2009 Pirelli MSA Gravel Rally Championship - Round 8 Trackrod Rally
Saturday 26th September 2009

After a superb podium placing on the Woodpecker Rally earlier this month, Saltash rally driver Alan Cookson is looking to end the season on a high when he contests the final round of the 2009 Pirelli MSA Gravel Rally Championship which takes place next Saturday with the Pickering-based Trackrod National Rally.

Along with Wandsworth co driver Julian Wilkinson, the pair will be contesting the event in the venerable Friesian cow-liveried car nicknamed 'Daisy' and despite Cookson stating the Woodpecker would be the final outing for the car, he is giving the Robert Wiseman Dairies, Kick Energy, GillettsSpar.com, Riverside Property Services and Olverelectrical.com supported Subaru Impreza WRC one final blast.

With most of the championships sewn up, the pair are hoping to propel themselves up the order and a finish in the fast and flowing Yorkshire forests will see them claim sixth overall in the main championship, despite two non-finishes, to add to their runner-up placing in Class 9.

"I'm really looking forward to getting out on the Trackrod for what will definitely be the last outing in a WRC car for now at least. We will be definitely putting 'Daisy' up for sale after this event, and are hoping we can re-home her, maybe even back in Sweden where she could be restored to her former glory and live in the country where she won her only world championship rally.

"We really loved the event last year and recorded our best finish of 2008 on it, so we hope we can continue with the good luck we had there last year. The stages are fast with lots of tight corners which don't best suit the old technology of our car but it does make it fun to drive and should make for plenty of sideways action again which is why we do it really, simply for fun!

"We would really like to give our long-term backers Wiseman, Spar, Olverelectrical.com and VK Vodka another good finish to round off the year as a way of thanks for all their support over the last three years of doing the ANCRO series and hope we can continue our relationship on the BRC in 2010. If the car performs like she did on the Woodpecker earlier this month I really feel we can record another podium finish which would nett some more points when the championship's final table is published come Saturday night.

"The TEGsport team have a very busy weekend running three cars, and trying to secure the BRC drivers title as well as the BRC Team title and we wish both Mark and Bryan and all the boys all the best."

The first car leaves the Pickering Showground start at 12.01 on Saturday 26th September and returns for the finish at 18.54 that afternoon and for further details, please visit either www.trackrodmotorclub.co.uk or www.gravelrally.co.uk.

2009 Pirelli MSA Gravel Rally Championship Standings after Round Seven

1 Marcus Dodd 119 (champion)
2 Steve Perez 112
3 Daniel Barry 102
4= Simon Hughes 94
  = Nik Elsmore 94
6 Paul Bird 68
7 Alan Cookson 68
8 Owen Murphy 65
9 Wug Utting 47
10 Alan Carmichael 43

Picture attached of Alan Cookson in action, courtesy of Simon Clarke.

In the meantime, the team's official website www.alancookson.com has been updated and included within the content are a number of video clips including the following of Alan in action recently as follows:

http://www.alancookson.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=119&Itemid=78