What an event, What a battle, What a surprise and oh What nice weather. The Snetterton Stages promoted by Anglia Motor Sport Club was a new addition to the championship calendars and boy did it deliver. Some excellent and very lengthy stages with mixed surface and conditions really made everyone think. Slow and easy was the order of the day but not sure the message got through to Riley Chester/ Victoria Swallow and George Fenner-letaio and Izzie Holman who dominated the times after the first stage. Maybe the tight technical parts of the stages suited the Micra’s more but they stamped there authority from the start. Current champion Charlie Mathewson and Ian Bass were taking things steady in the new car which was very much a learning curve and Charlie was not at ease with the early set up of the car. McKenzie Snowden and Jonathan Turnbull were up there in the lead battle but with the slippery early stages it just seemed to suit the Micra better. Josh Slaughter and Andy Walshaw were next after stage one followed by William Thomson who had travelled down from Scotland for the event. Lago Edwards and Caron Tomlinson were next and chasing William with only two seconds difference on times. Thomas Marriott and Rob Brook came next in with a steady start which they built on all day. Our new starts came next and to say it was their first events and long stages for a first event they were very impressive with Henri Cymrin just ahead of fellow Welshman Kyle Green with Daniel Biccard and Alex Mill pushing on and Daniels grin at the end showing how much he was enjoying himself.

As the day progressed the Micras were still heading the field although George didn’t know that as they were not telling how well he was doing and that he was in second place. Riley continued to dominate for the rest of the day and as the stages dried the pace , Charlie now happier with the set of his car was pushing on as was Mckenzie Snowden but each time Riley responded as he picked up the pace as well.

Daniel Taylor had a disastrous day with a gearbox failure on the first stage and with recovery not till after stage 2 there was no point in trying to fix the issue and he sadly retired from the event.

There was no let up all day and with darkness starting to come into play Riley did look safe at the front but the real battle was for the next places with the next three separated by mere seconds. Going into the last stage it was all to play for and in the end a big push from Mckenzie saw him take second from Charlie and just pushing George off the podium after an epic drive all day in the Micra. Our thanks have to go to the organisers and everybody involved in the event and the great news is we have already been invited back for 2025.

Thanks to Paul Woodford and Special Stage Rally Video for the coverage and getting us noticed and to each and everyone of our competitors who made the journey (a long one in some cases) to Norfolk for the event.