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Stephen Petch has got plenty of Yorkshire grit. The 23-year-old showed incredible composure to win the Kall Kwik Rally last year, knowing his dad Steve had just crashed head-on into a tree.
The snow-covered stages were treacherous but Petch jnr ploughed on to take his first outright victory by more than two minutes in a Group N Subaru Impreza. Petchy followed that up with another win in the Yorkshire forests - the North Humberside Rally in March this year - in only his second event in a world rally car.
So it comes as little surprise that Petchy is revved up for Trackrod Rally Yorkshire, the penultimate round of the Tesco 99 Octane British Rally Championship. The SG Petch Scalextric driver said: “I love the Yorkshire forests. The stages are fast and flowing, which suit my driving style, and I’ve scored my two biggest wins in Yorkshire. The Kall Kwik was special being the first win, but Dad had that big accident so it took the edge off things.”
Stephen is hoping his previous success and familiarity with the event, will give him an edge “Winning the North Humberside in the Hyundai was awesome. I���ve been looking forward to the Trackrod all year. I know the stages, I know the surfaces, so hopefully I can show some speed and be right up there with the front runners on some of the timesheets.”
Despite his confidence and enthusiasm for the Trackrod, Stephen acknowledges consistency is key to future success: “I really need to finish this rally. We haven���t had much luck in the BRC this year and to be honest the Trackrod is the one rally in the Yorkshire forests that hasn’t been kind to us.”
“The differential went on our Peugeot in 2004 and Rob Gill tried to tow us out. Then last year our Subaru caught fire on the first super-special. So surely our luck has got to change this year…”
Petchy and co-driver Michael Wilkinson missed the Ulster Rally after a massive accident on the Manx meant they were unable to repair their Mitsubishi Evo 9 in time. Petchy said: “It was the biggest crash of my career. There was no grip on the shiny tar before a sharp left hand bend and we hit a wall. The geometry was 90mph to zero in 0.5 of a second. My back is still not the best now.”
“But we���re glad to be back on gravel. We won the Evo Cup on the Swansea Bay Rally before the Manx and only a puncture cost us victory in a hired Evo 6 on the Park Systems last month. So our confidence is high.”
Wilkinson, 25, also reckons the Trackrod is the perfect place to get their BRC campaign back on track. He said: “The Yorkshire forests are fantastic. We both know the stages really well, we learned them on maps before pacenotes. We just need a clean run and we’ll be right up there. “Stephen is definitely going in the right direction. He is really comfortable on gravel in the new car, he has got the speed and he showed amazing calmness and maturity to take his first win on the Kall Kwik knowing his dad had just crashed.”