PRESS RELEASE: 9th December 2009

Fantastic finale to 2009 for Stuart

Over the weekend of December 5th and 6th, when most people were out Christmas shopping, Stuart Bliss of Weston-super-Mare headed to his final rally of the 2009 season, the Rockingham Stages. Seeded 32nd of 96 cars Stuart had given himself a target of top 15 after seeing the highly competitive entry list.

Day 1 and Stuart began stage 1 cautiously due to the damp weather. However Stuart has always been an expert driver in wet conditions and managed to push himself so that he was laying 12th overall. With the weather continuously improving the team decided to switch to a harder compound tyre for stage 2 to allow Stuart to push a little harder.

By stage 3 the darkness was closing in allowing Stuart to take advantage of his PIAA lamp pod. Unfortunately the stage was not ready on time and the delay in starting meant more rain had drifted in. With Stuart still on the dry tyres the stage proved very slippery and proved a tough challenge. Stage 4 was then cancelled due to an accident.

More rain fell through the night resulting in an extremely wet start to day 2 and stage 5. Stuart continued to demonstrate his ability to drive in adverse weather conditions throughout stage 5 and 6 pushing up to 1st in class and 5th overall. The weekend was not going to be that easy though and yet again a change in surface conditions resulted in another alteration of tyres to harder slicks for stages 7, 8 and 9. At the end of stage 9 Stuart was now still 1st in class, 5th overall and about to head into the final stage of the rally as night was drawing in.

With the PIAA light pod back on Stuart headed out to the final stage aiming to conserve his position of 1st in class. This he did, also coming in 6th overall, a triumph on Stuart’s pre-rally analysis but disappointing for Stuart to lose out on 5th by a mere 2 seconds. A fantastic weekend for Stuart, his co-driver Richard Marsh and all involved in the rally team to complete an outstanding rally season where Stuart has gone from strength to strength.

Stuart would like to thank PIAA UK for their continuing support, as well as his other sponsors; DMRR, Permashine, Steve Harkness Tyres, Proflex UK, Performance Friction Brakes, Bliss Mobility, J n K Aquatics, BETTA and South West Karting. Stuart would also like to thank his co-driver Richard Marsh and his service crew for their hard work and support during the Rally.

For more information on Stuart please visit www.stuartbliss.com

 

Top of Page