Paul Bird put his Grizdale Stages Rally demons to rest this weekend as he took victory in his Ford Focus WRC07.
The past two years have been unlucky for the Cumbrian who has lost out on both occasions after leading the rally.
Bird narrowly missed out on the BTRDA Rally Series title this year so was looking to finish the year on a high but went in to the rally with a heavy cold.
After losing out within sight of the finish when leading for the past two years, Cumbrian rally driver Paul Bird finally overcame his recent jinx by winning this weekend’s Coppermines Grizedale Stages Rally in his native Lake District.
Despite not being at full fitness Bird finished the opening stage fastest and never looked back as he completed a clean sweep across the remaining five stages.
“I haven’t felt too good this week but took some cold remedies and despite feeling under the weather, we just got our heads down and did what we needed to” said Bird
Although Bird took the victory in a controlling manner it wasn’t without incident.
“Apart from a spectator not looking where he was going which nearly put us off the road and resulted in me damaging my car taking evasive action, we had no problems at all.”
“It makes a change as this rally hasn’t been too kind to me in the past but again I’ve not had much luck but managed to pull it off this time.
“We were fastest on every stage and we just controlled the pace but I was surprised there wasn’t more of a challenge given the top quality entry. Thanks to Aled, the team and the sponsors for doing a great job this season.”
