Valuable Points For Petch
Monday, March 26th, 2007County Durham resident Stephen Petch Junior experienced a mixed day out on the weekends Border Counties Rally, round 2 of the 2007 Mitsubishi Evo Challenge, but despite a couple of half spins the talented young driver still brought his SGP Motorsport run Mitsubishi Evo 9 home sixth in class, collecting useful points for his campaign.
The day began slowly, with Stephen nearly 12 seconds off the pace after the opening stage, admitting that he had struggled to find a rhythm in the slippery conditions.
By stage 3 Stephen, co-driven as ever by Michael Wilkinson, had upped his pace and was setting top 6 times and by mid day was inside the top 10 in class. A 20 second penalty for hitting a chicane had cost him two positions but apart from that Stephen was happy with the car.
“I’ve been really struggling to find a rhythm today. Some stages have been brilliant but on others I’ve felt out of sorts. Still, we are on course to pick up some handy points in both the Evo Challenge and the ANCRO Juniors so its’ not all bad” said Stephen.
With Stage 6 being stopped after Paul Benn crashed, Stephen only had the final run through Harwood to try and improve his position but another half spin cost him time and he had to settle for sixth fastest time on the stage and seventh position in the Mitsubishi Evo Challenge.