Following his exit when leading the Manx Telecom Rally last week, Cumbrian rally driver Paul Bird was back in action in round four of the Silverstone Tyres BTRDA Rally Series when he ventured to the Plains Rally in Wales and despite only finishing in fifth place, managed to climb to second in the series standings to keep his title hopes well and truly alive.

Having done very little rallying in the Welsh forests in recent years in the Frank Bird Poultry-sponsored Ford Focus WRC08, the Langwathby driver and Scottish co driver Kirsty Riddick once again struggled to set up the car to their liking and coupled with slippery conditions on the Welshpool-based event, they could only manage eighth on the opening stage.

However, it wasn’t long before the Dom Buckley Motorsport-prepared car was upping the pace and less than half a minute separated the top six after SS4 and after the final short test in The Woodyard, Bird had clawed his way up to fifth place, just four seconds adrift of fourth placed David Wright.

As a result, the Kawasaki World Superbike Team boss scored sufficient points to elevate him to second place in the standings going into next month’s Dukeries Rally where he knows nothing short of outright victory will do in his quest to add to his 2005 MSA National Gravel Rally Championship. Before then, Bird will contest the SOL Rally Barbados as he aims to win the event after twice finishing as runner up on the Caribbean event.

Speaking afterwards Bird commented:  “I needed a safe result after crashing out last week and we had to settle for that today. It’s not where I expect to be but I needed to restore some confidence and to get some important points which I have done. After Andy Burton won today, I know that to stop him from being champion, I have to beat him from now on so that’s what I’ll be aiming for. Fair play to him though, he’s got the car reliable now and he’s driving very well but if I’m being honest, I need him to have some bad luck soon!”

Results
1, Andrew Burton/Robin Kellard Peugeot Cosworth 0:43:39
2, Hugh Hunter/Andy Marchbank Ford Focus WRC01 0:43:44
3, Charlie Payne/Paul Spooner Ford Focus WRC06 0:44:11
4, David Wright/Michael Wilkinson Mitsubishi Evo9 0:44:25
5, Paul Bird/Kirsty Riddick Ford Focus WRC07 0:44:29
6, Nigel Griffiths/Jon Scott Subaru Impreza 0:45:08
7, David Howells/Chris Ridge Subaru Impreza 0:45:28
8, Wug Utting/Max Utting Subaru Impreza 0:45:39
9, Daniel Sigurdarson/Martin Brady Mitsubish Evo10 0:45:44
10, Dylan Davies/Dale Furniss Subaru Impreza 0:45:49

Championship points (provisional)
1 Andrew Burton 117
2 Paul Bird 105
3 Charlie Payne 89
4 Hugh Hunter 86
5 Roger Chilman 82
6 Tom Cave 78

Picture attached courtesy of Simon Clarke: Paul Bird and Kirsty Riddick on their way to fifth place in today’s Plains Rally.