DISAPPOINTMENT FOR ANDERSON ON PENDRAGON

County Durham rally driver Chris Anderson was in action in Cumbria over the weekend when he contested The Stobart Rail Pendragon Stages Rally based in Penrith.

After a race to get his ex Guy Wilks Ford Puma S1600 ready in time for the event, the 18-year-old maintenance engineer from Butterknowle near Bishop Auckland was looking forward to gaining more experience on a multi-venue event.

Anderson, who was seeded at number 90, was again partnered by the experienced co-driver and fellow Durham Motor Club member Chris Thirling. The first two stages of the day were at the Ministry of Defence tank testing ranges at Warcop and Anderson attacked the demanding stages right from the off which saw him move up the leaderboard to 70th overall.

On stage two Anderson pushed the Wilkinson Maintenance Ltd and John Cullerton and Sons Ltd sponsored Ford Puma again, posting another competitive time which saw them climb up the leaderboard another ten places.

For stage three the rally moved to the spectator super special stage on the Lowther Estate, the short blast around the ex Wildlife Park is extremely slippy and Anderson was making good progress through the stage when disaster struck just short of the flying finish. The wheel studs on the car broke causing the wheel to part company with the car, however Anderson was able to stop the car safely and both crew members were unhurt in the incident.

"Our run of bad luck continues!" said a rueful Chris afterwards. "Everything was going fine and we were really getting into it only for something out of our control to go wrong. We just have to put it down to misfortune and we aim to bounce back in our next event."

Picture attached (courtesy of Ian Hardy) Chris Anderson in action in the ex Guy Wilks Ford Puma S1600 moments before losing a wheel.