Mann Construction Chris Kelly Memorial Stages Rally
John Cope & Robb Fagg took a stunning win on this years' Mann Construction Chris Kelly Memorial Stages by the narrowest of margins - just 2 seconds !!
John teamed up with regular, and local co-driver, Rob Fagg to contest this years Rally on the Isle of Man which proved to be an enthralling encounter between some committed crews.
An event which John has tackled on several occasions in the past, this two day rally takes place each February using many of the regular and testing stages. This year was no exception with Druidale, The Curraghs and St Marks being just some of the stages on offer.
Starting from number 4 on Friday evening with 95 miles ahead of them, John had a difficult night where nothing seemed to go right. Whist the times were Ok John found himself behind local drivers Steve Colley and Steve Quine with Sean Kelly in 3rd and last years winner Dave Patterson in 4th. An overshoot on SS6, the final stage of the night saw John trailing the leaders by 42 seconds at the close of the first leg. Disappointing and frustrating was how John described the night.
Saturday dawned and the fight back was immediately evident as John stormed through the Curraghs which was the first stage of the morning leaving all in his wake. A spin on Druidale checked John's fight back but another stunning time on the second pass through the Curraghs where John was 15 seconds quicker than anyone else he took the lead on Druidale when Dave Patterson was slowed by a puncture.
With road closure time cancelling the penultimate stage John went into the last stage with a reasonable margin over his rivals. What he did not expect was a storming stage from Steve Colley who took 15 seconds back off John to leapfrog himself into 2nd overall ahead of Dave Patterson by just 2 seconds, with John winning by the slender margin of only 2 seconds. Remarkably the top four were separated by 9 seconds and the top 3 by just 4 seconds !
A nail-biting and exciting event where the lead exchanged on numerous occasions, but left John just ahead of the pack to claim his first ever outright victory on the Isle of Man. Elated and ecstatic summed up John at the end of an excellent two days.
Once again the hard work of Dean George at GEO Preparation and the help of Andy Freeman meant the car did not miss a beat all weekend.
Final Results :
1st John Cope/Rob Fagg (Subaru Impreza WRC 99) 1.32.17
2nd Steve Colley/Graham Fargher (Mitsubishi Evo 8) 1.32.19
3rd Dave Pattison/Andy Marchbank (Mitsubishi Evo 6) 1.32.21
4th Sean Kelly/Emma Kennaugh (Mitsubishi Evo 7) 1.32.26
5th Kevin Davies/Dale Furmiss (Ford Escort) 1.35.24
