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19/04/2005: "Edwards Takes on the Gravel Rally Championship"


Jamie Edwards, from Wrexham, is making preparations for the second round of the Formula 1000 Gravel Rally Championship, with his co-driver Pamela Hilton from Farnborough alongside. The duo have maintained consistent form throughout the championship and have a top 3 point standing to defend.

"I think the first stage will probably decide the outcome of the rally," said Jamie. "At nearly 20 miles long, it really will be all to play for in that stage. We were extremely cautious on the opening stage of the Astra Stages, losing around 40 seconds to Chris Shaw at the sharp end of the leaderboard. Its a huge amount of time to lose, so I'm very keen to make sure we're not as slow out of the blocks this time. The car is in very good condition after the last rally so I'm going to try hard on the first stage next weekend to see if we can get a bit closer to the leading pace.

"If not, it's not the end of the world as the most important thing at this stage of the season is to keep learning and building experience of the car and the stages. We don't want to risk going off the road, but I hope we can find a good pace to run at for the day. I think it will be a very hard rally to judge with the stages being the longest we will encounter in the championship. We'll have no option other than to push on initially and see how we fare against the others."

There are some stiff competitors to challenge his hopes, including round one winner Chris Shaw, and newcomer Tristan Dodd. The 29 year old will contest just three special stages on the Gwynedd Rally, starting with a huge 19 mile stage on the famous Hafren and Sweet Lamb gravel roads. This stage is double the length of the longest stage that Jamie has driven on before, and will make up nearly half the length of the rally in just one stage! Two further long stages in Myherin and Taliesin forests will make for an interesting combination on Jamie's third outing of the year.