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Isle of Man Rally 2010 – Black wins!

Black wins on Black stuff!

Rally: Isle of Man Challenge Rally
Venue: TT Stand, Douglas, IOM
Date: 9th / 10th July 2010

Competitors:

201 Richard Archer – S1600 Corsa
202 Callum Black – 1.4 MG ZR
203 Jonny Cunningham – 2.0 Fiesta St
204 Kevin Vondy – 1.4 Corsa
205 Chris Peart – S1600 Corsa

Last weekend saw youngster Callum Black take his first overall rally win, on Rally Isle of Man, one of the most technical rally’s in the world. With pouring rain and what most crews mentioned as the ‘slippiest’ rally they’ve ever done’, Black had a tough battle to keep the car on the road.

Black and co-driver Paul Wakely made some set-up changes on the shakedown stage on Thursday night, to make the car more driveable on the unique Manx stages. Along with the experience and knowledge 586 Sports team, Black began the Friday morning feeling more confident the MG ZR was prepared for the deceptive bumps.

The first stage was a 1.5 mile blast from he TT Grandstand, which saw Black’s nerves kick in, spinning on the first corner. However, Black soon got over the minor spin and set an impressive 3rd fastest stage time behind the experienced Archer in his S1600 Corsa and local man Kevin Vondy (who in fact could do the 12 mile stage without pace notes).

With Callums confidence building, he went one better through the next stage, being 2nd fastest behind Archer and beating Peart and co in there advanced machinery. The following stage saw Black on slicks going into a wet stage with standing water, so Black backed off loosing 5 seconds to Peart.

Despite the continuing rain, Black found ‘good rhythm’ and set a sensational fastest stage time on slick tyres, going 16 seconds quicker than anyone else. Black then went on and won the reaming 2 stages carrying a lead of 25 seconds going into the last stage, where he took it steady taking a second place and winning the rally by 20 seconds.

As Black was running in the BRC Challenge, the event was split into two separate events, one rally on Friday (which Callum won) and another on Saturday.

With confidence high from his successful win on Friday, Callum was keen to record another victory. Callum maintained his speed and set a fastest stage time on SS1, despite sliding off the road temporarily loosing 10 seconds, he still won the stage by 9 seconds in front of Peart and Archer in their S1600 Corsa’s.

Callum began to push and was flying on SS2 before disaster struck when the gearbox suffered problems. Black limped through the last 2.5 miles of the stage at 20 mph and still managed to record a 3rd fastest stage time.

Once the crew got to the end of the stage, Black and Wakely decided it was terminal and retired from the rally.

Callum commented:

“What a weekend! I loved the stages, they are so technical and unique, they are just so different to everywhere else, it has a bit of everything! To get my first win and remain the championship leader is fantastic. Obviously I’m gutted we retired on Saturday as I’m fairly confident we would have been right up there for another win. But it wasn’t to be, so I will really have to push on the Trackrod and monitor what happens with Julian in Ulster. Bring it on!”

Callum is:

1st in BRC Challenge
1st in BRC Challenge Class
1st in BRC Challenge Junior

Please keep looking for regular updates on www.callumblack.com, with recent you tube videos and pictures in the gallery.

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