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Rally Of The Midlands - Friday 22nd, Saturday 23rd & Sunday 24th June 2007

Matt Cotton / Anthony Godden

The CG Motorsport crew of Matt Cotton (Bodmin) and Anthony Godden (Bodmin) came back to Cornwall last weekend victors once again in their MG ZR rally car. The Cornish rallying duo are contesting the British Rally Championship – Stars of the Future Series in 2007, and started last weekends Rally of the Midlands joint first in the overall championship standings. Hoping just to consolidate their lead in the prestigious Stars championship, anything else would be a bonus.

The 3 day rally would consist of a short spectator super special stage on Friday night, the wide open fast and flowing stages of the Mira proving ground on Saturday, with Sunday taking the crews around the stately homes in the Nuneaton area. With an amazing atmoshere around the Hinkley town centre stage on the Friday night, Matt and Anthony found themselves joint leaders after completeing the short stage in front of 1000`s of eager fans.

They were soon to let that small lead slip after the 1st of long Mira stages. 15 miles of wet undulating roads challenged the Cornish crew to their limits, and they emerged 3rd overall but 1st in class albeit by just 1 second. With heavy intermittent showers Matt took it steadily throughout the rest of the day, including 6 stages around the famous Mallory Park race circuit. “This rally is so much more flowing than the Jim Clark last month” said Matt at the 1st service of the day. “We are flat out in 5th most of the time and the MG is only geared to a maximum of 100mph, I think I need another gear!”. At the overnight halt CG Motorsport were 3rd overall and 1st in the FIA class.

Sunday would bring more showers but the tighter nature of the stages would suit the MG and the crew far more than the previous day. This showed from the off, with the rapid duo setting 2 overall fastest times around the Bramcote army barracks. With the Citroen C2 of Mark Gamble crashing out early Sunday afternoon, Matt and Anthony arrived back in Nuneaton town centre to spray the champagne once again, finishing 1st in the FIA class and 2nd overall.

This leaves CG Motorsport 18 points ahead in the race for the title, going into the next round the world famous Manx International Rally on the 19th July.

Points table after round 3, Rally of the Midlands:

1 MATT COTTON 52 FIA
2 DALE ROBERTSON 34 FIA
3 MARK GAMBLE 34 MSA
4 SUPRADIP DEY ROY 31 FIA
5 MIKE HARRIS 20 MSA
6 LUKE PINDER 20 MSA

- catch up with CG Motorsport at www.cgmotorsport.co.uk -

- Rallyings biggest prize at www.rallybrcstars.co.uk -

Anthony Godden & Matt Cotton Car 104

Report presented by Matt Cotton - Pictures by Rally Action Photography