A sublime drive by Michael Igoe and Will Atkins to secure victory at the Cadwell Park based Alan Healy Memorial rally ensured the Citroen C3 duo would claim the 2024/25 Circuit Rally Championship title for the second successive season.
Round 8, the penultimate round of the Protyre Circuit Rally Championship, would see the crews return to the Lincolnshire Wolds based circuit for the second occasion, this time in the midst of a very pleasant spell of Spring weather and with some new stage configurations that included part of the paddock for the first time.
Organised by Border Motor Club, the 2025 running of the Alan Healy Memorial Rally would feature nine stages totaling 43 competitive miles and had attracted an excellent entry of 96; an entry which included all sorts of delightful machinery but most importantly was headed by the two main championship protagonists, Michael Igoe and John Griffiths.
It was however a one off entry in the hands of Dom Buckley Jnr in one of his own Dom Buckley RSC Ford Fiesta Rally2 machines that set the early pace, with the Scottish Borders based man, co-driven by Michael Wastling, leaping into a 5 second lead after stage 1 and then maintaining this advantage throughout the more technical morning stages.
John Griffiths and Emma Morrison knew only a victory at Cadwell would keep their Championship hopes alive but unfortunately would find themselves 10 seconds adrift after stage 1. And despite two stage victories during the morning loop the Skoda Fabia R5 crew would find themselves with the same deficit at lunch as traffic seemed to favour each of the leading crews at various points.
Igoe and Atkins meanwhile were in prime position to take the crown at the halfway point as despite lying second the Citroen C3 crew were effectively on course for maximum points (Buckley not a registered championship contender). But with Griffiths only 5 seconds back the Irish / Anglo duo could not afford to rest on their laurels.
Indeed, with nothing to lose, Griffiths set off like a rocket ship on stage 6, clawing back 4 of those seconds straight away. In fact stage 6 proved pivotal to the outcome of the event as Buckley would drop 11 seconds, in turn promoting Igoe to the top of the time sheets and leaving the top 3 crews separated by a mere 1 second!
But just as the Skoda man began to sniff a chance of victory Igoe would find top gear; he and Atkins excelling on the more fast flowing tests as they realed off 3 fastest stage times in a row to roll out 7 second victors. Not only maintaining their Alan Healy Memorial Rally crown but also the outright Circuit Rally Championship in the process. This has been some conversion to rallying by the former circuit racer who (according to ewrc) has now won 13 of the 25 events entered!
Having dominated the 2023/24 Circuit Rally Championship, Igoe and Atkins faced a much tougher task in 2024/25 as John Griffiths and Emma Morrison entered a strong run of form which saw them claim 3 outright victories themselves. But try as they might over the final 3 stages, the Skoda Fabia crew could not quite match the pace of Igoe and keep the title fight alive; the North Nottinghamshire based duo in the end having to settle for the runners up spot after a valiant effort.
Buckley had clearly lost none of the pace that saw him battling the best Britain had to offer in the mid nineties but after a strong morning things started to unravel for he and Wastling. Indeed, having lost the lead on stage 6, a stall at the hairpin on stage 7 would leave them instead locked in a battle with Chris West and Keith Hounslow for the final podium position. And this appeared to be all the encouragement the Peugeot man needed!
Struggling for traction on the twisty morning stages, West came into his own on the more fast flowing afternoon stages as he pushed the aging Peugeot 306 Maxi to the absolute limits over remaining mileage; and to great success as he and Hounslow were never outside the top three stage times on the final 4 tests to claim a quite brilliant 3rd overall, the honour of first two wheel drive crew home and a dominant class C victory.
Elsewhere a fantastic ding-dong battle was taking place in Class D as Martin Hodgson (Ford Escort MK2) and Joseph Duffy (Lotus Elise) locked horns. Hodgson, with Toby Jones alongside, had lead the early running before Duffy, co-driven by Daniel Duffy, fought back and found himself in the class lead at the half way point. A time loss of 15 seconds for the Lotus man in stage 6 proved to be the pivotal moment however as despite going quicker on 2 of the remaining 3 stages the Bournemouth based pairing would fall 6 seconds shy of class victory with the crews finishing an excellent 8th and 9th overall respectively.
Just one place further back was another crowd pleasing Peugeot, this time of the 106 Maxi variety in the hands of Ben and Andrew Wilkinson. Despite a slightly scary spin on the approach to Coppice on stage one, the pairing would dominate class E and end the day in an excellent 10th position overall.
The rally proved attritional for many of the Class B runners where accidents and breakdowns decimated the leaderboard. Phil and Katy Burton (Subaru Impreza) had been well inside the top 10 and leading the class before an off in stage 8 brought a premature end to their day. This left the door wide open for Neil Beaumont and Dylan Thomas (Mitsubishi Evo 8) to claim class victory with 14th overall who themselves had been down in 4th after the morning loop!
And last but not least Jonathan Hudson and Amy Wolstenholme put in a great drive to claim Class F victory by 1 minute and 43 seconds with 25th overall aboard their Nissan Micra. Some achievement given the undulating nature of the Lincolnshire venue.
Family commitments mean I am unlikely to get to another rally before the Woodpecker at the end of August but this had been some event to attend before the upcoming pause; well organised with minimal interruptions and an ultra close battle for victory at one of the UKs finest circuits, and for once, matched by fantastic early spring weather!
GALLERY
Paul Commons Motorsport 