2004 ANCRO Champion Steve Perez drew first blood to lead the second round of the 2009 Pirelli MSA Gravel Rally Championship as the Brick and Steel Border Counties Rally got underway in Jedburgh this evening.

Driving the Ford Focus WRC07, the Chesterfield businessman along with Welsh co driver Paul Spooner leads by 13 seconds from the Group N Mitsubishi Lancer of Welsh pairing Simon Hughes and Craig Parry with Scottish honour being upheld in third with David Weston Jnr and Neil Shanks in their N14 version Subaru.

Irishmen Dan Barry and Martin Brady set fastest time on SS1, Wauchope West, in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 ahead of Weston with defending ANCRO champions Marcus Dodd and Andrew Bargery third up in their Hyundai Accent WRC.

Perez encountered a problem when he accidentally knocked the lights off on SS1, causing a minor off and struggled with a faulty handbrake through the opening test and the third of the 'big guns' Paul Bird and Ian Windress had a confidence-sapping spin and dropped time in their Ford Focus WRC 07.

With a clean run through the second of the evening's Kielder stages, Perez upped the ante and stopped the clocks 11 seconds clear of Hughes in Wauchope East to lead going into tomorrow's five stages in the massive Kielder complex.  

Behind Weston in third place lies Dodd ahead of Barry with Bird in sixth and promising a charge tomorrow!

Interim Results (after SS2)

1 Steve Perez/Paul Spooner (Ford Focus WRC 07), 15:28.7
2 Simon Hughes/Craig Parry (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9), 15:42.0
3 David Weston Jnr/Neil Shanks (Subaru Impreza N14), 15:43.1
4 Marcus Dodd/Andrew Bargery (Hyundai Accent WRC), 15:43.6
5 Daniel Barry/Martin Brady (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9), 15:44.9
6 Paul Bird/Ian Windress (Ford Focus WRC 07), 15:54.3
7 Nik Elsmore/Craig Drew (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9), 15:54.7
8 Charlie Payne/Craig Thorley (Mitsubishi Lancer WRC), 16:20.1
9 Owen Murphy/Dai Roberts (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9), 16:24.3
10 Willie Bonniwell/Neil Ewing (Subaru Impreza), 16:26.9