The 29th of November saw the Furness District Motor Clubs 21st running of the Grizedale Stages Rally.

Competitors were treated to 6 stages in the classic forests of Grizedale and Dunnerdale. With support from Coppermines and Lakes Cottages this years event promised to surpass last years run.

All of the pre event talk was about the lead entry of Mark Higgins and Nicky Grist in the ex Prodrive Impreza driven in its famous past by Sainz and Burns.

The Quattro of Brian Watson and Scott Kerr were also to set hearts racing thundering through the forests once again.

As with last years event the 60 crews awoke to snow on the high ground and slippy conditions on the forest tracks. From the start Higgins and Grist opened up a 14 second lead to the next crew of Simon Hughes and Claire Mole in their Mitsubishi Evo9. And this was the pattern for the rest of the event with Higgins and Grist taking the fastest times in all six of the day’s stages.

After the second stage the pair of David Wright and Robb Fagg took over the chase and moved in to second place but by the end of the day a gap of 49 seconds separated the first two places giving the overall win to Higgins and Grist.

Results

Pos         Crew                            Total
1  Mark Higgins/ Nicky Grist            45:16:00
2  David Wright/ Rob Fagg               46:05:00
3  Simon Hughes/ Claire Mole          46:35:00
4  Tim Pearcey/ Jon Dunning           47:13:00
5  Michael O'Brien / Richard Cook    47:21:00