2009 News...
Rallying/Racing News - 5th July 2009
Late Surge claims Third on the Quinton Rally.
Yesterdays Quinton Stages Rally was the fifth round of the BTRDA Rally First 1.4 Championship, and I finished 3rd in class. I also finished 53rd in the overall classification, with 117 crews starting the event and 93 finishing. The rally was based at Llandovery and used the gravel stages of the Epynt Ranges and Crychan Forest.
Between the Dukeries Rally last month and this rally, the rallyschool and myself have been trying to solve the recent tyre failure problems. We think we have got to the bottom of the problem, which has meant me working on improving my driving technique and also using some different tyres on the car. The changes made seemed to have worked and I would say that this rally was our best performance this year, so far. Although we were 4th going into the last stage 7 seconds behind 3rd placed Chris Hellings, we were confident that we could finish in the top 3. Everything went well on the stage and we finished 12 seconds ahead of Hellings to claim 3rd. Apart from a faulty oil pressure light, the VW Lupo never missed a beat and also finished with all the tyres it started with.
This was a great result and has maintained my 2nd overall in the Rally First and Rally First RF1.4 Drivers championships. I also now lead the BTRDA under 25's and BTRDA Junior championships.
Matt tackling the Halfway Stage on the Quinton Rally 2009. More photos can be found if you click here Rally Gallery
If you click on the following link you will be able to see Neil Johnson's article on our Quinton rally experiences and also articles that appeared in Motorsport News relating to my time competing on the Quinton rally 2009. Press coverage.
Thanks as usual to Joe Cruttenden for being my Co-Driver for the rally and also thanks to John Goff and the Rallyschool team who prepared the car for the event.
My next rally will be the sixth round of the BTRDA Rally First Championship, the Woodpecker Stages Rally, on the 5th September. The Woodpecker is another new event for me and it uses the smooth flowing stages based around Ludlow.
Cheers
|
