Local rally driver, Karen Watts, co-drove with Yorkshireman Chris Firth into 5th place overall in the Premier Rally 2008 stages in the Clipstone forestry complex last weekend. She also took the Ladies award and was 2nd in class.

However, the day did not start very well, on the run out to stage 1 they lost all the brakes, so they had to effect emergency repairs to get them to the stage start. Karen then had to run around other competitors waiting at the delayed stage start to borrow tools to fix a broken brake pipe.

Heavy rain had made the four morning stages very slippery. Having set some consistent times on the opening two stages, Karen and Chris were third fastest on stage 3. But on the next test they hit a tree, after running wide out of a corner, and damaged the rear suspension. Fortunately, the problem was sorted at service, where the results showed them in 5th overall.

The last loop consisted of three stages and a clean run and top six times, meant that when their Forest Trading Post backed Subaru Impreza arrive back at the Mansfield Civic Centre finish, the team was very happy with the result.

Karen said:?"It has been a very hard day, especially with the event on maps not pace-notes, but we are really pleased with the result, especially after the drama on the way to stage 1."

She and Chris will team up again next weekend for the Cambrian Rally on Saturday in North Wales, and then for the Malton Stages in North Yorkshire on Sunday, two tough events over two days.