Manx driver George Collister will travel to Pickering at the weekend to compete in the opening round of the Kumho Clubman Rally Championship, the North Yorkshire based Kall Kwik Rally.

George had a very successful year in 2003, with a string of top 5 finishes including fourth on the Manx Trophy Rally and seventh on the final round of the Kumho Clubman series, the Bulldog.   These results, coupled with his sheer dedication, recently earned him the Young Competitor of the Year Award on the Island.

In the co-drivers seat will be Rob Fagg, the 2003 Manx Stage Rally Champion Co-driver has been retained for a fourth successive season.   Last season proved to be his busiest to date; taking in two championships and 19 events in all corners of the UK.

“Last year was a great learning experience for me and I hope that can benefit myself and George this year as we compete against some experienced UK crews” explained Rob, “We have spent three years building this partnership and now is the right time to move to the UK to compete.”

Seeded at 28 for the event they will start as third Clubman competitor behind most notably 2003 runner up James Potter.   It will be Potter they will look to gauge themselves against, although they are keen to get points on the board on the first round.

The pair shall continue to compete in the Motivation Engineering backed Astra powered Escort MKII, which they have been using since mid 2002; the same car which carried them to outright victory on the Manx Trophy that same year.   Since the end of last year the team have been spending a lot of time ensuring the car is in the best possible condition for the upcoming championship opener.

For 2004 the crew have been fortunate enough to secure backing from the Manx Motorsport Youth Trust while personally Manx firm Integrated Capabilities are supporting Rob for a second successive season.

The event, which uses some classic North Yorkshire Forests, gets underway with the first car leaving Pickering Market Place at 10:01 with and a scheduled finish of 16:35.   During the day the crews will tackle 7 stages totalling 45 miles that include some very fast sections in the forest complexes of Dalby and Langdale.

Thanks for support goes to:- Manx Motorsport Youth Trust, Q&S Motors, Reynolds and Turner, Integrated Capabilities, Motivation Engineering, A.V. Craine & Sons, Sign and Design, Cronk Aashen Farm Camp Site and www.rallycodriver.co.uk

Co-ordinator
RF Motosport
17/02/2004