Endurance Road Rally Championship 2009

The dust is just about settling from the Audi South west as we look forward to round two at the other end of the country in East Anglia (late entries still available).

The number of registered contenders is now up to 77 with still the possibility of more people joining it looks set to be a very competitive year.

Obviously their win has taken Phil Harris/ James Aldridge to the top of the standings, the pairing are taking things seriously putting in a late entry for the EACS a rally they were'nt going to compete on, but now leading the championship has caused a change in thinking.

The Keay Consulting Under 25 championship has six registered contenders with Thomas Yates and Paschal Lynch being the only points scorers. Their 'never say die' attitude on the opening round saw them classified as last finishers in 37th but still picking up valuable points. Their rally started well enough but on the Saturday an errant branch breached their Peugeots radiator and they thought they would have to call it a day. However, Dolphin recovery didn't want to be defeated and towed them to the Banhams who made hasty repairs. They booked in to Penhale a minute before going OTL. The repair lasted until the trip fom Bodmin to Plymouth when disaster struck again, still undeterred they completed the regularities after more repairs from the Banhams to be classified.

The Jean Appleton trophy for Lady drivers has seen Claire Abrey take an early lead navigated by Matt Fowle who wasn't feeling to well over the weekend and wasn't his usual bubbly self. Despite visiting the scenary on a few occasions and a problem on the Friday night regularities they finished a respectable 17th overall. 

And well done also to Mike East and Davidson in the Peugeot 106, he actually made it to the finish of an event. The Peugeot hasn't been the most reliable of cars in recent years but Mike kept going where many of us mere mortals would have given up a long time ago.

On last year's event for example Mike was already going home just an hour into the event due to a broken driveshaft.

 He finished just inside the top twenty.

Numbers for the second round the EACS are looking pretty healthy with around fifty at the moment. It's at the end of the month with a new 'friendly' format and a chance to explore the wonderful Breckland forests for the first time in 15-years.

The championship tables have been updated under Competitors in the left hand menu.

Good luck and see you there.