Stuart Biggerstaff, Dromara's latest rally success story, continued to startle at last Saturday's opening round of the Hankook MSA Northern Ireland Rally Championship.
 
Number two is quickly becoming the 21-year-old driver's lucky number, as he secured second overall for the second time in what was the Dromara driver's second rally!
 
The Pedro Pet Foods Stage Rally attracted many of Northern Ireland's leading rally talent, including a number of former champions. But Biggerstaff, along with navigator Kenny Hull, was once again unfazed by the opposition.
 
Just a few weeks earlier, Biggerstaff had secured second overall at the same venue on his debut stage rally. One month further down the line, the newcomer grasped another podium finish, sealing a perfect rally debut.
 
"It was quite slippery at the start," Biggerstaff admitted. "But it dried out after the third stage. I didn't look at the stage times all day so I didn't know where we'd finished until after the final stage."
 
Young Biggerstaff used the opening stage to bed himself in, and then he really got into the groove. Sixth overall after stage one, he fought his way through the order and into the top three despite some gearbox issues.
 
"The gearbox was playing about a bit," Biggerstaff explained. "It kept missing gears so I had to drive around the issue."
 
Despite those niggling gearbox problems, Biggerstaff held third overall after stage four. It looked as though he had secured another top three finish, but the final stage saw the Dromara driver go one better as he moved into second overall ahead of George Robinson.
 
"To be honest, only for George having his mechanical problems on the final stage, we would have been third," Biggerstaff admitted. "But to finish second again is fantastic, particularly as Saturday's rally was a round of the Hankook Northern Ireland Rally Championship."
 
The Northern Ireland series features 10 events which take competitors across the country. Round two takes place on Saturday 13 March at Bishopscourt Race Circuit, near Downpatrick, where Stuart will continue his charge for Championship success.