DAVID Bateson launched his 1999 Mintex Rally Championship campaign in fine style by finishing second in class on the Rallye Sunseeker.

The Barrowford-based driver, who was tackling his first-ever national event, kept a cool head in difficult conditions to bring his unsponsored Vauxhall Astra home as runners-up in class N3 and 42nd overall.

"It's a fantastic start to the season. We got just the result we wanted, although I would have been happy just to get to the finish line," said Bateson, who was co-driven by Daniel Barritt, from Hapton.

"We had a few problems with the car not quite handling right, and then halfway through the event the gearbox went very sloppy, refusing to go into first gear properly.

"We were losing seconds in tight corners, so decided to change the box at the service halt. After that, the car ran perfectly."

And Bateson paid tribute to fellow competitor Daniel Harper and his team from Mini Sport of Padiham, who helped him during the Bournemouth-based event. He said: "We simply couldn't have done it without their aid. Daniel helped with organising the service schedules and his service crew came to our assistance when we needed to change the gearbox."

Ironically, Harper's own hopes of success in the same class were wrecked by a broken driveshaft - just two miles into the rally.

The Powerzone-backed Astra GSi snapped the shaft on the opening Avon Park stage and despite frantic work by Harper and co-driver Les Reger, the car refused to move.

"The thing just went without warning as we accelerated out of a hairpin," said Les.

"We should have been able to keep going on one driveshaft, but the car wouldn't move.

"Our mechanics, Lee and Darren, ran into the stage with a replacement driveshaft. But although it didn't take long to fit, we were over our time limit.

"That's rallying I suppose, but I reckon that rally cost us £550 a mile - which means we are under pressure to get a result on the second round, the Granite City Rally in Aberdeen, next month."

Overall victory went to 1997 Silva Stages winner Marcus Dodd and John Bennie, in a Ford Escort WRC.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.