New Year Stages Kirkistown
Go hard or go home
Text: David Murphy & Reinis Babrovskis
Well the motorsport season in Northern is now officially opened with the
New Year Stages held at Kirkistown Race circuit on January 18th 2014
and by no means was it an easy start to the season.
You could have been forgiven for thinking this was an ‘underground’ meet
or part of an exclusive race series, under invitation only, because as
hard as I tried I could find no info about what was happening on the
day. 
Upon giving up on trying to locate any information on the event I packed
my camera gear early Saturday morning and left to head to Kirkistown
Race Circuit. Since I had no idea of what time the event actually
starts, it was a bit of a gamble and thankfully it was one that paid
off.
Upon arrival I was expecting to have my many questions answered, but
alas I remained in the dark – there were no stage times or layouts
available as far as I could find, and to make the matters worse the rain
kept falling like it was the rain season in the deepest Amazon jungles.
At this point I was wet, cold, clueless and starting to feel a little
sorry for myself. Self pity is one thing but it is more the drivers and
mechanics I felt truly sorry for. The fact that they had to start the
season in these weather conditions and without any shelter, I still
wonder why the pits are not provided for the mechanics and drivers for
free, but for this reason more than any is why the petrolheads are a
diehard breed. It is all about the drive, the smell of fuel, the burning
tires…
Once the first car launches from the start line you do forget the
frustration, the rain, the cold. My raincoat; the sound of a flat four,
my Wellington boots; the ripping sound of anti lag and my umbrella is in
the form a view to die for as fearless drivers seem to refuse to lift
off as they go through even the deepest of puddles. This is a sport for
the tough, the rough and the Autolifer. It feels like a case of last man
standing – whether you are the driver, the co-driver, the mechanic, the
photographer or the spectator.
The reason why I always return to the New Year Stages Rally is to
witness the cars that have been built/bought for the upcoming season
with all the sweat and tears, blood and hard work that has been done
over the dark December and this year was no different with Desie
McCartney showcasing the new toy that happened to be my favourite from
the day. There were cars for anybody’s taste – plenty of world rally
cars to appreciate, including Subaru WRC S14, group N Evos, the classics
like MKII Escorts, Anglia, Chevette etc.
The stages were a true challenge with standing water, water puddles and
slippery gravel sections accompanied probably with a poor visibility due
to the terrestrial rain. Even though I didn’t witness any big crashes, I
saw many drivers misjudging the grip and kissing the odd hay bale or
two.
The victory was claimed by Kieron Graffin/Paddy Robinson in their
Mitsubishi Evo 10 with the total time of 29min 59.1sec followed by Paddy
McVeigh/Graham Henderson in a Subaru S10 and third place went to George
Robinson and Tommy Speers in a Mitsubishi Evo 9.
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