Wyedean delight for Shelley

“Bentham’s Shelley Rogerson opened her 2008 rallying season last Saturday (9th February) taking a brilliant victory with Andrew Burton in his Peugeot Cosworth.Over 150 cars started the Chepstow-based event which took place mainly in the Forest of Dean. Burton and Rogerson were immediately on the pace, setting the quickest time on the opening 5.6 mile Chepstow Park stage with Nik Elsmore and Daniel Barry in second and third places respectively.

The second stage of the rally, Serridge, saw the Peugeot Cosworth lose some time with a small excursion off the road. Despite the off Burton and Rogerson still set second fastest time on the stage.

“The opening stage was very muddy and slippery but Andrew drove well and we were pleased to set the fastest time,” said Shelley. “We were lucky on the second stage, we overshot a corner and went off the track. Fortunately we were able to reverse back onto the road with no damage to the car.”

The twisty Sallowvallets stage was next, Burton and Rogerson stopping the clock with a time 3 seconds slower than Elsmore, who now led the event from the Peugeot Cosworth crew with the World Rally Cars of Hugh Hunter and Will Nicholls in third and fourth.

A short stage at Chepstow racecourse saw Burton and Rogerson regain the lead by a second as the crews headed to the main service halt of the event.

Following service there were three more stages in the Forest of Dean, the first of which, Speech House resulted in the Peugeot Cosworth crew extending their lead, beating the Mitsubishi of Elsmore by 21 seconds. Two more fastest times followed, Burton and Rogerson arriving at the rally finish with a lead of 41 seconds.

“With Nik only one second behind us we really pushed in Speech House and, although we had some problems with the brakes near the end of the stage, we managed to pull out a good lead,” Shelley said. “We kept the pace up on the last two stages and extended our lead further. I’m delighted with the result, it’s a brilliant way to start my season. I’d like to thank Co-ordSport, Nicky Grist, Legend Fires, AMG TV, Songasport and friends Gary, Tim and Jason for their support and Andrew for asking me to co-drive for him.”

Burton and Rogerson’s next event will be the Bournemouth-based Rallye Sunseeker at the end of the month.”

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