Tour of Cheshire 2026

By Martin Payton

The 23^rd tour of cheshire began under cool grey skies from the Crewe Vagrants Rugby Club on Saturday morning. Reg A was first off and although there were warnings of floods and potholes, it proved to be a superb start and everyone settled in before the 3 tests at Cheshire Showground. The showground proved to be the downfall of John King/Mike Cochrane as they retired with flywheel issues. Best here were Dave Alcock/Baz Green and, proving no fluke, they did it again on test 2! Test 3 was a clubman win for Ed Linton/John Youd and the shape of things to come in Bev Blacker/Niall Frost just behind.

Reg B saw various crews on the move with Blacker/Frost taking a lead at the first control they were to hold all day. Onto Booths Hall and 2 very demanding tests around the changing grip of the car parks. Fastest here were car 3 Ken and Sarah Binstead, and car 6 Peter Higton/Lynsey Proctor. Pushing on towards lunch and the NAM triangles and speed changes of Regs C and the showground Reg D where time penalties didn’t really affect the leaderboard. Moving towards lunch the crews took in 2 tests around Oulton Park’s slippery rally school test. This saw plenty of sideways action and spins, fastest here was a superb Ricky Proffit with Pete Johnson in the navigator’s seat.

Roger Fildes with Championship Contender Ryan Pickering alongside (Ford Escort) on the Cheshire Showground. Holding second place at Lunch. Photo by M&H Photography

Stories from the morning included the Binsteads with a coil lead off on test 3, car 15 of Paul and Sandra Heaney with suspension issues, and car 26 Dave Morris and Jac Wales racking up 15:46 of penalties on just one reg!

The lunchtime leaderboard read Blacker/Frost, Fildes/Pickering, Crammond/Vokes.

Driver Championship wise, it was Crammond leading with Peter Higton second ahead of James Griffiths and names such as Mellings, Leonard and Payton sitting pretty inside the top 10, all gaining useful championship points should it stay that way.

Seeded 45 after a late entry from the reserve list, Jame’s Griffiths and Howell in ‘Pea Green’ managed to get to up to 5 at lunch. Photo By M&H Photography

Ryan Pickering was leading Championship navigator with Matthew Vokes and the “wonderkid” Miles Fieldhouse not far away.

Reg F was next and this was split in half due to roadworks and was a difficult reg due to a secret control which caught many big names out including car 13 Stephen Owens and Elise Whyte and yours truly!

A further 2 tests at Oulton Park followed before a brief coffee then the journey south via the lovely smooth Reg G which took in some fabulous scenery and the finish back at the rugby club.

It was never in any doubt really all day, but the win came for a delighted Blacker/Frost by 11 seconds from Crammond/Vokes with Fildes/Pickering in 3rd. Other results of note came from the Binsteads in 6^th and a great haul of points from Les Andrew and Mark Dunkerley which helps their championship.

Ian Crammond and Matthew Vokes (Mercedes 280SL) held on to second place to gain top points in the Championship. Photo by M&H Photography

Ed Linton/John Youd were commanding winners of the Clubman’s section with John Fort/Howard Fraser Atkins 2^nd. Dave/Jackie Batchelor following in 3^rd and Colin Jebson/Mike Rands bagging points in 4th.

Class winners in the Interclub competition were M2 Profitt/Johnson, E2 Payton/Fieldhouse, E4 Leonard/Murphy, N6 Pierce/Bailey, N3 Griffiths/Jones, N2 Phillips/Phillips, B4 Hind/Hind.

This was to conclude a great day’s rallying put on by organisers KDMC, Mike Harrison and his team and we all enjoyed the cheese and the awards supper!

Now a bit of a wait for round 3 in June.