FOR Dursley rally driver Pete Hedges, last weekend's Red Kite Stages would be a rally of firsts.

The Red Kite Stages near Llandovery in Wales is always a popular event for rally crews as the classic stages the rally has to offer are a good test for both historic and modern cars alike.

For Hedges this was the first rally in his newly acquired gravel spec Vauxhall Nova 1400.

It was also the first event he had competed on gravel stages using pace notes.

With the experience of new co driver Osian Owen in the passenger seat the duo rolled out of early morning service with a steep learning curve ahead of them.

A damp Halfway stage started the morning off in which Hedges posted a time of 12.45mins before they moved on to the Crychan stage.

A typical welsh forest stage with tight bends and tree lined long straights. Seeded car 56, Hedges was now having to contend with cut up stages from running lower down the order. Never the less a competitive time of 9.49mins was gained.

The third stage of the day used the open roads over the Sennybridge training area and with Owen experience on the notes pushing Hedges on, confidence in the car on a loose surface was growing.

The afternoon stages were a repeated of the mornings but with the added test of low fog reducing visibility.

Despite this Hedges managed to shave a few seconds off the times posted earlier. With the rally finished Hedges and Owen brought the Nova home in 31st position overall in the modern field 16 minutes behind rally winner Dylan Davies and Llion Williams.

For Hedges, though, it was all about finishing his first gravel race which was as good as a victory itself