Bangor on Dee's Harry Morgan got his rally season back on track on last weekend's Somerset Stages event when he claimed an excellent third in the RF1.0 class after ten challenging stages.
Driving his 1.0 litre Nissan Micra Morgan was keen to get a good result after a broken distributor forced him to retire from his last event. The event kicked off with the short Timberscombe stage near Minehead and Morgan was immediately on the pace, setting third fastest time in the class. Forest stages in Croydon, Chargot and Knowle followed and Morgan continued his good form to hold his third place.
"We got off to a good start, the stages were very dusty but there were some damp patches under the trees so we had to take care," said Morgan. "I kept it clean and tidy though and I was pleased to be setting times quicker than some of the crews in the bigger-engined classes."
The rally then headed to the Porlock Hill stage which presented Morgan with a new challenge as the surface was tarmac rather than the forest track he is used to. Despite his lack of experience Morgan set competitive times on both the Porlock tests. The event finished with four further forest stages and Morgan had a troublefree run to finish in third.
"Porlock was fantastic fun, I have never competed on tarmac before but I really enjoyed it and I definitely want to do some more tarmac rallying in the future. I'm delighted with the result, we needed a good finish after our disappointment on the previous event and we've managed to achieve that. Thanks to my co-driver James Ford who was spot on with the pacenotes all day and also to my Dad for servicing."
The result sees Morgan lie third in the RF1.0 class championship leaderboard and he is also second in the Rally First Junior Driver championship. He will continue his championship challenge on the Plain rally in May. Please visit www.harryrally.co.uk for all the latest news and pictures.
Sunday 17 April 2011
Sunday 10 April 2011
Harry hungry for success in Somerset
Bangor on Dee rally driver Harry Morgan will resume his BTRDA RF1000 championship campaign next weekend when he contents the Somerset Stages event with co-driver James Ford.
After making his rally debut late in 2010 Morgan is contesting the full BTRDA championship this year in his Nissan Micra. His season got off to an excellent start with third in class on the opening round, the Wyedean Forest Rally, but there was disappointment on round two in Cumbria when distributor failure robbed Morgan of the chance of another good result.
"We had a fantastic start to the season with my first ever podium finish," said Morgan. "The little Micra was even beating some of the more powerful 1400cc cars."
"We were competitive again on the Malcolm Wilson Rally which was round two, once again we were in third but sadly we had the problem with the car which forced us out of the event."
Despite the non-finish Morgan presently lies fifth in the RF1000 class for near-standard 1.0 litre cars and he is keen to build on that position in Somerset. The car has been stripped down and repaired and a new exhaust has been fitted.
"The car seems to be running a lot sweeter now and I’m all set for the trip to Somerset. My aim is to try and get into the top three again and get a good haul of points to make up for the retirement on the last round."
"I’ve never competed in Somerset before so all the stages will be new to me. I’m particularly looking forward to getting experience of competition driving on tarmac as the rally will use the Porlock Hill toll road as part of the route."
The event kicks off on Saturday morning from Minehead with the bulk of the competitive mileage in the surrounding forests. Please visit www.harryrally.co.uk for all the latest news and pictures.
After making his rally debut late in 2010 Morgan is contesting the full BTRDA championship this year in his Nissan Micra. His season got off to an excellent start with third in class on the opening round, the Wyedean Forest Rally, but there was disappointment on round two in Cumbria when distributor failure robbed Morgan of the chance of another good result.
"We had a fantastic start to the season with my first ever podium finish," said Morgan. "The little Micra was even beating some of the more powerful 1400cc cars."
"We were competitive again on the Malcolm Wilson Rally which was round two, once again we were in third but sadly we had the problem with the car which forced us out of the event."
Despite the non-finish Morgan presently lies fifth in the RF1000 class for near-standard 1.0 litre cars and he is keen to build on that position in Somerset. The car has been stripped down and repaired and a new exhaust has been fitted.
"The car seems to be running a lot sweeter now and I’m all set for the trip to Somerset. My aim is to try and get into the top three again and get a good haul of points to make up for the retirement on the last round."
"I’ve never competed in Somerset before so all the stages will be new to me. I’m particularly looking forward to getting experience of competition driving on tarmac as the rally will use the Porlock Hill toll road as part of the route."
The event kicks off on Saturday morning from Minehead with the bulk of the competitive mileage in the surrounding forests. Please visit www.harryrally.co.uk for all the latest news and pictures.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)