The three Junior Rallying drivers taking part in last weekend's Tukums Rally, the latest round of the 2008 Latvian RallySprint championship, enjoyed an excellent weekend of competition. Tom Clark, Conor Flynn and newcomer Dom Scott all finished the event, gaining invaluable experience on the way and creditable results to boot.
The Tukums Rally was the third for Essex-based Tom Clark but the first he and co-driver Aggie Clark used their new car, a Suzuki Swift. This is built to the same specification as the cars competing in the one-make series which forms part of the British Rally Championship, the Suzuki Swift Cup.
Conor Flynn was competing his second event under the Junior Rallying banner and again, used his family-prepared Mk3 Volkswagen Golf. Junior Rallying debutant Dom Scott was at the wheel of his father's Vauxhall Nova as he tackled stage rallying and the Latvian roads for the first time.
The event comprised two stages on Saturday afternoon and evening, followed by the five remaining stages on Sunday. While the crews would not be faced with night stages, they did have to cope with an overnight halt for the first time, adding to their experience as part of the Junior Rallying driver development program.
Clark, aged 14, went on to finish the event in 52nd place overall and 8th in class, an excellent achievement considering he hadn't even seen the car before he arrived in Tukums. He drove the Swift for the first time on stage one of the event, as the brand new Swift was delivered direct to Tukums by Suzuki and had not turned a wheel prior to the start of the event.
Tom spent the rally fine-tuning the Swift's factory settings to suit his driving style and the Latvian gravel stages and by the end of the event, had not only amassed a considerable amount of experience of rallying but also had developed a set-up which he felt would work well for the rest of the season. Once the initial teething troubles were rectified, he set a series of top-ten class stage times, including a fifth-fastest in class on Sunday's opening test.
![Tom Clark/Aggie Foster in action on the Kekava Rally [Pic credit: Junior Rallying]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/436719.jpg)
