West Midlands Motorsport Welsh Rally Report

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Following a successful debut at last month's Malcolm Wilson Rally, the West Midlands Motorsport Junior Team achieved more success at last weekend's Panaround Rally, the second round of the Quaife Peugeot 205 1.9 Scholarship. Team mentor Matt Baker finished second overall, with team members Alex Evans, Tom Curtis and Matt Bettridge all having encouraging runs to finish third, seventh and eighth respectively.

The second round of the Quaife Peugeot 205 1.9 Scholarship attracted 21 crews to the start in Dolgellau, and Curtis, partnered by David Roberts, made the best possible start, taking an eight second lead after the first of the day's five stages in the forests of mid Wales. Unfortunately, Curtis's luck took a turn for the worse on the next stage, as a broken driveshaft forced him to slow and lost him the lead. But the setback merely served to spur him into action, and the young Welshman showed the skill that recently won him the lucrative Prospeed Scholarship. He set fastest time on each of the remaining stages, fighting his way back up the leaderboard to finish the day seventh.

Evans and co-driver Janice Hooley set off in determined mood, wanting to retain their lead in the championship. Running the only left hand drive car in the championship, the pairing set a consistent series of times inside the top five and arrived at the finish in third overall. But Evans's display of sportsmanship on the last stage almost certainly lost cost him second place. Spotting a fellow competitor parked on a bank with no 'OK' board displayed, Evans made the decision to stop and make sure the crew were uninjured. At the finish, Evans said "It's been a bit stressful today. It took until the afternoon stages to get into the swing of things. But on the positive side, we've put some more points on the championship board."

Bettridge went into the event hoping for better luck than at the last round, when an engine that steadfastly refused to run on all four cylinders hampered his progress. Accompanied by co-driver Susan Brown, Bettridge ran steadily inside the top ten, returning to the finish ramp in Dolgellau in eighth. The result moves him up to fourth in the championship. "The West Midlands Motorsport mechanics changed the rear beam before the rally, which improved the feel of the car, and the engine ran faultlessly, so it's been a good day all round" said the young Manxman.

Barker, with co-driver Richard Walker on the route notes, once again acted as the 'hare' to the younger drivers 'hounds'. He was always in the top three and, despite a mystery vibration in the car on the last two stages, the Birmingham driver took runner up spot in the Scholarship category, 1 minute 31 seconds behind the winner, reigning champion Simon Moore and co-driver Huw Mathias.

Despite his success, which puts him second in the Scholarship standings, Barker was typically self-effacing. "I feel I was a pretty slow hare today; I just couldn't get a rhythm going. Tom was driving really well, and Alex should also have beaten me. It's good to see Matt making progress as well. He's a steadier driver than the other two, but he's doing the right things by concentrating on finishing. His position in the championship speaks volumes about that. Everyone associated with the West Midlands Motorsport Junior Team is on a high at the moment, and I really hope we can keep up the momentum for the rest of the season."

West Midlands Motorsport ran a total of eight cars on the event, with varying degrees of success. Jody Bowcott / Gareth Evans finished an excellent fourth in the driver's second-ever rally. The Welsh youngster displayed tenacious fighting spirit to set third fastest time on the last stage and overhaul a vastly more experienced crew by just 4.4 seconds. The result puts Bowcott third in the championship standings.

Austin Mckinlay / Dominic Brown were just glad to get to the end in 11^th place, after their early exit on the Malcolm Wilson Rally last month with mechanical woes.

Long-time West Midlands Motorsport customer John Pardoe has moved up from a 1400 c.c. Peugeot 205 this season, but the additional power of the 1.9 litre engine may have contributed to his spectacular exit from the rally on stage two. Pardoe and co-driver Tim Young redefined the term 'Flying Finish', suffering a multiple roll right at the end of the Gartheiniog stage. The force of the impact was such that Young had to later retrieve the complete contents of his navigator's bag, which were strewn down the stage.

After their unlucky DNF at the Malcolm Wilson Rally, Jon-Paul Strohacker / Viv Austin again made the long trip from London to compete. They took it very steadily on the opening stages, but a puncture on stage three, Pantperthog, caused their car to slide off into a ditch from which they could not get out in time.