Dukeries Rally - 11 Jun 11

Posted: June 12, 2011 5:33 PM - 4128 Hits

Round 5 - 2011 BTRDA Rally Championship
Round 4 - 2011 English Rally Championship

Second Place For Perez On Dukeries

Posted: June 12, 2011 5:33 PM

Kick Energy rally driver Steve Perez showed no ill effects of not driving his Ford Focus WRC for eight months when he recorded a superb runner-up position on today's Rainworth Skoda Dukeries Rally.

Along with welsh co driver Paul Spooner the pair last contested an event in the car when they won last October's Cambrian Rally and soon the defending BTRDA Gold Star Champions were back up to speed after a number of recent events in historic machinery.

However a combination of minor time consuming issues coupled with a number of leading crews beating the bogey time on a few of the stages meant that the three times British Champion was denied a fourth victory on his local event, having had to give best to BTRDA Champion elect Andy Burton.

Indeed Perez was instrumental in Burton's victory whereby his service crew helped out Burton's to ensure that he remained on course to win the title which he battled so hard with against Perez last year.

Steve Perez:
"It was good to get back out in the Ford Focus after driving a 40 year old car in Barbados but it took us a little bit of time to get back up to speed. We were looking good but our hopes of victory were dashed due to a stall on one of the stages which cost us around 11 seconds and then when we did take time out of our rivals, it turned out we'd beaten the bogey time so the winning margin of Andy's didn't quite tell the true story of today. I've won this event three times and win number four wasn't to be today but fair play to Andy, he drove really well and deserved the victory. I was delighted that our service crew could help him out, so in some way I'd like to think I contributed to his victory!"

Perez's next event sees him reunited with his Lancia Stratos when he tackles the Ypres Rally in Belgium in two weeks time.

Results

Posted: June 12, 2011 5:28 PM

1 Andy Burton/Robin Kellard (Peugeot Cosworth) 0:41:00
2 Steve Perez/Paul Spooner (Ford Focus WRC) 0:41:24
3 Charlie Payne/Craig Thorley (Ford Focus WRC) 0:41:31
4 Roger Chilman/Andrew Sankey (Subaru Impreza) 0:41:31
5 David Wright/Michael Wilkinson (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9) 0:41:53

Dukeries Rally - 11 Jun 11 - FULL RESULTS

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