Tuesday 1st June 2010
For immediate release

County Durham rally driver Chris Anderson was in action in the Scottish Borders on Sunday when he contested the 67-stage mile Jim Clark Reivers Rally and he came away with a fine class victory.
The 18-year-old maintenance engineer from Butterknowle near Bishop Auckland was at the wheel of the Chris Birkbeck-prepared ex M-Sport 2000cc Ford Fiesta, with backing from Wilkinson Maintenance Ltd and John Cullerton & Sons, and along with Durham co-driver Chris Thirling the pair made a steady start on the damp roads around Duns.

Holding second in class for the opening loop through the Bothwell and Moon stages, Anderson was subsequently held up behind another car on SS3 which dropped him to 3rd in class but with the roads drying, a concerted effort in the second half of the rally pushed him back into contention.

On the 11-mile Blackadder 1 stage, Anderson grabbed second place back and was just 15 seconds down on the class leader going into the final two tests whereby some great driving saw him outpace his rivals to take a class win by 12 seconds and with it, maximum class points in the Scottish Tarmack Rally Championship.

Chris said: “We took it a bit cautiously on the opening couple of stages as the roads were quite damp and we didn’t want to do anything silly but it didn’t help being held up by a slower car. It meant we had to push a lot harder in the afternoon but it was all under control and I knew we had the pace to win the class if everything went our way which thankfully it did so I’m delighted.”
Anderson and Thirling’s next outing is at the Keith Frecker Memorial Stages at Weeton Camp near Blackpool on Sunday 13th June 2010.

Picture attached courtesy of Jon Suter www.jmsphotographic.com.