

In between Special stages in the fearsomely fast and bumpy Dalby Forest, made famous in the days of the Lombard RAC Rally, the cars were being serviced by more students. These pupils all attend the North Warwickshire and Hinckley College during the week, but for this (and all the scholarship rounds) the mixed male and female team of fourteen was supervised by MG Sport & Racing's crack service crew under the close scrutiny of MG Motorsport Manager Don Kettleborough.

Matt and Richard were delighted to have won the class as well as the first Scholarship round. MGs also took fastest times on every Special Stage in class Gp N1.

As is becoming normal, Nicola, who recently became a mum, had the last word: " It was absolutely awesome , exceeding everything I expected. The MG was just so fast and easy to handle. I was on a steep learning curve today, but we got through it and start the next one with a blank page, an open mind and a lot more determination. I can't wait". Neither can we.

<pre> RESULTS:

MG Rally Scholarship -- Round 1 1. Matt Beebe/ Richard Devenport Heartland Evening News/ Trinity Motors MG ZR 1.4 2. Dan Whitman/ Chris Neale Central Independent News/ Friarsgate Motors Lichfield MG ZR 1.4 3. Tom Bowen/ Peter Davidson Banbury Cake/Alexence of Oxford MG ZR 1.4 4. Simon Rowley/ David Bennett Staffordshire Newsletter/ Friarsgate Staffs MG ZR 1.4 5. Dave Lee/ John Cotton Welwyn Garden News/ MG Rover Hatfield MG ZR 1.4 6. Nicola Brown/ Richard Mills Leicester Mercury/ Luffield Motors MG ZR 1.4 y

-MG-