by Gary Simpson/Songasport
Shelley Rogerson suffered her first rally retirement since September 2006 when a broken crankshaft denied her chance of taking victory alongside Andrew Burton on last Saturday's Somerset Stages rally.
Shelley was partnering Burton in his Peugeot Cosworth and their rally got off to a brilliant start when they set the fastest time on the opening three mile Broadwood stage. Two more forest stages followed with Burton and Rogerson once again setting the fastest time, taking a lead of eight seconds over second placed Damian Cole at the first service halt of the event.
The next two stages used the tarmac of the Porlock Hill toll road. With the car more suited to forest gravel tracks Burton and Rogerson took sixth and fifth times on these stages, their lead over Cole being cut to just two seconds.
“The opening stages went well, the times at the top of the leaderboard were very close but we were happy to have stayed in the lead after the Porlock stages,” said Shelley. “We didn't have any problems other than one big moment when we nearly spun - fortunately Andrew kept his foot down and recovered the car but it was a bit of a scary one!”
Stage six saw the rally return to the forests and the Peugeot crew took second fastest time to maintain their lead. Disaster struck on stage 7 though when part way through the stage the engine crankshaft failed resulting in retirement.
"The stage was going well but without warning there was a huge bang from the engine and it stopped instantly," Shelley said. "That was our rally over. Andrew and I are both extremely disappointed as we had a good chance of taking a victory.
"I'd like to thank Alan Cookson from Gilletts Spar for sponsoring me on the event and my other sponsors Co-ordSport, Legend Fires, AMG TV, Nicky Grist and Songasport for their support, hopefully Andrew and I will be out again soon."
The Peugeot Cosworth now requires extensive repairs but if it can be fixed in time then Burton and Rogerson's next planned event is the Severn Valley rally at the end of May.
![Burton/Rogerson [Pic credit: Songasport]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/433720.jpg)
