COOKSON TO BID FAREWELL TO 'DAISY'?

Following on the disappointment of retirement in his last two outings, Saltash rally driver Alan Cookson is looking to bounce back on the penultimate round of the 2009 Pirelli MSA Gravel Rally Championship which takes place next Saturday with the Ludlow-based Woodpecker Rally.

Along with Wandsworth co driver Julian Wilkinson, the pair will be back in action in the venerable Friesian cow-liveried car nicknamed 'Daisy' but it could well be the final outing for the Robert Wiseman Dairies, Kick Energy, GillettsSpar.com, Kumho Tyres, Riverside Property Services and Olverelectrical.com supported Subaru Impreza WRC.

Having had the engine rebuilt after the failure on the Pro Art Signs Swansea Bay Rally back in July, the pair are hoping that the fresh engine, coupled with a driver and navigator that are also fully refreshed from summer breaks, they can be back on the pace they were on before disaster struck on the previous rally.

Additionally, with this round of the series jointly comprising both ANCRO and the BTRDA series, it will give them a great opportunity to see how they fare against the WRC cars that compete on the BTRDA series on a regular basis.

"It's a long time since we were last in Ludlow on a rally, the last time we were there we had our faithful Ford Escort nicknamed 'Yellow Peril'.

It was so long ago that it was parked alongside Andy Burton's Alfa Ferrari which I don't believe he has used for a long time! Having said that, we're new to this event but the stages used are very similar to those on the Severn Valley Rally, which we unfortunately missed earlier this year, but we have done that event the last two years running, so we are familiar with the surroundings," said Alan.

He continued: "We are really hoping to get a good result in 'Daisy' in Ludlow as it could be the last rally we do in her this year as we are really keen to use a Group N car again. We are in the middle of negotiating a deal to run a TEGSport Group N Subaru N12B on the Trackrod Rally in Yorkshire later next month in preparation for contesting the British Rally Championship in 2010, albeit in a newer N14 Subaru if the budget is there to build and run the car."

A finish will secure Alan runner-up spot in Class 8 of the 2009 MSA Pirelli Gravel Championship and depending on his overall result; he could elevate himself from eighth to fifth overall in the main championship standings.

The first car leaves the start at Ludlow Racecourse at 8.30am on Saturday 5th September and returns for the finish at 3.00pm that afternoon

2009 Pirelli MSA Gravel Rally Championship Standings after Round Six

1 Marcus Dodd 119 (champion)2 Daniel Barry 1023 Simon Hughes 944 Steve Perez 885 Nik Elsmore 736 Paul Bird 687 Owen Murphy 658 Alan Cookson 489 Wug Utting 47 10 Alan Carmichael 43