Creighton claims Trackrod Rally Yorkshire victory
Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy driver William Creighton returned a faultless performance at last weekend’s Trackrod Rally Yorkshire [24-25 September] to win the Junior British Rally Championship category by well over a minute to his nearest rivals.
Creighton and co-driver Liam Regan threaded their Creighton’s backed Ford Fiesta Rally4 through the narrow and ultra-fast Yorkshire forest stages with precision and after taking the lead on the second of the event’s six tests, were never headed.
The scintillating performance means Creighton scoops his second Junior BRC victory of the season, adding to his round one glory and after a zero score in both Wales and Scotland, means his title challenge is well and truly back on track.
“I`m really happy to get the win here this weekend, this is exactly what we need for our championship hopes,” said Creighton.
“It’s been a really enjoyable rally too and the stages have been superb. They are a real challenge though and it’s certainly not been an easy ride for us, the pace was very quick from the Junior’s all weekend long which has meant we had to keep pushing, but it’s been pretty much a perfect rally for us”.
The formidable Dalby Forest provided the opening stage of the rally on Friday evening and with eleven miles of the tricky night-time test to contend with, it could have well proved a pivotal stage of the event. Creighton opened his account with an impressive stage time, less than a second shy of the leader and putting him well in contention for the lead battle heading into day two.
And the 23-year-old Moira driver wasted no time in starting his hunt for the lead, taking the fastest Junior BRC time on the opening stage of Saturday morning to open up a four-second advantage. From then on in, Creighton produced a mature performance to manage his pace throughout the remainder of the day’s tests to take a convincing win.
His second victory of the season sees him move into second place in the championship standings with three rounds of the season remaining. The iconic Beatson’s Mull Rally heralds the next outing as the series switches onto asphalt for the gruelling three-day event which mostly takes place overnight and is in just two weeks’ time.
“Mull is a legendary place and of course very different to anything I`ve done before. It’s a huge challenge just to complete the event so battling hard with the Junior’s will make it a really tough test of both me and the car. But I can’t afford a non-finish for my championship so we will do our homework and head there with a plan like always. It’s great to be back in the title fight again”.
