Morgan sparks interest in 2012 rally season

Formula 1000 rally competitor Harry Morgan enjoyed a successful test of the latest Chevrolet Spark competition car last week as he starts to make plans for his 2012 rally campaign.

Morgan, who currently competes in a Nissan Micra, is considering upgrading to the Chevrolet for 2012 and he was invited to the test at Blyton Park where the XS Racing team were undertaking development work. Before his driving stint Morgan was able to examine the newly developed Chevrolet.

“I had a good look at the car, the set-up and the development work, the build quality was excellent and the preparation completed by XS Racing was first class,” commented Morgan.

After Chevrolet driver Cameron Davies had completed his own test Morgan was able to get behind the wheel himself.

"I was very impressed by the performance of the Spark, I felt the brakes were powerful, the steering had a lot of good feedback making the car very precise and the suspension set-up was well balanced providing excellent feel whilst in the car.”

“The engine had excellent torque and power, providing exceptional acceleration and the gearbox had a nice gear ratio, making the most of the 1000cc engine’s power."

"My ambition for 2012 is to compete again in the Formula 1000 Forest Championship and hopefully if I can obtain sufficient backing and sponsorship I may be able to compete in the new Chevrolet Spark, with the aim of being the 2012 champion."

"I would like to thank Alistair Sutherland and the XS Racing team for inviting me to the test day, plus Cameron and Geraint Davies for making it such an enjoyable day."

If you would like to know more about Harry and his rallying career visit www.harryrally.co.uk.

Images from the Ray Kempster Memorial Hill Rally

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Images from round 4 of the BCCC

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BCCC crews set to continue battle at Bleddfa

Crews from the Britpart MSA British Cross Country Championship will head to Bleddfa at the end of the month to contest round 4 of the six-round series.

The three events so far have seen three different crews at the top of the leaderboard and with two of the events being held at new venues it has been an exciting first half of the year.

The opening round at a sunny Pikes Peak in Wales saw 2010 champion Tim Dilworth take victory in what so far has been his only BCCC outing of the year. Richard Kershaw had a good return to the championship to finish second with Justin Birchall continuing the form he showed at the end of 2010 to take third.

Round two was held at Brynffynon and it was the scene of a close battle between Kershaw and Ian Rochelle in his Millington. Rochelle built up a lead of 20 seconds after day one but Kershaw fought back to lead by three seconds after the penultimate run. The scene was set for a dramatic last run and Rochelle went all out for the win, dispensing with his navigator to save some weight. Unfortunately a gearbox problem for Kershaw part way round the course denied a grandstand finish with Rochelle having a clear run to his first BCCC win. With Kershaw dropping to fifth Dan Lofthouse was promoted to second place in his new Freelander and Martin Gould took third in his Mattserati.

The crews headed to Scotland for round three at the now familiar venue of Forrest Lodge near Dalry. On a course which suited the more powerful cars Kershaw initially took the lead in his GSR 206 but by the fourth run Lofthouse had moved to the front, a position he maintained for the rest of the event to take a fine win. Rochelle had another good event to round off the top three.

Kershaw heads the championship positions going into the fourth round on 231 points, narrowly ahead of Rochelle on 223. In third place is Bob Seaman who has 198 points in his Milner R5. Seaman’s best result this year has been fourth at Forrest Lodge although he was heading for third place at the first round until a final run collision with a tree. Ian Bartlett lies in fourth after finishing in the top ten on all three rounds, a feat also achieved by Karl Gudgeon who has piloted his GSR Evo X to fifth.

In the Trophy championship Tom Hipkiss currently leads the championship from Greg Morris and Paul Myers.

Round 4 will be based at Bleddfa with the crews tackling a course using gravel tracks and off-road sections in Radnor forest. The event will start at 10am on Saturday 30th July with day two starting at 9am. For further information please visit www.marches4x4.com.

Harry stars on Quinton Stages rally

Rally driver Harry Morgan, from Bangor on Dee, enjoyed a very successful Quinton Stages event last weekend when he took second in class as well as winning the 'Star of the day' prize and the Power Stage Challenge.

Harry and co-driver James Ford made a good start to the event on the opening two stages, Monument and Route 60, setting two decent times in his Nissan Micra to lie second in the RF1.0 class.

Stage three was in Halfway forest and Harry was going well again but after arriving on the scene of an accident involving another competitor he stopped to check that the crew did not require medical assistance.

“The Monument and Route 60 stages went well and I was happy with my pace,” said Harry. “There were some very slippery parts of the course but we had no problems at all.”

“Unfortunately in stage three a car that started in front of us crashed and the car was upside-down when we approached so I stopped. I was relieved to find both crew members were ok as it looked like a nasty accident.”

Intercom problems made the remainder of stage three very tricky as Harry could not hear the instructions from his co-driver but the Micra crew made it to the end in once piece.

Harry pushed harder in the afternoon stages, setting particularly good times in Route 60 and Crychan before having a steady run over the final stage to ensure he made the finish in second place. The two runs of Route 60 formed the Power Stage Challenge, a new innovation that the event organisers introduced this year which awarded prizes to the fastest crews in each class, Harry winning an entry to next year’s event as a result of being the fastest RF1.0 crew.

“It was an amazing day, I am very happy to get second in class and also to have won the Power Stage Challenge. I was overwhelmed that we won the ‘Stars of the Day’ award, that was totally unexpected. I spoke to event sponsor Nicky Grist at the finish and the award was for stopping for the crew in stage three.”

“I would like to thank everyone involved for making it such an enjoyable weekend. I am currently looking for potential sponsors to get involved with the team for the remainder of this year and beyond, please contact me via www.harryrally.co.uk for further information.”

Harry will next be in action on the Woodpecker Stages rally at the beginning of September.

Image courtesy Simon Clarke