Pete began kart racing in the junior ranks as
a teenager, where he achieved some success on a limited budget.
This was followed by a few years of rallying cars such as Escorts
and Capris but budget constraints prevented further progression.
A return to kart racing followed, first in the
125 National Class and then the 250 National Class. He achieved
great success at this level including competing in European
events but the highlight was becoming National Champion in 1992.
After more than ten years racing karts at senior
level he felt it was time for a change of direction and after
some lengthy research discovered the emerging Stock Hatch Championship
with the 750 Motor Club. This gave him the opportunity to be
involved in motor racing on a reasonable budget and also gave
him the challenge of building and preparing
racing cars both for himself and for other people.
He chose to build and prepare a Fiesta XR2 - because
of their easy availability at the time and the low cost of spares
- and competed in his first race at Pembrey in July 1998, achieving
6th place.
The Stock Hatch Championship has grown considerably
over the subsequent years resulting in an extremely competitive
class with close-fought races. Pete has managed to be a consistent
top-ten finisher and finished 3rd in both the 2001 and 2002
Championships. He was leading both the Stock Hatch and Hot
Hatch Championships in 2003 until he crashed at Cadwell and
destroyed the car. Nevertheless, he managed to finish the year
in 7th place. 2004 saw a return to form with a second place.
The change from XR2
to Citroen Saxo in 2005 didn't produce the improvements
Pete had hoped for. However, this was for technical reasons
rather than the car's potential and these were sorted later
in the season, with the result that he managed a respectable
5th place in the championship.
The 2006 season produced consistent results and Pete was leading the championship going into the penultimate round at Oulton Park. A big "off" here put him out for the last round and, with no points in the last two rounds, he was relegated to 4th place. Despite being an improvement over previous attempts, Pete was obviously disappointed at being so close to achieving his goal.
He is staying with the Saxo
for 2007 and once again is confident of being a strong contender for the
championship win.
