Cruttenden well placed after Woodpecker Rally

Cruttenden and Griffin in action on the Woodpecker rally.

Newhey Rally co-driver Joe Cruttenden was back in action in the BTRDA Rally First Championship last weekend.

Cruttenden and his driver Matt Griffin contested the Ludlow based Woodpecker Rally in their Rallyschool prepared VW Lupo.

Currently lying in second position in the championship Cruttenden and Griffin had to win their class to stand any chance of gaining full points and move closer to first place.

The event ran a couple of forest stages around Haye Park in Ludlow before a long drive out to compete over two long stages through the Welsh Mountain forests of Radnor, before finally returning to Ludlow for two more stages.

Cruttenden said: "We set out on the first stage at what we thought would be a competitive pace, only to find we had lost more time than we would have hoped to the championship leader.

"Through stages three and four we managed to increase the pace but all this was wasted when we managed to gain a puncture on stage five, which we found difficult to change as the only flat land was a narrow piece of road just after the stage."

On the last stage, the pair landed hard after a jump and slightly dislodged the exhaust on their car. "We decided that we should take it steady for the rest of the stage, and at least finished," reported Cruttenden.

Stage 7 also saw the downfall of two of their closest rivals, which promoted them to secure the points for fourth place in the rally overall.

Still lying second in a very close Championship the pair move onto the Cambrian Rally in October, based in Llandudno, using the forests of North Wales. They are hoping to clinch both the Junior BTRDA championship and the LICO scholarship.

Cruttenden will be competing this weekend with a fellow student in a gruelling 24 hour endurance rally and a round of the British Historic championship at the end of the month.