Great start to the year!

2 weeks ago, was the opening round of the BTRDA Rally First Championship, The Wyedean Rally. Matt and I went into it knowing we had a realistic chance of claiming the class victory as long as we had a clean run.

We were seeded as the 1st Rally First crew, which meant we had no real way of judging our pace until service. So in the 1st stage, we tried pushing as hard as we dare, and we had a good run, taking 10 seconds of our nearest class rival, which was a great start.

On the 2nd stage, the crew we thought would push us the hardest made a mistake and lost 2 and half minutes, this meant we had a little breathing space, although we didn't know it until service. We carried on pushing through stage's 2, 3, and 4 and won all 3 stages despite having a big over shoot at the start of stage 3.

At service, the car only needed a clean and a re-fuel, excellent.

Stage 5 was our favourite, we managed to take about 30 seconds off 2nd fastest in class, so we knew we could ease off in the last 2. We also caught a car that started 2 minutes in front of us in stage 5.

Stages 6 and 7 were quite nerve racking as we knew all we had to do was finish, every noise and movement the car made worried us, but in the end it all came good and we finished. 1st in class and 63rd overall, this meant we claimed the Nicky Grist Trophy.

As well as this I won the Michael "beef' Park award, for being the highest placed co-driver under 23. And the class win puts me and Matt joint 1st in the English rally championship too.



Thanks to Chris Huish for the photo (http://www.chrishuishrallyphotos.co.uk)

2010 Plans

Looks like I will be busy this year...YES!!! But I may need my passport.

Again I will be partnering Matt in the BTRDA Rallyfirst in the Lupo. Hopefully this year we can show the consistency which we had in 2009, as well as more speed. As well as this, we are looking at doing other events to be able to get more experience at other surfaces.

Also, this is where I will need my passport, I have been asked to do the MSA Hankook Scottish Rally Championship alongside Lewis Roper in a class 12 Subaru Impreza GC8. The car will be hired off Don Murray of Highland Cars, and run by Tim Finch Rallyesport of Cumbria. Lewis, 25, also did the BTRDA Rallyfirst in 09, and won the 1 litre class in a Nissan Micra.



I am duly looking forward to both championships. And I am sure myself and both drivers will learn a lot.

Tough but good 2009

2009 turned out to be a good season for Matt and I in the end. The championship was won by Dave Bennett on the penultimate round, The Woodpecker. We went into the Woodpecker on quite a high, but it was to a be a tough rally. Although quick, which suited our car neither of us really enjoyed the event, and we managed to pick up another puncture which dropped us down to 4th in class. Luckily we still managed to hold onto 2nd in the championship, although others managed to close on us.



Between the Woodpecker and the final round, the Cambrian, I competed in a Historic Mk1 Escort on the Trackrod Rally of Yorkshire. This is a brilliant rally and I really enjoyed it, even better we managed to claim 3rd in Class.

The Cambrian was the final round of the Rally First championship, and the 1.4 class was to go to the wire. To win the class Matt and I had to hope that Chris' Jones and Spilstead had problems in their sister Lupo. Luckily for us, the Chris' did have problems on stage 3, with an accident approximately half way in. This meant that the class title went to Matt, but for me to win the co-drivers we had to gt a good finish, but once again a puncture scuppered any hope of this. About 7 miles into the final stage (16 miles) we ran wide and picked up a puncture, we decided to stop in stage and change the wheel, but unfortunately the ground was too soft for the jack to stand on and it fell over twice. This meant we dropped 10 minutes and finished last in class. But we finished...



Unfortunately due to the poor result on Cambrian, the co-drivers title was tied between myself and Chris Spilstead, who claimed the title as he won the 1st round. But Matt did in the Drivers class award and finished 2nd o/a.

I would like to thank: Matt for a superb drive all season, Rallyschool.co.uk for the car and the support all year, my dad for supporting me in what ever I wanted to do and to all the other drivers that have had confidence in me since 2006! THANK YOU!!!