Fourth for Shelley in Swansea

Rally co-driver Shelley Rogerson, 21, continued her good run of results in 2007 last weekend when she partnered Hereford’s Andrew Burton to fourth place on the Swansea Bay rally.

The rally, which was round 5 of the MSA Gravel Rally Championship, consisted of five stages in the forests of the Vale of Neath. Burton and Rogerson faced a tough battle to add to their two recent victories with the World Rally Cars of Marcus Dodd, Steve Perez and Roger Duckworth on the entry list.

Burton and Rogerson made a good start to the event on the opening Margam stage, their Peugeot Cosworth setting third fastest time overall. The pace increased on stages 2 and 3 in Rhondda and Resolven forests with Burton and Rogerson setting the fastest time on both stages, moving into second place overall behind the Hyundai of Dodd.

Stage 4 saw the Peugeot Cosworth lose second gear and Burton and Rogerson dropped time to both Dodd and Perez, moving them back to third place. The final stage of the event, a second run in Margam, saw Burton and Rogerson severely hampered as the car had no brakes for most of the stage. The resulting 19th fastest time dropped the crew behind Roger Duckworth into fourth place.

“I’m disappointed that we didn’t get a third consecutive victory following our recent wins on the Severn Valley and Quinton Stages rallies but fourth is ok given the car problems we had,” said Shelley. “I’d like to thank Andrew for asking me to co-drive and Legend Fires, Co-ordSport and C.E.R.L. for their support.”

Shelley is hoping to contest further events in the Peugeot Cosworth later in the year.