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7th November
- John Marshall takes the win at the Kingdom Stages 2005.
On thier way |
First win! |
Let us spray... |
John Marshall had
his first ever win at the Kingdom Stages at Crail, John who
fought a hard battle all day with John & Jim Rintoul, last years
winner Tommy Morris and Ricky & Russell Wheeler, won by 8 seconds
over John & Jim Rintoul said, "I never thought I would win a
rally and I'm thrilled, it was all down to the team", John's
son Ross was in the navigator's seat by default as it was meant
to be his cousin David Hunter, said, " I am so glad I was in
the car with my dad when he crossed the line of his first ever
win in rallying". John also won his class in the Beatson's Building
Supplies Ltd, Scottish Tarmac Rally Championship. Last years
winner Tommy Morris retired after stage 6 after losing gears
4&5.
The winner of
the Beatson's Building Supplies Ltd, Scottish Tarmack Rally
Championship was also announced, George & Libby Miller from
just outside Elgin won in their Peugeot 106 Rallye, they have
proved that reliability is what is needed to win.
Top 10
John & Ross Marshall
46.00
John & Jim Rintoul 46.08
Ricky & Russell Wheeler 46.40
Peter Hunter/Susan Brown 46.50
Bob & Vicky Grant 47.05
Stuart McQueen/Kenneth Wilson 47.28
Iain Grubb/Louise Sutherland 47.53
Graham Redpath/Alasdair Young 47.53
Gerry Kilmurray/Neil Thomson 48.10
Jamie Smith/Mark Hemingway 48.24
6th November
- Two trophies for Lee Fitzpatrick...
Lee Fitzpatrick
continued his successful return to Legends Cars racing by
taking third place in both Saturday and Sunday's events at
Brands Hatch. A strong field included several race winning
drivers from this year's National Championship along with
two former Winter Champions. Lee started off on Saturday by
taking two fifth places behind 2005 Rookie Champion Dave Moore
and front runners Steve Thompson, Ian Sturt and Steve Mills.
Lee went two places better in the final gaining his first
podium finish since his return, taking third place behind
Thompson and Sturt.
Sunday's racing
saw Lee again third in the points overall. He took fifth in
the first race, fourth in the second and another third in
the final.
Chris Robinson
was first home in the rookie class in two of his six races.
His first win was all the more remarkable as his car was stuck
in fourth gear - the gear lever having broken for the first
of three occasions over the weekend.
Leo Malim was having
his first races this season and was really getting back into
the swing of things. Unfortunately he retired from the first
race but his car was not returned to the paddock because the
rescue truck driver decided to take a lunch break! Leo received
an apology from the circuit although that did not gain him
a compensatory race start. Despite this Leo looked good in
the final breaking into the top ten to take 9th place. Leo
notched up two more top ten finishes on Sunday - 10th in the
second race and then 8th in the final.
Chris Robinson @ Brands |
Leo after scrutineering |
Sunday podium |
Saturday podium |
Twin pots |
Leo Malim @ Brands |
Lee Fitzpatrick returns |
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updated 4th
November - Mull pictures...
Don't forget that
we have several pictures from the Tour of Mull in our 2005
Gallery page. The gallery also features most of our other
outings and involvement from throughout the season.
18th October
- Brands Hatch Legends Winter Weekend...
We still have places
available for the Legends Winter Weekend at Brands Hatch on
5th & 6th November. As of today we are expecting to be
welcoming Chris Robinson, Leo Malim, Ross Marshall and Lee
Fitzpatrick to the event.
16th October
- Tour of Mull...
 Before
we left, having contested the Mull twice before, and now entering
a third John's ambition was to put himself and the car on
the calendar. Ariving in Mull and after setting up the lights
for night time stages the windscreen was not demisting on
the driver's side but with the help of the BurnettMotorsport.com
folk and Ross Marshall the new windscreen arrived on Mull
Friday lunchtime.
 The
team completed all the checks to the car and tyre changes
then fitted the new windscreen to the car - new skill learned
by the team. As the night time stages started on Friday night
and John feeling really comfortable with the car and doing
three days reconnaissance in the week brought the car home
in the early hours of Saturday morning the same way it went
out. Getting home at three in the morning and the team getting
up nice and early on Saturday morning to completely go over
the car again for the Saturday afternoon stages. Another good
set of stages in the afternoon saw the car back in one piece
again and in thirteenth place. At the end of Saturday'a afternoon
stages at about 4pm John and Graham went home to chill and
get some rest before the end of the hardest rally in the calendar.
 During
the first 22 mile stage on Saturday night John kinda lost
it a little half way into the stage but brought the car home
for first service at the end of the second stage. While the
car was being serviced by the team, John took the chance to
chill and get himself together. At the end of it he did what
he set out to do - putting himself on the map and coming home
in 11th place.. .Mission accomplished. John went home after
thanking the team - a really happy driver and ready for his
holiday in Dubai - setting his plans for the rest of the season.
All the team went
home relaxed and happy and a bit done in with the car coming
home as it went to the rally. We are sorry to say that our
mate and rally driver George Grieve is in hospital with some
back and neck injuries but he is being looked after in the
Southern General in Glasgow after a nasty accident on the
Saturday afternoon stages. We wish him well and hope everything
is soon back to normal
11h October
- Lee Fitzpatrick goes fourth...
 BurnettMotorsport.com
welcomed Lee Fitzpatrick to the team at Knockhill last weekend.
Lee took fourth overall in the points on the day. He was seventh
in the first heat, fourth in the second and eighth in the
final. As mentioned in earlier news stories Lee will be racing
with us at Brands Hatch (other drviers to be confirmed shortly).
We have entries available for both Brands and the December
meeting at Guadix in Spain.
6th October
- Lee Fitzpatrick to race at Knockhill...
Former Legends
star driver Lee Fitzpatrick is about to return to the Legends
Cars with BurnettMotorsport.com. Lee, 28, previously raced
Legends for two full seasons (2000 and 2001) taking a race
win in 2000 and sixth place in 2001. He also scored six podiums
plus a fastest lap which was at Brands Hatch where he will
racing in the Winter Weekend at Brands 4th & 5th November.
Before that however Lee will be getting back into the swing
of Legends racing this weekend at Knockhill.
BurnettMotorsport.com
also have places available for the Legends Cars racing at
Guadix in southern Spain during the first weekend in December.
Please contact us for further information.
26th September
- John Marshall update...
 John
Marshall - Lindisfarne Rally - The team had a couple of problems,
uncertain weather not helping anyone plus some mechanical
problems (dropped rear roll bar) meant that John had to drive
a full stage with tyre rubbing on the wheel arch arch. This,
along with three burst tyres on the day, lost the team quite
a bit of time but still finished 10th overall and gained us
top points in Scotish Tarmac Championship.
Ross Marshall -
Scottish XR2s at Mallory. Ross bagged a career first pole
position but was outdragged off the line by this year's champion
Nick Sanderson. Ross looked like he was heading for his first
podium but was bundled off in the later stages and forced
to retire from the race.
23rd September
- John Marshall update...
 A
couple of pics of John Marshall in action on the Hall Trophy
Stages are now on line in the Gallery.
15th September
- John Marshall update...
This is John Marshall
at the Pendragon Rally which took place at the end of August.
After a lot of disasters with car John and new co-driver Graham
Lewis finshed in 8th place after running down in 32nd following
a roll bar problem. John also took third place in the Promenade
Rally recently - only being beaten by two World Rally Cars.
Well done John.
Picture courtesy
of Angela Luke - www.amlphotography.com
The Scottish Legends
cars championship came to a conclusion at the weekend - the
final championship table is now online.
9th September
- Winter Weekend and Gallery Update...
 The
Legends Cars Winter Weekend will be held at Brands Hatch on
Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th November. There will be three
races each day and BurnettMotorsport.com have cars available
to hire for either or both days at the Legendary Kent circuit.
If you're not familiar
with the Kent venue then check out the inaugural A1 Grand
Prix race in a couple of weeks time. In addition to the upcoming
car Grand Prix the Brands is also used by the World Superbike
and British Touring Car Championship. There's no better place
to try your hand at Legends Cars racing with BurnettMotorsport.com.
We've updated our
gallery with some end of season
pictures from our Legends, Rallying and XR2 involvements.
5th September
- Higgins wins at Rockingham...
 John
'Jon' Higgins rounded off his comeback season with another
two race wins and a second place to secure the overall round
win at Rockingham on Saturday and Sunday. JJ also secured
third place in this year's championship and confirmed that
next season will be a full on assault on both the National
championship and the end of season World Championship at Sears
Point.
Ali Topley was
hoping for a good weekend following his win at Pembrey and
his equally impressive A level results but unfortunately he
had some engine problems. Ali did however show the same new
found confidence on track and was taking the battle to the
established stars with 9th in the 26 car final. Ali's final
championship position is 10th position.
15th August
- Topley wins at Pembrey...
 Hot
on the heels of his success at Brands Hatch (where he recorded
his first podium finish) Ali Topley took his first ever Legends
Cars race win in the opening race of the weekend at Pembrey.
Ali went on to take third in his second race and fourth in
the final. When the results were combined it emerged he was
top scorer on the day therefore taking his first overall meeting
win as well. Just as JJ had done at Brands two weeks earlier
Ali dedicated the win to Big John Edwards.
JJ himself didn't
have a bad weekend either taking fourth overall on both days.
Sunday was all the more impressive as he nursed the car home
to 13th in the opening race with a broken half shaft but then
followed up with two wins. John 'Jon' is probably cursing
race commentator Richard Neil who predicted another Higgins
hat trick.
John 'Jon' has
moved ahead of Derek Pierce into third place in the table
whilst Ali is now up into 9th.
19th July -
Top weekend at Brands...
A fantastic weekend
for BurnettMotorsport.com at Brands Hatch. John 'Jon' Higgins
rewrote the record books at Brands by beating Tick Steward's
long standing career race wins record. The previous record
was 70 wins set by Tick in October 2000. JJ equalled that
in his second heat on Sunday and then went one better in the
final. The final provided a classic Legends scrap between
JJ and Chris Grieve - the pair trading places until the red
flags were brought out when Steve Thompson's car became stuck
in the Paddock Hill run off. JJ promised the fans to do some
donuts if he got the record and he did not fail to deliver
as he risked a fine to celebrate in fine style in front of
the grandstand at Paddock. Grieve (2nd) and Ali Topley (3rd)
also broke ranks from the cars heading off to parc ferme and
joined JJ in the celebrations.
JJ's record almost
eclipsed much of the weekend's other action but in taking
the record he also became the second driver this season to
take a hat trick of wins in one round. Ali Topley was also
driving perhaps the best we have seen so far taking third
in each of his three races to take third overall in the day's
standings. Trophy presentations were postponed until our next
race meeting at Pembrey (13th & 14th August) as Steve
Mills was receiving medical attention. Steve has suffered
two fractured vertebrae and will sadly miss the next round
- here's to a speedy recovery Steve.
Chris Robinson
was in action as well. He elected to start all of his races
from the back of the grid. On Saturday he took 14th and 15th
in the heats and 24th in the final. Sunday's racing saw a
non finish in heat one followed by 16th in heat two and 22nd
in the final.
John 'Jon' dedicated
his wins and the new record to two dear friends who we lost
in recent months - Big John Edwards and James Wantling.
19th July -Anglesey
update...
 John
Jon Higgins had a mixed weekend at Anglesey. After two non
finishes in the heats on Saturday JJ stormed a great win in
the final. Sunday's racing was a virual reverse of fortunes
as his two heat wins placed him at the back of the grid for
the final. Despite this handicap he finished 11th and took
second place in the round overall.
Ali Topley had
a great weekend and was 8th overall on Saturday after taking
3rd and 7th in the heats. He went even better on Sunday and
was a best ever fourth overall with fifth place in heat one
and in the final together with 10th in the second heat.
 Chris
Robinson was also out again, the number 5 car sporting a new
paint job. Chris had a faultless weekend and ended up having
lots of good track time. He improved his lap times consistently
throughout the weekend
29th June -
Latest projects...
 Burnett
Motorsport are currently working on some other exciting projects.
The first of these is John Marshall's new Rally car (more
pics in our gallery). Next up is Escort Rally car being prepared
for George Grieve. More details on George and other
racing customers can be found here.
 Our
road car business recently saw
this impressive Cobra coming in to our workshop for a complete
alteration of suspension and set up.
 We've
also been promoting ourselves and Legends Cars for charity
at the annual Perth show. As ever, the cars attracted a large
amount of attention.
More pics can be
found in our gallery.
26th June -
Win for JJ at Croft
John
'Jon' Higgins bagged his third race win of the season in round
seven of the championship at Croft. Ali Topley was well on
the pace too with a sixth place in his first race despite
his engine going off in the latter stages. The team replaced
the mill overnight but he had a non finish in his second heat.
He was mighty impressive in the final however holding off
three or four of the championship front runners to take sixth
position. JJ's took 5th place in his first heat but won his
second with ease. Things were looking good for another outright
meeting win but he experienced some fuel pickup problems which
forced him to retire. Pics and further gossip from the team
to follow.
Knockhill -
John Jon, Win, Win
 Steve
McCall reports... "We had great weekend, burnt a lot
of midnight oil with a full rebuild of Ali Topley's car ,new
engine and full rebuild of suspenshon. Ali's car was just
finshed in time for Knockhill, John Jon's had to have an engine
built on Friday morning, thanks to Stuart at YP ,that's what
happened. So, off to knockhill for a busy weekend's Motorsport.
On Saturday the heavens opened - I have never seen rain like
it at any race meeting except maybe in the States.
 We
said at the start of the season it would take us fourrounds
to get the new car fully sorted and we were proved right as
we won the day overall on Saturday and Sunday. Sunday's final
was one the best ever finals I have seen - it could have gone
to any one of six drivers so congrats to Peter Morton on a
fine win with JJ send and Ali in a hard earned 12th.
Now that we have
got the cars home in one piece we can keep moving. We also
had chris robinson out in car 5. Chris had a mixed day with
a broken half shaft and a major rear end shunt after a run
in with Gary Thomas. In the last race of the day Chris went
right on into the tyre wall at the hairpin. "
Mallory Park
- Legends round 4
 John
'Jon' took 6th, 4th and 11th in his three races today, three
results which would have put him on the podium at the previous
round but which today placed him seventh in the 29 car entry.
It was a tough day on circuit with two of the four races being
red flagged and a third being held under full course caution
for several laps. Ali Topley's race meeting got no further
than the second lap of his first race after becoming involved
in a shunt putting the car out of action for the rest of the
meeting. The team are looking forward to a 'home' fixture
at Knockhill in two weeks time.
Ali says... "Well,
I was on the inside of turn 1 and 2 and I'd made a couple
of places up. Mike Lord was on my outside and I could see
he was way loose. So I moved to the white line to keep out
his way but inside of lifting off and saving the car he kept
his foot in it which spat him further across the track and
whacked my left front wheel coming out of turn two. This sent
me in the air and then onto the grass. I was heading for a
head on with the tyres and tried to straighten the car up
but the grass was wet so there was no hope. So I hit flat
out with the right front and the tyres then grabbed the car
and span in round and round. Easily the worst crash I've had.
The car was totalled front and rear. "
JAMES WANTLING
 BurnettMotorsport.com
are sad to report the death of former driver James Wantling
earlier this week. James was just 25 years of age and raced
with us in 2003. James and his family made a big impression
on Legends Cars in a very short time. His only season in Legends
Cars earned him second place in the rookie championship. He
scored several top ten finishes and impressively had only
two retirements from 42 starts. Our thoughts are with his
family and friends at this sad time.
24th April -
Donington Park
 John
'Jon' and Ali were back in action at Donington Park on Sunday.
JJ has moved up into 12th place with Ali now 22nd. John 'Jon'
kicked off with a sixth place in his first heat but had to
nurse the car home in the second in 17th. He provided a photo
finish in the final to snatch fourth place from Chris Grieve
on the line. Ali's first heat saw his best finish from the
two meetings so far in 6th place. A collision with Ian Sturt
wiped out a corner of his car in the second heat but good
work from the Burnett Team saw the car just rebuilt in time
to join the pack from the pit lane. He bought the car home
in 16th place - a great drive from the back of the 32 car
grid.
11th April -
Update from Oulton Park
John
'Jon' Higgins and Ally Topley were in action for the first
time this season at Oulton Park. JJ's car was only finished
the night before the meeting with team boss Steve McCall stating
that the meeting was a shakedown exercise. JJ failed to complete
qualifying with a badly slipping clutch and brake problems.
His first race ended with a broken half shaft but he scored
10th in his first proper full race since his comback and then
took 4th in the final. Ali took 8th in his first heat but
also suffered a half shaft breakage in the second before taking
17th out of 28 starters in the final.
10 March - JM
third at Knockhill
 This
is John Marshall in action on the Malcom Wilson rally on the
4th March at Cockermouth. There were 180 entrants and John
finshed a very creditable 23rd after seven hard fought stages
in the forests around Penrith. There were a couple of hiccups
but it was a fair result.
09 March - JM
third at Knockhill
 The
latest photos from BurnettMotorsport.com. These are from the
rally at Knockhill, the Beatsons Scottish Tarmac Championship.
John Marshall finshed 3rd with Ross doing the honours as navigator
for his dad. A slight error on one of the cuts put them back
to 5th but in the last two stages they pulled out the stops
and put in the fastest times, bringing them back to third
position,witch, under the copndishons was a really great result.
You can see from the pics in the gallery
that it was a very hard day on the stages.
02 March - Higgins
back with Burnett
 Multiple
Legends Champion John ‘Jon’ Higgins has announced that he
is to make a full time return to the Legends Cars Championship
for 2005.
Higgins retired
from Legends cars at the end of 2003 having won back to back
British Championships, as well as adding the World Championship
and World Points Championship. Higgins said “we had been having
discussions for some time with regards to possibly doing one
or two rounds this year, but in light of recent events with
the loss of Big John Edwards it will be a tribute to the big
man to do a full season”
Big John made the
move with John Jon to Days of Thunder last year acting as
his crew chief, as well as being very much involved with the
Burnett motorsport Legends team. Higgins added “as much as
Big John enjoyed Days of Thunder, his heart was always with
Legends cars, and I could tell by the endless conversations
we had, he longed to see me back on the Legends grid. For
sure it will be an emotional return and a difficult year,
because his departure has left a big hole in all of our lives,
but I know that as a team we can pull together and make this
happen”.
Burnett Team Manager
Stevie McCall added that he was grateful to Phil Cooper, Legends
Series coordinator, for joining with him in dedicating this
year’s rookie championship as the ‘Big John Edwards Rookie
Challenge’. “Big John put down the spanners and made his Legends
racing debut at the Knockhill Winter Raceday in October last
year” said Stevie, “and we had planned that he would contest
a few rookie rounds this season. So this seemed the best way
we could remember him. John would have appreciated that.”
Stevie also announced
that John ‘Jon’ will be joined by 18 year old Alastair Topley.
This will be Ali’s second year with the team after finishing
runner up in the rookie championship last year. Ali said,
“The loss of Big John affected so many people. I don’t think
it will totally hit us until we get to Oulton and he’s not
in the paddock. He was a great mentor for me. I needed someone
to talk to as I had so much to learn about car racing in my
first year, and Big John was always there, willing to listen
and give me his advice.”
Ali added, “I couldn’t
ask for a better team mate than John ‘Jon’. I can learn so
much from him and I think we can make an awesome team. Hopefully
we can have lots of success this season in memory of Big John”.
Higgins will return
in a Burnett Motorsport prepared Stars and Stripes liveried
34 Ford coupe carrying the #3 as raced by Big John during
his legends debut. Ali will change this year from his #27
Chevy Sedan to a 34 Ford Coupe running #2.
01 March -Snowman
Rally
 A
new season started with the Snowman rally in mid February.
John Marshall has not lost his touch over the Winter. The
team started at number 37 and finished 14th overall.
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