Rally debutant, 16 year old Luke Watts, enjoyed an excellent debut co-driving for his step father Nigel Jenkins in the NJ Autos & Calico Interiors backed Vauxhall Nova on last weekend’s Red Dragon IT Stages, held on the former WW2 airfield at Down Ampney near Cirencester, but the final result didn’t do justice to a superb drive.

The Emcos organised event attracted 60 entries and offered 10 special stages.

The duo got off to fantastic start, lying 17th overall and first in class after stage three, including 10th fastest time on stage three, but disaster struck on stage four. A very heavy impact with some straw bales caused them to take a stage maximum and they plummeted down the leaderboard to last place overall.

With the damage repaired, they rejoined at stage five, and set nine fastest times in their class out of the 10 tests, and pulled back to 33rd overall and 6th in class.

Luke’s Mum, Karen, who spent the day biting her fingers in the service area, said: “It was a case of what might have been. The impact with the bales was very hard, and took a while to repair, so they had to take a 30 minute stage maximum.

“However, Luke really enjoyed himself and I am proud of him. He did a great job of guiding Nigel around the stages on his first event.”

Luke said: “It has been a fantastic experience to sit with Nigel, a real shame we had a stage maximum, but it didn’t spoil a great day. I would like to thank Pauline and Brian Nash of Calico Interiors for the support they gave me - it was a lovely gesture.”

Also out on the event for extra match practice were Andy Stokes/Adrian McNally in the historic spec Escort RS1600. They used the event for tyre testing, and finished 14th overall & 6th in class. Their next event will be the Carlisle Stages on June 9th in Kielder Forest.

Maureen Lane, with Helena Mayall, finished 38th & 11th in class in her Escort Mexico.