Stephen, co-driven as always by Michael Wilkinson, was reunited with his Hyundai Accent World Rally Car a week after contesting the Greystokes Stages at the wheel of a Group N Mitsubishi Evo 9. And for the second week in succession Stephen, who was expected to challenge for class honours, suffered a cruel hand of luck.

After struggling through the opening two stages with a mysterious handling problem it all became clear when the track control arm suddenly broke half way through stage 3. Stephen did his best to limit the time loss as he nursed the wounded Accent out of the stage and into service, but an agonising 5 minutes had been lost.

Once repairs had been administered by the SG Petch Motorsport team, Stephen and Michael returned to the woods for a bit of damage limitation. A string of top 3 in class times through the afternoon showed what might have been.

“I’m getting a bit frustrated with all this bad luck that always seems to come my way. I haven’t had a clean run in so long that I’ve forgotten what it’s like. When the car goes well she is amazing to drive, so I just have to hope that we have a good end to the season

Incredibly Stephen is still in the thick of the class battle, currently lying second overall in B13, sandwiched between Marcus Dodd and Andy Burton.

The next outing for the young County Durham rally driver is expected to be the Bulldog Rally in October.

Stephen, along with co-driver Michael Wilkinson, contested last weekends inaugural Greystokes Stages in Cumbria as a warm up event. Because there was less than a week between the two events the SG Petch team chose to contest the Greystokes stages in their production class Mitsubishi Evo 9. Stephen and Michael were looking forward to the event, based completely within the famous Greystokes Forest, but unfortunately their rally came to a premature end when the pair suffered a broken pro shaft which then ruptured the fuel tank, briefly setting fire to the car. Thankfully the crew were able to extinguish the flames with no major damage.

“What an adventure. I haven’t really had a lot of luck this year. Last weekend was a bit of a scare as we had exactly the same problem that Guy Wilks had in his works Mitsubishi a few weeks ago. Luckily, though, we saved our car. Now we’re off to Swansea for a rally that I really enjoy. The stages in South Wales are fantastic and hopefully we can get a good clean run in the Hyundai.” said Stephen.
The 2008 Swansea Bay Rally kicks off at 8am and includes 65 high speed stage miles through such classics as Rhondda, Resolven and the spectator friendly Walters Arena. Stephen and Michael are seeded at Car number 6 this weekend.

Stephen, who is contesting the full Gravel Rally Championship in 2008, at the wheel of a SG Petch Motorsport run Hyundai Accent World Rally Car, will, this weekend, resort to using the Production class Mitsubishi Evo 9 with which he took the Mitsubishi Evo Challenge Junior title in 2007. The purpose of his entry is twofold, not only does it allow the enthusiastic rally driver the chance to support a new event but it is also the ideal opportunity for a bit of practice ahead of his next championship round, the Swansea Bay Rally, next weekend.

“We don’t get too much opportunity to use the Greystokes Forests these days but obviously they used to form a part of the old RAC Rally and so this will be a great experience for me. As the Swansea Bay Rally is only a week away we decided it would be unwise to use the Hyundai and so I’m back in the Evo. And as the rally is on maps rather than pace notes it should give Michael, my co-driver, a bit more work to do in the car.” said Stephen.

Stephen and co-driver Michael Wilkinson are seeded at Car 1 for this weekend rally, which consists of 34 stage miles run solely within the Greystokes Forests. The first car is due to start shortly after 9am, with the rally ending at around 4pm.

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

With no opportunity to test ahead of his first ever tarmac rally in the car Stephen opted for a cautious start but still picked up a puncture in the opening stage, dropping 10 seconds to the leaders. Playing around with the setup of the car to try and find the perfect balance saw Stephen on the fringes of the top 10 for most of the evening as he enjoyed his first experience of the car on through the high speed lanes, calling it a big go kart.

Saturday morning saw Stephen on the pace of defending champion Marcus Dodd but then, running through a notoriously tricky section in Stage 7 Stephen out braked himself on a sharp corner and slid off through a gate, which was fortunately open, and into a field. Although there was no damage to the car it cost him over 30 seconds as he struggled to engage reverse gear. A mis-fire later in the morning also cost time but a string of top 15 times showed a level of consistency as Stephen focused on bringing the car home in one piece.

“I really enjoyed this rally. I always seem to go well on the Manx as the stages suit my driving style and this year was no exception. We struggled with a lack of pre event testing and had to work on the setup as the rally progressed, but we were on the pace of Marcus which is encouraging. The car is great fun to drive on tarmac but I’m really glad it was a dry rally.”

After three rounds of the 2008 MSA Pirelli Gravel Rally Championship Stephen and co-driver Michael Wilkinson find themselves lying third in the Class B13 standings, behind only Marcus Dodd and Andy Burton… pretty impressive company.

The SG Petch Motorsport team will next be in action in two weeks time on the Jim Clark Rally. Stephen changes cars and will run as course car in a Production class Subaru Impreza whilst his father, Steve senior, will take to the wheel of the Hyundai Accent and contest the Jim Clark National Rally.

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

County Durham based Stephen, who is co-driven by Michael Wilkinson, has had mixed results from his numerous trips to the island but, typically, the young pilot shows strong form on the many narrow and twisty lanes that make up the bulk of the stages. In the past Stephen has been used to hustling a Production spec Mitsubishi Evo around the island, but this year he has made the step up to the more sophisticated world rally car machinery. The Hyundai, an ex works car, should go well here. However minimal tarmac testing will present Stephen with his biggest hurdle. As such the 2007 Mitsubishi Evo Challenge Junior Champion aims to take a steady approach and learn the car.

“No heroics this weekend. I love the car, and it really suits my driving style. I’ve had some good runs on the Manx before, but this place has to be treated with respect. Michael and I are not going to get much chance to test before the rally, so we’re just going to go at our own pace. Once we’re comfortable with the settings we might raise our game a bit.”

The RBS Manx International Rally is based in Douglas and consists of 14 high speed tarmac stages on closed public roads throughout the tiny island. The first car starts from the TT Grandstand at 7pm on Friday evening, and will tackle a selection of tests in the dark. Action resumes at 8:30am on Saturday morning for a full day of action packed rallying.

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

Stephen, who is contesting the full Pirelli National Gravel Rally Championship this year, with Michael Wilkinson alongside him, had a cautious run through the opening stage, Wauchope, but still relatively happy with 11th fastest. Whilst Kielder has a reputation for being tricky, stage 2, Ogre Hill, was made all the more difficult by a snow blizzard shortly before the stage began. Despite this young Petch was fifth fastest in class through the 7 miler and headed to first service ninth overall but was just happy to still be going.

The next trio of stages were covered in a light dusting of snow, making the grip levels extremely inconsistent. And Stephen wasn’t helped by a sticking throttle which hampered his efforts to slow the car down for chicanes and corners. A spin in Stage 5, Pope’s Hill, saw the young crew loose precious time as the hot engine refused to fire up. Roughly 30 seconds were lost before they eventually got going again, but keeping a cool head, Stephen continued at his own pace. More time was lost with a stall at a very tight chicane on the final stage of the rally and these two incidents might surely have cost the pair the class win, as they gave best to Julian Reynolds by a mere 21 seconds at the end of the 60 stage mile rally. However both Stephen and Michael were more than happy to survive Kielder once more, and collect some useful points along the way.

Stephen said: “Stage one was pure carnage. There were cars off in ditches everywhere. And then it began snowing. The sticking throttle made life interesting but despite the problems we had fun and got back to Jedburgh unscathed and with a decent haul of points. We were also pleased to be so close to the leading pack in terms of stage times.”

Next up for the SG Petch Motorsport team is a trip across the water to the RBS Manx International Rally, the only tarmac round in the championship. Having never driven the Hyundai Accent WRC in anger on tarmac before Stephen is well aware of the massive learning curve ahead of him.

Stephen, who is contesting the full series in 2008 driving an SG Petch Motorsport run Hyundai Accent World Rally Car, has previously enjoyed some strong runs on this event including sixth in the production class on the 2007 rally. With the car mechanically sound after a recent test in the hands of Steve Petch Senior, the team will be hoping that they have eliminated the mechanical gremlins which halted Stephen and co-driver Michael Wilkinson’s charge on the opening round of the 2008 championship, the Rallye Sunseeker.

Stephen said: “My dad did the Malcolm Wilson Rally recently and the Hyundai ran well, so hopefully everything should go according to plan this weekend. I’ve had some good runs on the Border Counties before and just hope I can get a solid result and open my account this weekend.”

The Border Counties rally takes place on Saturday 5th April and features over sixty stage miles in the infamous Kielder Forest complex before competitors return to Jedburgh at around 3pm.

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

Tricky conditions throughout the opening loop did not help matters but the retired rallying ace was happy with his times as the day progressed, even though he was unable to match the pace at the front of the field.

“Today was all about having a bit of a blast in the car, and using the Malcolm Wilson Rally as a shakedown for the Hyundai. The pace at the front was pretty rapid, but I know the car can match those boys… there is just no point in chasing them and risking going off. By the end of the rally I was happy with the settings and as we brought the car back in one piece all the lads are smiling, so that’s a result.”

The Malcolm Wilson Rally took in some of the famous stages of the area, including Grizedale and Greystokes, and by the end of the day Steve, co-driven by John Richardson, was lying 9th in class.

The SG Petch Motorsport team will be back in action on the Border Counties Rally in early April, when Stephen Junior retakes the reigns for the second round of the National Gravel Rally Championship.