Petchie Happy To Take Fourth On Trackrod
Monday, September 29th, 2008Stephen Petch Junior overcame minor gearbox maladies and a time consuming spin to bag a solid haul of points when he finished fourth in class on last weekends high speed Trackrod National Rally in his SG Petch run Hyundai accent WRC.
Stephen was returning to action after a summer break and, despite a short test prior to the rally, admitted that he was feelings rather rusty. Considering he had not competed since the Swansea Bay Rally in July, fifth fastest through Housedale, the opening stage, was not bad. His Hyundai accent World Rally Car has recently had a ‘paddle shift’ gear change fitted and it took some time adapting to the new system.
A spin and the consequent stalling of the engine in Stage 2 proved pretty time consuming but when Stephen slid into a chicane in Cropton and could not engage reverse, any hopes of a podium finish went out the window. “We had to get some spectators to push us backwards as we could not get reverse” said Stephen.
A minute was lost in this stage and dropped Stephen down the order. The young County Durham rally driver was able to fight back up the order to eventually finish seventh overall and fourth in Class B13.
“I do love these forests and the Accent always goes well here. It took some time to get used to the new paddle system but once I get the hang of it I should be a fair bit quicker.” said Stephen.