The Championship focus turns to the town of Ludlow for Round 9 on September 9^th with over 40 Contenders already entered on the Phil Price Memorial Woodpecker Rally. The event, which is supported by Presteigne Tyres and Phil Price Rally School, uses the traditional HQ of the town’s Racecourse and will again straddle the Wales / England border. New to the event are the little used forest complexes of Cwmysgawen and a classic from the RAC and Welsh Rally days, Ceri near Newtown. Amongst the entries is Dungannon driver Adrian Hetherington partnered by Ronan O’Neill. The pair make the journey across the Irish Sea but don’t need to travel so far for their next bid for Rally Challenge points as they have chosen Omagh Motor Club’s Bushwhacker Rally as their Nominated Optional Overseas Round.

Also competing in Ireland are Llanelli’s Mike Jewell in his T&M Group Citroen C2 and the crew of Shaun Price from Loughor and Marc Clatworthy who head for the Wexford Volkswagen Stages Rally. Shaun is busy putting the finishing touches to his newly acquired Mk. 5 Escort with a delivery of brakes from Godspeed proprietor Ian Godney who also plans to head across the water to the Jersey Rally in October, the event sadly just outside the deadline to claim overseas points.