Easter weekend saw Manx Motorsport Youth Trust supported Robert Fagg, compete in the DONE (Isle of Man) Limited Easter Stages Rally. The event was the second round of the A.V. Craine & Sons Manx Championship and with regular driver George Collister missing the event to prepare for the forthcoming Roush Manx National Rally, Robert navigated for visiting Irish driver Sean Warnock.

After retirement from the CCS Stages in February Robert was looking to score his first championship points of the year on the event. Last year it took till the last round of the championship to put a score on the board even though he had ran so strongly in all rounds alongside George.

Robert and Sean met for the first time at scrutineering on the Thursday night but after a brief chat began to get along straight away and come the start of the event seem like old friends.

The first two stages in the morning would be the Conrhenny Stage, only used for one run on the previous year’s event. Almost straight away Sean was shocked at how rough the stages were, when hitting the first set of bumps on the stage but soon became used to the conditions. Local knowledge from Robert had explained that the stages would be rough but Sean never expected what he found.

As the event progressed the pair became more familiar with each other and began to build a trust within the car. After what was a slow start they began to increase there pace and became involved in a battle with Paul Swales and Dave Gaggs in a similar MKII Escort for overall and class position. This would take place over the Archallagen, Arrasy and South Barrule stages. It would be the latter man who would end up coming out on top after putting in some good times over the last stages and ending up 5th.

Sean and Robert would end the event in 7^th Overall and claim 3^rd in class D. Both were impressed with the result and this bringing the championship points Rob had hoped for from the event and getting his championship back on track.

It now looks likely as a result of the run Rob will compete alongside Sean again but this time on Sean’s local club rally in Ireland. The event takes place in July the week after Rob returns from the Jim Clark in Scotland. By the end of the year it seems he will have competed all over the British Isles.

Co-ordinator
RF Motorsport