SEVENTEEN years after his father, Paul, took the second of his two victories at the Swift Signs & Shirts Christmas Stages Rally, Cumbrian Frank Bird added his name to the roll of honour when he claimed a resounding victory at the Northallerton AC-organised event at Croft Circuit, writes Larry Carter.

Driving a PBM Ford Focus WRC 07, and fresh from winning at Knockhill the previous weekend, the 20-year-old from Penrith teamed up with Hexham co-driver Jack Morton to see off the challenge of eight-times winner Kevin Procter.

Procter, from nearby Leeming Bar, partnered Welsh co-driver, Patrick Walsh (Procter’s Luxury Coaches Ford Fiesta), to finish second, with Scottish marauders Gordon Morrison and Ed Kelly (Ford Fiesta R5) taking third.

It was not plain sailing for Bird, however, as he was one of a number of crews hit with a ten-second penalty for a chicane infringement on the icy opening stage. He was never headed from SS2 onwards, winning all the remaining stages in ease thanks, in part, to a spin from Procter. Local hero Procter chased valiantly, but had no answer in the tricky conditions which saw bright sunshine supersede the morning frost.

After two stages, Bird led Procter by eight seconds and by half distance, his lead was 21 seconds. The part-time single-seater racer continued to stamp his authority into the afternoon and by SS6, his advantage was at 39 seconds. Rather than ease off, he pressed home his superiority as darkness fell to cross the finish ramp 52 seconds ahead of Procter, who in turn saw off Morrison – third for a second successive year - by almost another minute

The top six was completed by Scotch Corner’s Tony Bardy and Richmond co-driver Reg Smith (Ford Focus WRC), Darlington husband and wife Paul/Jessica Swift (Ford Escort) and comeback driver David Henderson from Durham (Ford Escort). Former MSN MSVR champions Ian Woodhouse/Paul Rowland from Hutton Rudby (Ford Escort Mk2) took seventh.

With a near capacity entry, the classes were hard fought, with Witton Gilbert’s Andy Fawcett (Vauxhall Nova) clinching the 1400cc title and Scotsman Des Campbell (Peugeot 206) doing likewise in the 1600cc class.

The two-litre class went the way of Catterick Village driver Martyn Tinker (Lotus Exige) with classes four and five being won by Swift and Bardy respectively.

All crews carried tribute stickers to title sponsor Alan Cooper from Gilling West who ran Leeming-based Swift Signs and who died suddenly in October.

* Regulations are available for Darlington & DMC’s Jack Frost Stages Rally, which will take place at Croft Circuit on Sunday, February 2, 2020. Full details are available at www.darlingtondmc.com.