Stephen and co-driver Michael Wilkinson were back in their SG Petch Motorsport run Hyundai Accent following a stint as course car in a Group N Subaru recently. The pair were also back on gravel following a pair of tarmac rallies in the last three weeks. And Stephen was so glad to be back on his favoured surface that he opened his account with a sixth fastest stage time on the first stage of the Mid Wales based rally. Stage 2 saw the young County Durham based pilot still set a strong top 10 time despite a spin at a hairpin.

Calming down slightly saw Stephen, the reigning Mitsubishi Junior Champion, set some very strong times over the next few stages and by the mid way point was pleased to be lying seventh overall and only 3 seconds away from his nearest rival. But then gradually his rally began to fall apart. Not only was the 23 year old forced to slow down at incidents involving other cars, costing him precious seconds, but a damaged steering arm put him into a ditch for nearly a minute and dropped him down the order.

“The morning was really good, the car felt great and I had loads of confidence. But then this afternoon it all fell away. We had to slow down a lot at two different accidents only to get waved on at the last moment, so that cost us time. And then i hit a big rock in one stage which damaged our steering. Despite this we’ve been on the pace of Marcus Dodd, so I’m pretty happy about that.”

With four of the seven rallies now completed Stephen finds himself still third in class in the championship battle, but with dropped scores to be taken into account the young Northerner could yet spring a surprise.

The championship fight resumes towards the end of July when the title protagonists return to Wales for the Swansea Bay Rally.

For more on the championship please visit www.gravelrally.co.uk.

Less than a fortnight after finishing third in class on the Manx National Rally Stephen and co-driver Michael Wilkinson ran as course car in a Group N Subaru Impreza on the Jim Clark International Rally in Scotland. The pair will now return to the cockpit of their SG Petch Motorsport run Hyundai Accent World Rally Car for their first trip to Wales this year.

Stephen is currently tied with Andy Burton for second position in Class B13 in the Pirelli Gravel Rally Championship and will be aiming to consolidate his position this weekend, aware that there are a number of local drivers who could also be a threat.

“The Manx was interesting as I’d never driven the car on tarmac before but I’m glad we’re back on the loose stuff now. We’ll hopefully get a bit of a test in ahead of the rally, and as I’ve gone well on this event before I’ll be hoping for a good run this weekend. I know that the likes of Julian Reynolds will be pretty rapid so we aim to just go at our own pace and try not to make any silly errors.”

The 2008 Severn Valley National Rally starts from Builth Wells in Mid Wales at 8 am on Saturday 31st of May. The competitors then tackle over 60 stage miles broken into 8 of the world renowned Mid Wales forest stages, including the likes of Crychan and Halfway, before returning to the finish at around 5pm.

For more on the championship please visit www.gravelrally.co.uk