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Saturdays International Rally of Yorkshire was one to forget as the SG Petch Motorsport team continued their run of mixed fortunes in the 2006 Tesco 99 Octane MSA British Rally Championship.
A very frustrating retirement for Stephen Petch Junior coupled with a last stage mechanical problem for team mate Rob Gill were made almost bearable thanks to a breathtaking last corner victory for team principal Steve Petch Senior, who was out contesting the National rally.
After 2 wins from his last 2 events in Yorkshire, young Stephen Petch Junior was hoping to do better than his 2005 outing on the Trackrod Rally. After retiring due to an engine fire on the opening stage in 2005, young Stephen fired a warning across everyones bows with 8th fastest through the opening stage, just over 2 seconds off double British Champion Jonny Milner in a similar Mitsubishi.
With high hopes the young County Durham driver headed off to Cropton Forest for the second stage highly confident of a good run in his Sun, Scalextric, AVit tools and Virgin Money backed Evo IX. However a puncture 3 miles into the stage rapidly destroyed both the front tyre and the oil cooler, bringing Petch Junior and co-driver Michael Wilkinson to a halt. Despite being able to repair the damaged intercooler, the pair were forced into retirement as they were not carrying any spare oil in the car.
“I am so sick of this. Lady luck has totally abandoned us. The team has worked so hard preparing the car and it was handling beautifully�Ķ and now this! I don���t even know what caused the puncture, because we didn���t hit anything.” exclaimed a very frustrated Stephen Petch Junior.
Stephen’s team mate Rob Gill faired slightly better and the Sun Newspaper contributor was in line for a top 20 finish when mechanical maladies struck his Subaru Impreza on the final stage of the entire event ending a very frustrating day for the SG Petch Motorsport team.
By total contrast team principal Steve Petch Senior, now officially retired from rallying, was out competing in the shorter National Rally in one of the teams Hyundai World Rally Cars. After a fierce battle with top BTRDA contender John Bannister, Steve eventually pressured the youngster into a small mistake, and a last corner spin for Bannister was enough for Steve Petch to take the win.
Both Petch Junior and Senior will now prepare for the forthcoming Bulldog Rally, the final round of the 2006 ANCRO Rally Championship, where they will go head to head in Group N ���showroom special��� production cars in the North Wales forests.