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Gearbox Woes End Bird’s Rallycross Bid |
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Wednesday, 01 November 2006 |
Stobart Motorsport driver Paul Bird saw his hopes of a good result disappear when a broken gearbox ruled him out of contention at this weekend’s Shannon Holdings Rallycross Superprix held at Croft Circuit, North Yorkshire.
Making his debut in the sport, the 2005 National Rally Champion had hired the Division One Ford Focus of Belgian Ed Gaewerts and despite a lack of practice, was feeling increasingly confident in the car as the meeting progressed.
Saturday saw him acquaint himself with the 550bhp Supercar and he responded by qualifying 11th out of the 18 cars in the class and the going on to take a fine fourth place in the opening race of the weekend to give himself a row two start for the second race scheduled for Sunday.
However, as the Cumbrian from Penrith made his way to the line, the car developed a transmission problem which was initially diagnosed as a broken driveshaft but on further inspection, it was revealed that the gearbox had actually broken and with no spares available, Bird’s weekend was over:
“I’m bitterly disappointed as I was just getting to grips with things and I was hopeful of achieving a decent result. If I’m being honest, the car was not as good as I’d been told and it was a little bit agricultural as opposed to the type of car I’m used to driving although it was a good learning experience. I’m not sure if I’ll come back but if I do, it will be in the best car available, that is for sure.”
Thirteen times European Champion Kenneth Hansen (Citroen C4) went on to win the Superprix ahead of 2006 British Champion Christopher Evans (Opel Astra) with the Ford Puma of local ace Kevin Procter in third.
Bird now turns his attentions back to his Stobart Honda British Superbike Team whereby he’s hoping to make an announcement regarding who the riders for 2007 will be shortly.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 23 November 2006 )
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