Corkill and Gale win for XS Racing in Ulster

News from XS Racing

Overall victory, maximum category one points and maximum points in class C4 was the tally for XS Racing on round five of the 2010 Dunlop/WONAGO.com MSA British Historic Rally Championship, the Ulster Historic Rally (20/21 August, 2010).
 
With four cars tackling this high-speed and challenging rally from the XS stable, all four cars finished successfully, led home by Connor Corkill and Rob Fagg in their Escort Mk2. Having recently joined the XS team, the young Manx driver scored by far and away the biggest result of his rallying career to date when he dominated in Ulster.
 
Meanwhile, despite a catalogue of dramas, Jonathan Gale and James Whitaker scored top points in category one with their Sunbeam Tiger after a mighty battle with the Porsche 911 of local aces Dessie Nutt and Geraldine McBride. In class C4, Peter Smith and Russ Langthorne took top BHRC points while Peter Egerton and Jamie Edwards gave Peter's new BDA-powered Escort a solid debut with fifth in class C5.
 
Being a new event on the BHRC schedule for 2010, the Ulster Rally was a fresh challenge for the crews and teams and it was Corkill who swept into the overall lead right from the start. With a crushing display, he set the fastest time on all six stages on Friday to take a lead he would never loose.
 
Through the six stages on Saturday, Corkill continued to dominate and was able to ease his pace over the closing stages such was his advantage. The car, which has recently undergone some development work at XS Racing, ran faultlessly. "It was a top result," said Jon Cropper of XS Racing. "We've been able to move the car forward and Connor was very happy with the changes we've made. It's been a great result for Connor and for the team."
 
While Corkill's car ran superbly, Gale's Tiger kept the team very busy at each service halt back in Antrim. On the first leg, a moment against a bank inflicted front and rear damage and then on Saturday the problems included a heavy landing over a jump that damaged the steering rack, an off into a high fence and a detached anti-roll bar. Through it all, the team kept the car going and Gale turned in a mighty performance to battle ahead of Nutt by just 15s after an action-packed rally. "The lads worked very hard to keep Jonathan in the rally and it was a big rush in service to get the car fixed in the time available," said Cropper.
 
In contrast, both Peter Smith and Peter Egerton had trouble free runs on this tough event. Smith's Porsche, rebuilt after an accident on the Isle of Man, ran faultlessly, as did Egerton's Escort on its debut event with BDA power.
 
The XS team will now switch focus to running several cars on the next BHRC event, the Tour of Flanders on 10/11 September. Unfortunately, Corkill is set to miss the Belgian event due to a clash with a rally on the Isle of Man where he is aiming to win the local 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.