After the good result on the snowy Wyedean Mick had made the trek north to Cockermouth for the Malcolm Wilson Rally.

Once again partnered by Dale Furniss on the notes, Mick was quietly confident of continuing in the same way he had started on the snowy Wyedean Rally the previous month.

The battle for the two wheel drive honours looked like being very close and Mick and Phil Burton were swapping seconds on the first three stages. But bending a steering arm in Greystoke saw Mick having to settle for second two wheel drive but still take maximum points in the Silver Star series.

At the finish the duo went home with an armful of awards including best aggregate time for the first three stages by a two wheel drive car. So it now looks like a jolly down to Butlins next month is on the cards for Mick and Dale.

The first two stages saw the car quite a handful as Dave fought with the Impreza as it wanted to swop ends at every opportunity. Changing some damper settings and lowering rear tyre pressures at emergency service saw a step in the right direction. This was to set the pattern for the day as the suspension was fine tuned at every opportunity to give Dave a much more neutral car by the end of the day.

With Tim Peircey on a mission, Dave was happy to bring home second points in the Production Car class and finally get a score on the boards after the Wyedean.

A good push in the long Grizedale saw Dave set 2nd fastest Group N time to Johnny Greer's flying Mitsubishi Evo. With the final shortened Greystoke completed Dave pronounced himself satisfied with the days result and felt that he had made progress with the setup of the car. The Bulldog will give Dave the chance to make some more advances before the next BTRDA round in April.
The start of the 2009 season saw Dave Howells and Andy Morgan once again contesting the BTRDA and Welsh National Championships in their TEGSport Impreza.

Not the best of starts to the season when after a wrong tyre choice the went off for 90 seconds near the end of SS1 and just managed to struggle out of the ditch. Slipping and sliding through SS2 they changed tyres at the emergency service and it immediately saw them on the pace setting a top five time and moving up 50 places in one stage.

Sadly it was all to come to nothing when Andy missed an amendment and booked out of service late. The resulting penalties made it not worth risking damaging the car, so they put the car on the trailer while Andy headed home to beat himself sensless with a tyre lever.

Dave even rang Andy on Sunday to see if he was still on "suicide watch"..!

With Andy sitting with Dave Howells, Mick had roped in Dale Furniss to co-drive the LICO backed Escort S2000 in the Silver Star series.

Now Mick revells in the snowy conditions and the grin never left his face all day. In comparison to a lot of the two wheel drive brigade Mick couldn't have been happier. From SS1 he surged ahead into a lead that was never challenged all day.

The finish back at the racecourse saw Mick romp home 1st two wheel drive and 15th overall and take maximum points in the BTRDA Silver Star series.

Now Mick will need to start planning a trip to the Malcolm Wilson Rally to see if he can carry on what he's started...?