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26 August 2010: Burton Pidsea rally driver Becky Kirvan resumes her BTRDA Rally First championship campaign in early September when she contests the Woodpecker Stages rally in her Rally4Real.com Nissan Micra.

Kirvan presently lies in third place in the Rally First 1.4 championship and she is also leading the ladies championship. With two rounds to go she is keen to get a good result to build on her successful year so far.

"This year has exceeded all my expectations up to now, I am very pleased with my results," said Kirvan.

"My aim for the Woodpecker is to be as close as I can to the leading Rally First crews and get a good haul of championship points."

Rob Walters will co-drive on the event, the pairing having previously contested the Dukeries rally in June.

"Unfortunately my regular co-driver, Sherryn, has had to withdraw so I am grateful to Rob for stepping in. I've never competed on the stages used by the Woodpecker before but I'm confident Rob and I will make a good team."

"Hopefully our little Peart Auto Service-backed Micra will perform as well as it has all year and we'll be able to get a decent result."

The rally takes place on 4th September when the crews will start from Ludlow racecourse before facing 44 miles of competitive action in the nearby forests.

12 July 2010: Burton Pidsea rally driver Becky Kirvan enjoyed another successful event last weekend when she contested the latest round of the Rally First championship, the Llandovery-based Quinton Stages.

The event had a tough start for the crews with the 11 miles of the Dixies stage which used some of the same roads as Britain’s World Rally Championship round. Kirvan and co-driver Sherryn Roberts were quick out of the blocks to take 7th in class in their Rally4Real.com Nissan Micra.

"The first stage was amazing, it was a lot longer than most of the ones I have competed on so far this year," said Kirvan.

"There were some lovely flowing and sweeping bends and I got into a good rhythm. We managed to carry decent speed through the corners which is so important in these little cars to keep up the momentum and we set a good time that I was very happy with."

Kirvan maintained her position over the remaining stages with the Peart Auto Services supported Micra running faultlessly.

"We had a few big moments in the stages as I was pushing as hard as I could but fortunately we got away with them and got to the finish in seventh."

"The Rally4Real team made a few suspension adjustments to the Micra after the last event and they worked well, I was pleased with the car's handling and my own performance too."

"The result has moved me up to third in the Rally First 1.4 championship with two rounds to go and, with the tough competition in the class, I’m very happy with my position. I am also still in the lead of the ladies championship so I have plenty of incentive to go as hard as possible on the remaining events."

Kirvan’s next event will be the Woodpecker rally in early September.


04 July 2010: Rally driver Becky Kirvan, from Burton Pidsea, returns to competition next weekend on the Quinton Stages event, round five of the Rally First 1.4 national championship.

After missing the first round of the championship Kirvan has had a good run of results which see her presently lying in fourth place in the championship and she is keen to continue her success.

“I’ve had a good season so far and I’m pleased to have finished all the events I’ve entered,” said Kirvan.

“It’s brilliant to be fourth in the championship, I didn’t expect to be so high up having not competed regularly since 2007. As an added bonus I am also leading the Ladies championship.”

“The stages on the Quinton will all be new to me. Some of the tracks are also used for the World Rally Championship event so it’s exciting that we’ll be driving on the roads that the best crews in the world use.”

Kirvan will contest the event in her usual Rally4Real.com Nissan Micra with support from Peart Auto Services. After missing the last round Sherryn Roberts returns to the co-drivers seat.

The rally is based in Llandovery with the crews doing 44 competitive miles in the forests around Crychan and Halfway.

13 June 2010: Burton Pidsea’s Becky Kirvan successfully completed the Dukeries rally last weekend claiming seventh in class. In doing so she maintained her fourth position in the BTRDA Rally First 1.4 championship and also the lead of the lady driver championship.

The event, Kirvan’s third since making a comeback to rallying this year, was held on gravel tracks in Nottinghamshire including those in the well known Sherwood Pines forest.

With usual co-driver Sherryn Roberts not available for the event Kirvan had to get used to someone new in the passenger seat of the Rally4Real Nissan Micra, with Rob Walters reading the notes on this occasion. The pairing made a steady start on the opening two tests, Blidworth and Thieves Wood. Three longer stages followed in Sherwood Pines and Portland and Kirvan arrived at the service halt in eighth place in the RF1.4 class.

"I took the opening two stages fairly cautiously but tried to push a bit harder after that," said Kirvan.

"Unfortunately I think I pushed a bit too hard as we had several moments where I carried too much speed into corners and that, combined with the surface being looser than I expected, resulted in me taking a bad line which lost me time. The car also mounted a bank on a couple of occasions, apologies to any spectators I may have scared!"

New tyres were fitted to the Peart Auto Services-backed Micra at service and Kirvan moderated her enthusiasm on the corners to be much tidier on the afternoon stages which resulted in her moving up to seventh at the rally finish.

"At the start we were on the same tyres that we used on the previous event so they were pretty worn. The new tyres certainly made a difference and with me taking tidier lines around the corners our times improved."

"The Rally4Real Micra performed brilliantly once again, we had no problems at all. I enjoyed the stages and it’s good to have got another finish under my belt."

Kirvan’s next outing will be on the next RF1.4 championship round, the Quinton Stages rally in July. Please visit www.beckykirvan.co.uk to keep up to date with all the latest news and photos.

06 June 2010: Burton Pidsea rally driver Becky Kirvan will continue her 2010 season next weekend when she contests the Dukeries rally in Nottinghamshire.

Kirvan will once again use the Rally4Real Nissan Micra hire car backed by Peart Auto Services having already used the car to successfully complete the two events she has already contested this year. With regular co-driver Sherryn Roberts not available for the event Kirvan will be joined by Rob Walters.

Presently lying in fourth place in the Rally First 1.4 championship Kirvan is keen to get another good result in the Nottinghamshire forests.

"We’ve made a good start to the year and I’m happy with the results so far," said Kirvan.

"I’ve not competed on the Dukeries rally before although I did the Robin Hood event in 2007 which uses a lot of the same tracks so I have a little bit of experience of the stages."

"Our little Rally4Real.com Micra has been busy since our last outing, it was hired by another crew to do the Jim Clark rally and they got a brilliant second in class so hopefully we can show a similar amount of pace on the Dukeries and score a decent amount of championship points, I'm confident we can get a good finish."

The rally is round four of the Rally First championship and it will be fought over 44 miles of gravel tracks in the Sherwood forest area.

15 May 2010: Burton Pidsea driver Becky Kirvan continued her comeback to rallying last weekend when she took a creditable fifth in class on the Plains rally.

The Welshpool-based event kicked off with stages in Gartheiniog and Dyfi forests. Kirvan and co-driver Sherryn Roberts emerged from the stages in fifth place in the Rally First 1.4 class despite a confidence sapping moment on the opening test.

"In the early part of the first stage there was a long straight with a crest, we carried too much speed over the crest and the car landed out of shape very close to a big drop," said Kirvan.

"Whilst we didn’t spin it knocked my confidence and I don’t think we were as quick as we could’ve been."

Four more forest stages followed and Kirvan maintained fifth in class in the Rally4Real Nissan Micra despite a few anxious moments including almost hitting a photographer at a hairpin.

The last stage of the rally was held in a woodyard near Welshpool and Kirvan maintained her position although it nearly all came to an end over the finish line.

"There was a jump marked in the notes but I didn’t think we would be going fast enough to actually take off. However, I was wrong!"

"The little Micra flew through the air and landed quite heavily. Fortunately nothing broke and we didn’t crash so we made it to the finish."

"I was pleased to get to the end but a little disappointed with some of the times, I think the stage one incident affected my confidence a lot. The afternoon stages seemed to go better and overall I enjoyed the event. Thanks to Rally4Real and Peart Auto Services for their support, the Micra ran faultlessly once again."

Kirvan now lies in fourth place in the Rally First 1.4 championship with the next round taking place in June with the Dukeries rally in Nottinghamshire.

09 May 2010: Burton Pidsea driver Becky Kirvan will continue her rally comeback next weekend on the Plains rally. After a successful start to her season on last month’s Somerset Stages event where she took fourth in class Kirvan is aiming to go one better on the Welshpool-based event.

She will once again be using a Rally4Real.com-prepared Nissan Micra supported by Peart Auto Services and Port Talbot’s Sherryn Roberts will be on the notes.

“We had a really good event in Somerset, I was pleased to take fourth in the class especially as it was my first event in the Rally4Real Micra and also my first event with Sherryn,” said Kirvan.

“Hopefully we can have another troublefree run through the stages and push a little harder to try and get into the top three.”

“The stages look brilliant and I can’t wait to compete in some of the famous Welsh forests.”

The rally is part of the BTRDA rally championship which takes in rounds all over England and Wales. It will be fought over 45 miles of gravel forest tracks including stages in the forests of Dyfi, Gartheiniog and Hafren.

25 April 2010: Rally driver Becky Kirvan made a successful return to rallying last weekend when she took fourth place in the Rally First 1.4 class on the Somerset Stages event.

Kirvan, from Burton Pidsea, and new co-driver Sherryn Roberts were competing in a Rally4Real Nissan Micra backed by Peart Auto Services. The rally started with four stages in the forests near Minehead. After a steady start with eighth place on the opening Timberscombe stage Kirvan increased the pace to take fifth in class as the rally reached the first service halt.

"We were cautious on the first stage, it was my first time competing with Sherryn and also my first time competing in the Micra so we didn’t want to risk an early retirement," said Kirvan.

"We pushed a bit more on the other stages though as I gained confidence and I was pleased to be in fifth place at service."

The rally then moved onto tarmac for two runs of the Porlock Hill toll road from which Kirvan emerged in sixth place.

"I really wasn’t looking forward to Porlock, the road is very steep and it’s not ideal for our little Micra but we didn’t struggle as much as I thought we would. The car handled really nicely through the bends and we only dropped one place."

After another service halt the rally returned to the forests for the remainder of the competitive mileage. Kirvan had a troublefree run and, after pushing hard on the last two stages, she moved up to fourth in class at the rally finish.

"I’m delighted with the result, especially with not competing for 18 months and having to get used to a new car and co-driver. I enjoyed the stages and the Rally4Real car was as good as gold, we had no problems at all."

Kirvan will next be in action in three weeks time on the Plains rally which takes place in the forests of Wales.

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