BTRDA® Gold / Silver Star Championship Trial

Date: 13th January 2007

Duncan Stephens became the youngest ever BTRDA® Sporting Trials Gold Star champion on Saturday 13^th January dominating the event throughout despite breaking a driveshaft and the engine blowing up on the final section.

With forty-eight crews competing for the championship the English drivers were focused on ending the Northern Irish dominance of the previous four years. Having won the last three qualifying events Stephens, 2006 British Champion John Fack and runner-up Ian Wright were envisaged to be challengers of multiple Irish champions John Keatley, Brian Edgar & Mark Vaughan.

Stephens ably assisted by Andy Gowen proved to be the team to beat dropping less marks on each of the three rounds of demanding sections, however Fack was closely matching them. Stephens borrowed a driveshaft to complete the morning from a fellow competitor and with three sections left the engine started rattling, but under tremendous pressure he completed a very popular historic win. Fack continued his 2006 form to take a close second, for the sixth time, with Keatley finishing third.

Twenty-one crews competed for the Silver Star with favourite Stuart Beare taking a decisive win in his Sherpa with Andy Wilks continuing his form from late last year to be runner-up. Simon Gracey in only his second year of competing drove superbly to complete the top three.

With the combined age of Stephens and Gowen equivalent to Fack’s age alone youthful determination proved the winning formula, beating Fack’s previous youngest winning age of thirty three by seven years.

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