A frustrated Stephen said: “I just can‚Äôt believe it. Yet another retirement. This year has not been a good one and to be quite honest, i’m just glad it‚Äôs 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‚Äôm 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.

By contrast his father, Steve Petch Senior, had a solid day out in the forests. Having come out of retirement as a tribute to John Trevethick, the retiring clerk of course for the Bulldog Rally, Steve gradually got to grips with his Group N Subaru Impreza.

Improving all day long Steve moved up the leader board on nearly every stage, eventually finishing 12 in class after 6 very slippery and tricky stages.

The team will now begin preparations for the final round of the 2006 British Rally Championship, the International Wales Rally GB. Stephen Petch Junior is still hopeful of raising the budget needed to contest this event in a Hyundai World Rally Car. Having finished on the podium both times he has competed in a World Rally Car Stephen is confident of a good run, but it all depends on whether he can raise the necessary budget before entries close.

If you want to sponsor Stephen for the forth coming Rally GB, please contact SGP Motorsport on 07885 797199.

Stephen Petch Junior, a regular in the 2006 Mitsubishi Evo Cup, will be contesting the rally in his usual SG Petch Motorsport run Mitsubishi Evo IX, a car he has campaigned all year long. Despite a run of bad luck Stephen has frequently been a front runner in the championship and is looking to end the season on a high, having already been assured of 2nd overall in the standings after a fighting recovery from a first stage puncture on the penultimate round, the Park Systems Rally in Scotland.

Joining Stephen in the 2 car SGP Motorsport Rally Team will be his father, a former National Champion himself. Although Steve Petch Senior is now officially retired from rallying he has been out competing on the odd occasion in 2006, including guiding a Hyundai Accent World Rally Car to a closely fought victory on the recent Trackrod Clubman’s Rally. Steve will be at the wheel of one of the teams Subaru Impreza rally cars and is looking forward to the event, and the opportunity to go head to head with his son in similar cars.

After finishing just behind his father on the 2005 Bulldog Rally young Stephen is keen to reverse that this weekend and intends to push from the start.

“It‚Äôll be great to go up against Dad in similar cars but I‚Äôm just terrified the old man beats me ‚Äì I‚Äôd never hear the end of it” the young County Durham driver quipped. He added: “Although to be fair I‚Äôve had the whole season to get used to my car, so hopefully that will compensate for his greater experience of the rally.”

Steve Petch Senior is competing on the event as a tribute to retiring Clerk of the Course John Trevethick, who has been clerk for this renowned event for 25 years.

The 2006 Bulldog Rally consists of 70 miles of some of the finest rallying stages in North Wales and is based in Oswestry.

Stephen, using a borrowed car on his return to active competition after an unpleasant accident on the Isle of Man in early August, knew he had to score well on this weekends penultimate round of the Mitsubishi Evo Cup if he was to be in with a shot at the title, but was also conscious of the need for mechanical sympathy.

However, the County Durham based driver was hampered with a puncture on the opening 19 mile stage, costing him a lot of time and leaving him with a tall order if he wanted to gather a decent points haul from this, the penultimate round of the championship. A top time on the very next stage helped Stephen regain confidence as he went quicker than championship rival Anthony Willmington and considering that Stephen’s borrowed car was of an older spec and therefore not quite as quick, this was no mean feat.

Stephen’s fight back continued on Stage 4 with the SGP Motorsport driver going another 7 seconds faster than Willmington, and this despite picking up yet another puncture 2 miles from the end of the stage.

Stage 5 underlined his true talent and capabilities. In a ’showroom special’ production car Stephen stopped the clocks a mere 5 seconds slower than the fastest World Rally Car and was 5th fastest overall as well, taking another 5 seconds out of his championship rival.

The final stage of the rally, a repeat of the 19 mile opening stage was notoriously cut up after over 100 cars had past through and would be a challenge for survival but still Stephen blitzed the field, balancing pace with caution netted Stephen 4th fastest overall, going an astounding 30 seconds faster than Willmington.

However the damage had all been done with the puncture on the very first stage and although Stephen drove well to recover a huge chunk of that time 5th in Group N and 20 seconds down on the Mitsubishi Evo cup winner was hardly just reward for his spirited drive.

“It was another frustrating event and the Park Systems really has not been kind to me. Both last year and this year I have been plagued with unlucky punctures” said Stephen.

He added: “I was pushing pretty hard in that last stage and came out with all 4 tyres intact, so explain to me how on earth I punctured on the opening stage, when I was being cautious.”

Stephen heads to the final round still in with a mathematical chance of winning the Evo cup but before hand he will contest the penultimate round of the 2006 Tesco 99 Octane MSA British Rally Championship, the International Rally of Yorkshire, which runs on the 7th of October.

Currently lying 2nd in the standings, a mere 10 points off the lead, Stephen will be anxious to duplicate his sterling performance on July’s Swansea Bay Rally, where he dominated the Mitsubishi Evo Cup in difficult conditions and is relishing the chance to get back behind the wheel.

“Its‚Äô been quite a while since I last drove in anger and I‚Äôm really looking forward to this weekend. We will have a slight disadvantage as my car is not ready yet and we are having to use another car, so I will need to adjust to that at the same time as regaining the ‚Äòfeeling‚Äô on gravel” commented Stephen.

Both he and Michael (Wilkinson, his co-driver) will be eager to put their recent experiences on the Isle of Man behind them and instead focus on the challenge ahead.

Barely a week after their blistering performance on the Swansea Bay Rally the pair experienced a painful run on the Rally Isle of Man. Having been delayed early on due to accidents ahead of him, Stephen and co-driver Michael Wilkinson would suffer one of the biggest crashes of their career, when his SG Petch Scalextric Team Mitsubishi Evo IX was caught out in the tricky conditions on one of the most challenging rounds of the Tesco 99 Octane MSA British Rally Championship.

The County Durham driver lost control on an extremely slippery section, and after mounting an embankment the car came to a very sudden halt against a rock wall. Although the Mitsubishi was pretty badly damaged, the pair escaped unscathed but would be in a lot of pain for a couple of weeks after the accident.

With the car not yet ready, the team have had no alternative but to use another Mitsubishi for the event, presenting Stephen with yet another challenge as he will need to adjust to the new car and regain his confidence on the events tricky and often rough surfaces.

“The Park Systems is not too far from my home, compared to the events in Wales, and I‚Äôm hoping to regain my confidence pretty quickly on this event. We had a troubled run here last year, loosing time with a lot of punctures, but I‚Äôm hoping we can reverse that this weekend” said Stephen.

The 2006 Park Systems Rally, round 7 of the ANCRO Gravel Rally Championship, begins at 9am from Riverside, Newton Stuart, with the first car expected back at the finish at around 4:30pm.

After the problems on the Jim Clark International Stephen and Michael Wilkinson, his co-driver, had planned on easing into the event, but hanging dust hampered their progress and a half spin on the opening stage did not help matters either. Even so, Stephen was relatively happy with being 4th in Group N and 13th overall at the end of the first 2 stages. Happy with how the car was handling, Stephen was planning a big push over the next few stages.

Stephen then really upped his pace and set a string of blistering stage times over the remaining 4 stages, going fastest in Group N on all of them and setting a string of top 10 overall times to eventually bring his SG Petch Scalextric Mitsubishi Evo IX home in a brilliant 9th overall, 2nd in Group N and most importantly, 1st in the Mitsubishi Evo Cup.

Stephen was doubly happy about this result as he was going head to head with Julian Reynolds who, as last years winner of this rally, was running first on the road, with the advantage of not having dust hanging in the air. As Stephen competes against Julian in the Tesco 99 Octane MSA British Rally Championship this has done a lot for his confidence.

A delighted Stephen said: “We‚Äôve known all along that we‚Äôve got the pace, but niggling problems have held us back. Hopefully this result has shown that we have what it takes to run at the front.”

Stephen and the rest of the team now begin preparing for round 3 of the 2006 Tescos 99 Octane MSA British Rally Championship, the Rally Isle of Man, which runs from 3rd to 5th August 2006.

Despite having been one of the championship pacesetters in 2006 Stephen has struggled with a variety of problems and is aware that he needs to secure solid points at every round from now on. “We‚Äôve not had lady luck on our side so far this season which has been frustrating as we‚Äôve shown we really do have the pace now. Hopefully the second half of the season will be better.” said Stephen.

Petch and co driver Michael Wilkinson experienced a difficult Jim Clark International Rally 2 weekends ago when their SG Petch Scalextric Mitsubishi Evo IX struggled first with fuel feed problems and then ultimately a broken central diff led to their retirement. The unique nature of the twisty tarmac rounds of the Jim Clark Rally are notoriously tough on transmissions and so the team is confident that the problems will not re-appear on this weekends gravel rally, which uses some of the famous Wales Rally GB stages such as Rhondda, Resolven and Rheola.

However, Stephen will be keen to balance his pace with consistency this weekend after rolling out on the very first stage of the 2005 edition of the Swansea Bay Rally. Although currently lying 4th in the 2006 Evo Cup Stephen and Michael are well seeded in 11th place, behind a string of World Rally Cars and ahead of his championship challengers.

The rally sets off from Swansea Bay in South Wales at 8:30 am on Saturday morning, and after 64 challenging stage miles, including 2 runs of the specially built Walters Arena, the first car is expected back at the finish at around 4:40pm.

For more information on the rally please visit the Swansea Bay Rally website

Stephen missed out on victory by a mere 4 seconds after 44 miles of tough and dusty forest rallying! However things might have been very different if Stephen had had a clear run through the opening 10 and a half mile stage.

Dust was the biggest talking point of the day, and very nearly everyone was hampered by it, but when Stephen encountered 3 other cars in Crychan, the very first stage of the rally, and was slowed to a crawl at times, due to the lack of visibility he knew he had a tough job ahead of him, playing catch up. Indeed his time through Stage 1 showed exactly how much time he had lost. 32nd overall, and over a minute lost to the quickest Group N car had really put Petch at a disadvantage.

However, a mature drive by the young man saw him steadily climb back up the leader board, so that by the end of stage 5 he was lying a mere 30 seconds behind the Evo cup leader, Anthony Willmington.

Petch and Wilkinson then upped the pace, setting consecutive top 3 class times through the 2 Brechfa stages moved the SGP Motorsport run Mitsubishi Evo IX up to 7th in Group N, and with only the final 12 mile run through Crychan left to go they had their eye on the Evo cup leader, Wilmington, who was 8 seconds ahead of them.

“For the whole rally we had driven within ourselves, but sitting on the start line for the final stage Michael and I agreed to ‚Äògo for it‚Äô so we really gave it everything.” said Stephen.
And ‘everything’ was good enough for a blisteringly fast 4th fastest overall time, quicker than 3 World Rally Cars and good enough to move him up to 4th in class! However his time was only 9 seconds faster than Wilmington (still nearly a second a mile faster though!) meaning he missed out on Evo Cup victory by a scant 3.7 seconds!

Stephen added: “We had a good day, with the car running faultlessly throughout. It felt a bit flat in the morning but I think it was just the combination of the heat and the dust. If we hadn‚Äôt have lost all that time in the first stage things might have been different, but that‚Äôs rallying for you.”

Next up for Stephen, Michael and the whole SG Petch Scalextric Rally Team is the second round of the 2006 Tesco 99 Octane British Rally Championship, the tarmac Jim Clarke Rally, which begins on Friday 27th July 2006.

More information on Stephen and the whole SG Petch Motorsport team can be found by visiting SGP Motorsport
More information on the Jim Clark Rally can be found by visiting http://www.jimclarkrally.com/

The SGP Motorsport team are tackling both the Tesco 99 Octane British Rally Championship and the ANCRO Gravel Rally Championship in 2006 and have enjoyed mixed fortunes thus far. Whilst the 2006 specification Group N Mitsubishi has certainly had the pace required to keep it at the front of the field, bad luck have seen the pair struggle slightly.

The last round of the ANCRO series was the RBS International Manx Rally on the tight and twist lanes of the Isle of Man. Despite virtually no testing in the brand new car, Stephen was immediately on the pace and set some blindingly quick times. However Stephen was ultimately sidelined by fuel injector problems.

A week later the pair tackled the opening round of the 2006 British Rally Championship, the Pirelli Rally, based in Carlisle. Once more young Stephen was immediately on the pace, setting times quicker than previous British Rally Champions, but a wild moment saw the car slide off the road backwards at high speed, damaging the rear end and denting Stephens confidence slightly. Despite continuing in the rally the car struggled with clutch and intercooler problems and Stephen dropped down the leader board., before repairs could be actioned. Once his steed had been fettled Petch Junior was immediately back on the pace and a string of top 10 times hinted at his potential.

Talking of potential, if 2005 is anything to go by, Stephen is well worth watching on the Severn Valley Rally. Formally known as the Mutiny Rally, this event is based in mid Wales and uses some of the same route as the world famous Wales Rally GB. Stephen finished 18th overall here last year, and his times were quick enough to see him seeded at car 11 and 2nd in the production car category for the forthcoming rally.

Driving an all new Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 sporting a huge St George’s cross in support of our boys at the World Cup in Germany this summer, the SGP Motorsport driver is slowly getting to grips with his new machine.

“The car was driving superbly in the early stages and we were on the pace up until Ballig, then the car started to run on three cylinders.” said Stephen.

Technicians quickly diagnosed a faulty fuel injector but ran out of time and had to retire at Parville 2 - SS11.

“That’s Motorsport.” added Stephen.

The pair will line up alongside fellow team mates Rob Gill and Anders Howard as part of the SG Petch Scalextric Rally Team.

The car, seen here at last weeks BRC Live Sponsors Day, is undergoing final preparations and should be ready in time to make its debut in the 3rd round of the MSA National Gravel Championship on the Isle Of Man.

Stephen, who will also be competing in the Mitsubishi Ralliart ‘Evolution Cup’, is hoping to have some reliability this time around and says: “I’ve had a bit of bad luck with mechanical problems in the past and only managed to finish twice out of six starts.

So hopefully everything will hold out this time and we can put in a good performance and get a good result.”

It won’t be difficult spotting the car either, as it has been decked out with a giant St George’s cross in support of our boys at the World Cup in Germany this summer.

The Manx International Rally has a total of 14 stages (120 competitive miles) through high streets, hills and countryside, returning to the TT grandstand for a high profile finish.

The Rally is also a qualifying round of the Mitsubishi Ralliart Evolution Cup which, after two rounds, is led by Tony Thompson (Darlington) in his Lancer EVO 8. Right behind him – in both the points and the Manx entry – are Anthony Willmington (Godmanstone) and Stephen Petch (Richmond) who will be hoping to overhaul Thompson as the event progresses.

2006 Championship Tables (Top 5)

Mitsubishi Ralliart ‘Evolution Cup’ after 2 rounds.

1. Tony Thompson - Darlington - Lancer Evo 8 - 11 pts
2. Anthony Willmington - Dorchester - Lancer Evo 6 - 9pts
3. Stephen Petch - Richmond - Lancer Evo 7 - 5pts
4. Simon Close - Stamford - Lancer Evo 6 - 4pts
5. Tim Pearcey - Harrogate - Lancer Evo 6 - 4pts