RALLYING: Team Taunt take 16th (From Swindon Advertiser)

RALLYING: Team Taunt take 16th

7:30am Tuesday 12th June 2012 in Other Sport

SHELLY Taunt and her co-driver Julie Murphy finished the Nottinghamshire-based Rainworth Dukeries Rally in a creditable 16th place overall which was good enough for fifth in their class.

The duo from Highworth went to the event hoping for a top 20 position from a large field of over 110 crews from all over the UK, with the 12 stage gravel rally starting and finishing at Southwell racecourse.

The pair were started behind the 1400cc cars which meant that by the time they started over 100 cars had already driven through the stages, meaning the heavy rain had made conditions treacherous and extremely slippery on the sandy surface.

Taunt said: “Despite being in a four wheel drive car we still got bogged down in the ruts due to the amount of cars running in front of us, it was hard on the car and the rough conditions caused a fair bit of damage to our car.

“The ruts were so deep and corners became banks and we had no choice but to drive with caution in many places”.

Co-driver Murphy said: “It was an interesting day, I don’t think we have experienced conditions quite like that before. It was hard enough for us so I can imagine how difficult it was for our two wheel drive competitors.”

Taunt’s Subaru also suffered slight body damage when the pair wiped out a chicane on Stage Three, costing the pair valuable seconds and dropping them to 52nd overall But they soon caught up over the rest of the event, and Taunt was proud of what the pair achieved.

“To finish 16th overall is fantastic because we were hoping for a top 20 on this event,” she said.

“It was looking quite dismal on the first run of the loop in the morning as we had dropped so far back down the field, and with the first three stages being so short we had struggled to gain a good pace to catch back up.”