Another bad weekend for Cruttenden in BTRDA Rally

Joe Cruttenden and Matt Griffin's car in action

Last weekend was another bad one for Newhey co-driver, Joe Cruttenden.

He should have been taking part in the fourth round of the BTRDA Rally Championship, at Plains Valley, Welshpool.

But on the way to the start on Saturday morning, he and driver Matt Griffin started having trouble with the gearbox.

“We were driving from Rallyschool UK in Shrewsbury when the VW Lupo lost second and fourth gears,” said Joe

He added: “By the time we arrived at Welshpool we were struggling to find any gear.”

Despite the best efforts of the pair and the service crew to rectify the problem, they decided to call it a day.

Joe said: “Trying to drive the car on the road, never mind the on the forest roads of mid-Wales, would have caused further damage.”

He added “This was a real blow to our plans to retain the championship.”

After a crash in Somerset earlier in the month due to a broken ball joint, they needed to get some points back on this round. 

Joe said: “And as were are both university students, money is in sort supply and this weekend cost a lot and we didn’t get the chance to compete.”

Despite their disappointment, Joe and Matt remained in Welshpool and marshalled on the last stage of the day.

They supported another Rochdale crew, Steve Brown and Paul Stringer, and saw them finish first in class in their Micra F1000 rally car.

Joe will be co-driving along side Lewis Roper from Cambridge, this coming Bank Holiday, on the Jim Clark Rally, based in Kelso.

It’s the only rally on mainland Britain that uses closed public roads and one of the fastest of the Scottish rally Championship.