Differential Problems Cause Bulldog Retirement
Tuesday, October 24th, 2006Young County Durham driver Stephen Petch Junior endured yet another run of bad luck on the final round of the 2006 ANCRO Rally Championship when his SG Petch Motorsport run Mitsubishi Evo IX blew its centre differential on the start line of the very first stage of the Bulldog Rally.
A frustrated Stephen said: “I just can���t believe it. Yet another retirement. This year has not been a good one and to be quite honest, i’m just glad it���s over now.”
In a year when Stephen has either finished on the podium or retired due to problems of one sort or another, his troubled run continued when differential problems on the start line of the opening 8 mile run through Dyfnant saw the Sun, AVit tools and Virgin money supported Mitsubishi rendered almost undriveable. Despite this Stephen still avoided hitting anything in the slippery tree lined stage and slowly limped out before retiring the car before Stage 2.
“With a broken diff the car was virtually undriveable and snapped from understeer to over steer with absolutely no warning. I���m gutted because I was hoping to have a bit of a race with my Dad.” added Stephen.
Despite this non score some strong runs earlier in the year have assured Stephen of 2nd overall in the Mitsubishi Cup.