My Events for 2009

Wyedean snowy 7th Feb 2009

This was a very trying day for us struggling with tyres for the weather conditions.
Finished 83rd oa and 9th in class

 

Malcolm wilson 7th March 2009

We started off the day quite well and was only seconds behind the leader but sadly for us our day ended short due to both driveshafts breaking on a hairpin and that was that.

 

Somerset Stages 24th April 2009

Our mission for this event was to go out and win and get max points for the championship due to our year not starting that brill.

After a moment in a hairpin in ss1 that cost us 15 seconds at least if not more, we climbed our way back up to 2nd oa in the 14oo's with nick priddy beating us by 11 seconds in the end.. result 29th oa 2nd in class 2nd oa in the 1400's and collected best 1400 btrda crew getting those very important max points.

 

Plains Rally 16th May 2009

Again our aim was to go and get as many championship points as we could.. lost time in SS1 with darren trying his hand in grass racing rather than rallying!! Lol

We were soon back on the ball setting some impressive fast times and after SS5 was overall leader in the 1400's but sadly from SS6 onwards we started losing 2nd gear which cost us time on the remaining stages but we finished the rally 34th oa, 2nd in class and collecting more important points.

 

Severn Valley Clubmans Rally, Saturday 30th May 2009

For this I teamed up with talented young Welshman tom Watson for the first time on Severn Valley Clubmans Rally held on Saturday 30th May 2009 in the Ford fiesta ST.

This was only the fifth event for the talented former motorcross rider.

We lost time on the opening test when we caught up to a car and got stuck in his dust, dropping a good 20 secs at least!
The stages were extremely slippery in the hot dusty conditions.

The following three stages went well for us, and we set fastest time in our class on stage 3 arriving at Builth wells service 20th OA and 4th in class.

The final stage was a mammoth 16-mile test in Radnor forest and apart from a big! Moment over a big jump we were happy to arrive back in Builth wells 18th OA and 4th in class.

Tom and myself both enjoyed the event and it was important for tom to finish to upgrade his licence, which is what he achieved.

I have a link to the in-car video, with sound !!

 

Dukeries rally June 13

Darren and myself were hoping to continue our recent good run on the Dukeries rally which ran on June 13th.
We set second fastest times on the opening two stages followed by fastest times on the next two stages to lead the 1400’s overall at service by a comfortable 21 seconds.

We were joint fastest on stage 5 and decided not to push too hard, but on stage 6 we had problems with low fuel pressure causing us concern. But after Darren done a bit of banging and clanging with the tank the problem seemed to go away with us setting fastest time again on stage 7 in the 1400’s.

With just two stages remaining disaster struck for us a mile into stage 8 when a broken engine mount pierced the radiator and our good run was at an end, having built up a 24 second lead with only 9 miles remaining.

Darren drove brilliant all day and we were really pleased with our pace hopefully I will have some in car footage to put on .

Photo attached is courtesy of David Powley.

 

Quinton Stages 4th July

The rally started from Llandovery and the event had 8 stages of 45 competitve miles.
We got off to a good start, and were fastest on the opening test, although an overheating engine was causing concern.
Two small offs on SS2 dropped valuable seconds, but then we were embroiled in a great 3 way battle with Graham Middleton and Martyn Lewis all swapping seconds. We were leading going into SS7 but a wrong tyre choice saw us dropped time to Lewis with just one six mile test remaining.
We arrived back at the finish collecting important 2nd place championship points finishing 31st oa and 2nd in class 1400's.
I also picked up Highest Lady Co.driver award.

With two events remaining the Championship is still anyones in the Milner Oils1400 and also the 1.4s class. I am only 2 points off top spot in Lady Co.Driver Category.
With a long break until next round Woodpecker Stages on Sept 5th the car is having a good makeover ready to challenge the title and collect those vital championship points.

 

Swansea Bay 2009 July 18th

I teamed up with David Meredith from North Wales for the Clubmans Swansea Bay Rally, 6 stages consisted of 45 miles in the Classic Rhondda Valley forests.

This was my first time pairing with David in his Evo 9 Mitsubushi Lancer and Davids first event since November last year.
Even though David had not driven for a while we were still setting top ten stage times. The stages were very slippery in places, but, conditions were excellent and we got quicker as the day wore on.
Stage 4 was cancelled due to an accident, but the final stages went well and we set 5th fastest on the last stage of the day. bringing the car back to the finish at Swansea 7th oa and 3rd in class.

Thanks to our service and management crew who did a excellent job all day.

 

Ulster International Rally

I made my International Debut in Ulster on 21st August competing in the Todds Leap.com Ulster Rally.

The event a round of 8 different Championships attracted 150 entries to its Antrim Base.The 14 stages made up the 130 competitive miles on some of Irelands most difficult tarmac roads.
I was reunited with Chris Firth in his Subaru Impreza N10. And the main aim being to score British Rally Championship points.

Thursday saw us do a 12 hour recce covering all the stages twice over.
With a Friday afternoon start day one consisted of 2 loops of three stages. Getting off to a steady start as Chris had a nasty accident on the last round Isle of Man so was a little nervous at start but soon got into it.
The second loop saw the last stage in darkness but we had a trouble free run to arrive back at the end of leg one in 39th overall.

Saturday.

Saturday consisted of 8 stages, including 2 runs of the 17 mile Sleive Gullian test, damp conditions made tyre choice difficult but Chris began to gain his confidence and pushed on Saturdays stages as he got use to the stages and our times improved as the day wore on to arrive back in Antrim 26th overall, 12th in Group N and 6th BRC crew home on our first visit to ulster for both of us.

I found the whole event awesome and thoughley enjoyed every bit of it.
Our aim was to finish and for once Chris didnt have one bump, scratch or have to replace anything on the car!!!

Thanks to our service boys who were great and our Julie for keeping us fed and watered throughout :-) star, gonna miss not having Julie on Trackrod which is the last and final round of the BRC Championship. At the moment Chris is 8th oa so would be nice to see him in the top 6 for his first time doing this championship.

Thanks to Geoff Mayes for the photographs.

 

Woodpecker, 5th September2009

Darren and I took a fine second overall in the 1400 class on the Woodpecker Stages.
The result means the title race in the BTRDA 1400 series goes to the last round of the season Cambrian rally in October.

Darren needed maximum points from the event to still contest the title. We started well holding a six second lead after four stages despite a puncture two miles form the end of stage 4. We continued our lead until the final 8 mile stage with a four second advantage but sadly lost out by 8 seconds to Lawson.

Darren and I were slightly disappointed that we didn't take overall win but really pleased with taking the maximum championship points which is what we set out to achieve. The car never miss a beat and we finished 33rd oa and 1st in class also taking the BTRDA Goblets for the 1400 class.

The result leaves Darren second in the drivers table with me leading the Co-Drivers series and Lady Co-driver so all to play for on Cambrian. Watch this space!!!!!

 

Longcross Stages September 20th 2009

I was lucky enough to sit with Simon Mauger in his newly built Mk 2 Escort RS for the Anniversary Stages at Longcross.

This was our first time out together and Simon is regarded as one of the quickest men on tarmac in the UK.

A spin on Stage 1 cost a little time and then we lost the clutch halfway through stage 3 and had to do the whole of stage 4 with no clutch.
In service while trying to adjust the camber the parts wouldn't fit with the car being so hot, resulting in us booking out of service 3 minutes late costing us a 30sec penalty.

This cost us dear as without the penalty the overall win would of certainly been ours. But we were still pleased with 2nd overall and 1st in Class and also highest place mix crew.

Picture by M & H Photography

 

Trackrod International Rally Saturday 26th September 2009

For this event I sat with Chris Firth in his Subaru Impreza N10.

A slight off into a ditch on stage one was followed by wiping out the chicane on stage two, but after the early excitement we soon settled down to have a clean run on the remaining morning stages to arrive at halfway 13th overall.

The afternoon loop was a repeat of the mornings test where another clean run and improvement in our times saw us arrive back in Pickering 11th overall, sixth registered BRC crew.

This saw Chris finish inside the top ten in the BRC on his first attempt in a home built clubman spec car that hasn't got the power of his rivals.

Although I was under the weather due to having a very nasty cold leading upto the event and taking too many strepsils on the day it was a shame to just miss out on a top ten finish.

 

Gareth Hall Memorial Rally 10 October 2009

This Event was held at The Ranges Motor Sport Centre, Trawsfynydd.
I entered with Alun Roberts in his Peugeot 206 Supercup car. There were 12 stages in total.

We had a steady start but soon got into it. The first few stages went really well then on the 4th Stage which finishes around the go-kart track as I call it we got wedged on tyres losing a good 5 to 10 seconds but it was so funny I couldn't say anything for laughing plus couldn't see much anyway over the dashboard. I swear all Alun had me in the car for was to do the timing and direct which way around the triangle each time.

The remaining of the stages went really well and by the end of the day we were getting quicker and quicker and finish the event 15th oa and 3rd in class.

Thanks to Steven Jones for the picture

 

Cambrian Rally 17 October 2009

A lot was riding on this rally for us there was a chance that Darren could retain his crown from last year in the 1400, 2008 BTRDA Championship.
For myself I had chance of taking the Co-Driver in the 1400's, Lady Co-Driver in the BTRDA and finishing top in my class in the Welsh National Championship.

The event consisted of 5 Stages finishing with a long 16 mile one.

Stage one went ok, with us just down 1sec on Middleton in the nova, then after stage 2 we had a 10sec lead over Graham, This increased to a massive 36 second lead going into stage 4 , but unfortunately we slid off the road only a mile into the stage and were stuck fast, despite a brilliant effort by a handful of marshalls who were there which I must say a massive thank you for trying so hard

This ended our chance of winning the 1400 title, but I was still crowned 2009 BTRDA Lady codriver Champion despite our retirement and also finished 2nd in my class overall for the Welsh National Championship.

Our last event of the season will be the Tempest now in November which will be my last rally for 2009.