Once again rallying was brought to the people, in the form of the Rally of the Midlands, which was again supported by the locally based Trinity Hyundai. This partnership has proven itself time and time over again in recent years as this event continues to put on a fantastic event not just for the competitors but for the average Joe spectator.

Round 4 of the REIS MSA Asphalt Rally Championship saw the crews tackle a mixed selection of tarmac based stages, from the likes of the estately home (Albury House), an Army Barracks (Bramcote), a race circuit (Mallory Park), a car test & proving ground (Mira) and of course the town centre spectacle on Friday night in Hinckley.

Friday night featured seven stages in total, two runs thru Albury Hall, Bramcote and Mallory with a single short super special style run thru Argents Meads in Hinckley town centre. Albury Hall proved to be a bit of a rude awakening for some crews, especially that for car no 29 the Aston Martin GT and car no 85 Pug 205, who both went off a fair way on the first real bend at the end of a long straight. A worrying number of others also, (car 8, 9, 46, 50, 56, 72 and 89) all failed to even make the start or end of the Albury Hall stages for various reasons. Was this to become one of those rally’s were finishing the event was an achievement in itself?

Early indications from these  opening stages were, that last year’s defending champ car no 1, the Escort Cosworth WRC of Mark Welch / Helen Thompson were visibly flying, maybe just a little too much over the bridge jump at the end of SS2. Whereas making its debut outing, Peter Lloyd’s brand-new Subaru Impreza S14 WRC was a little bit  on the more courteous side, as he got to grips with the new device. However at the end of the first loop of severn stages on the Friday night, he retired for various reason (maybe this event was not quite the start that he was hoping for in the new purchase?), Leaving behind an exciting battle between car no 5 the Escort MK2 of Simon Mauger / Chris Butcher and car no 3 the 2005 Focus WRC of Damian Cole / Craig Drew, Mauger taking five of the first severn stage wins settings things up for a ding dong battle ahead.

This resumed in the morning with a return visit to Albury Hall, followed by a quickie at Mira and two runs over at Mallory before mid morning service. Mauger took a further two stage wins on SS8 & 9 Albury Hall, with Cole closely behind taking the second fastest time on both of these stages. Mauger must have been taking it easy thru SS10 Higham, not even managing a top 10 stage time on this one. Following this up with a third on SS11 and fifth at SS12 at Mallory, Mauger was still looking to be the man to beat. However Cole had started to put the hammer down, he took stage wins on SS10 & SS12, and coupled this together with his other consistent stage finishes, things were looking to be “Game On” from here on.

By this time in the day the number of retirements were rising, noticeable car no 28, the Lotus of Stuart Deely / Allistair Dodd on SS10 with radiator failure and car no 11, the Darian T9 of Robert Dick / Barry Green had also gone missing after SS10 with Electrical issues.

Cole eventually got the upper hand over Mauger on the first two runs of the day over Bramcote (SS13 & 14) as the afternoon kicked off, and he followed this up with three stage wins at SS15 Higham, SS16 & 17 Mallory. With only three remain stages after the afternoon service (final two over Bramcote and the last run over Mira), Mauger did managed a second and third but was down with a 9^th place fastest stage time on the final stage, allowing not only John Stone / Lee Carter in the Skoda Fabia WRC to take second place, but Cole to take the overall win with the final stage fastest time.

By the end of the rally, the number of retirements and exclusions was up to a whopping 46, showing that in order to get any kind of result on a demanding even such as this, you must first manage to make it to the finish line.

Final Award Winners:

Overall:

1. 03 Damian Cole / Craig Drew – Class 5 – Ford Focus WRC 05
2. 04 John Stone / Lee Carter – Class 5 – Skoda Fabia WRC
3. 05 Simon Mauger / Chris Butcher – Class 4 – Ford Escort MK II

Class 1 Winner = 41 Graham Muter / Stephen Hallmark – Ford Escort MK11

Class 2 Winner = 43 Stuart Bliss / Richard Marsh – Honda Civic

Class 3 Winner = 10 David West / Keith Hounslow – Peugeot 306

Class 4 Winner = 26 Andrew Graham / Peter Brennan – Ford Escort

Class 5 Winner = 07 Gary Nuttall / Paul Whittaker – Hyndai Accent WRC

Class B2 Winner = 95 John Brooks / Phill Harvey – Austin Mini

Class B5 = 98 Nigel Allcock / Timothy Curran – Triumph TR4

Overall yet another cracking even put on this year for the Rally of the Midlands, be sure to attend next year people.

Ireland’s Keith Cronin and co-driver Barry McNulty stormed to victory on Bulldog International Rally of North Wales which comprised the opening round of the Dulux Trade MSA British Rally Championship.

The reigning Champion was quickest through five of the eight special stages to claim an emphatic win by over two minutes and beamed at the finish at the new Welshpool Livestock Market: “This has been one of the hardest rallies I have ever won. Trying to pick a pace was very difficult as it is easier when you are fighting for the lead. The car was faultless all day and I am delighted.”

Scotsman Dave Weston Jnr with Ieuan Thomas on the notes claimed an impressive second place overall despite a puncture at the end of SS3. The youngster finished with a 26 second advantage over his nearest rival, Adam Gould.

Gould, co-driven by Craig Drew, had a frantic week in the build up to the rally to raise the budget and ensure his Subaru Impreza was ready to start the event. The Bristol driver admitted to being unprepared in the build up to the weekend but drove a faultless rally to claim third place, 15 seconds ahead of Euan Thorburn.

Thorburn and co-driver Paul Beaton brought their Subaru Impreza to the finish, 17 seconds ahead of Ulsterman Jonny Greer and co-driver Dai Roberts. Greer struggled to get into a rhythm in the earlier stages of the rally, and then a puncture through SS3 which in turn resulted in a broken wire affecting the differential on the Mitsubishi Lancer dropped him down the order early on.

Notable retirements were Gwyndaf Evans whose Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 10 stopped after SS2 with gearbox problems and Craig Breen’s Fiesta S2000 came to a halt on the road section on the way into first service. Alastair Fisher retired after SS6 with transmission failure on his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9.

The event also made up round one of the Dunlop WONAGO.com MSA British Historic Rally Championship.

Category 1 was claimed by Jonathan Gale and co-driver James Whittaker in their Sunbeam Tiger. They finished 37 seconds ahead of the Porsche 911 of Dessie Nutt and Geraldine McBride. Category 2 was won by Jeremy Easson and Alun Cook who crossed the finish ramp 36 seconds ahead of Andrew Haddon and Mark Crisp. Nick Elliott and Dave Price claimed victory in Category 3, bringing their Ford Escort home 25 seconds ahead of Julian Reynolds and Ian Oakley.

The BRC Challenge was won by Julian Wilkes and Will Rutherford who finished the event 21 seconds ahead of Callum Black and Paul Wakley. Jonathan Cunningham and co-driver Richard Millener brought their Ford Fiesta ST back to the finish in third place, finishing a further 41 seconds adrift.

The Bulldog National Rally was won by Alex Allingham and Mark Glennerster who finished a mere five seconds ahead of Paul Davy and Roger Allan. Paul Walker and Mark Lewis claimed the final podium place, finishing a further 45 behind Davy.

Mike Tomkinson and Shaun Whitehurst won the Bulldog Clubman section of the event, bringing their Subaru Impreza home 17 seconds ahead of Paul Lomas and Matthew Nicholas. Neville Jones and Ian Capwell crossed the finish ramp a further 32 seconds adrift.

For full results visit www.bulldog-rally.co.uk

Bulldog International Rally Results

1 Keith Cronin/Barry McNulty – Subaru Impreza – 1:40:03.0
2 Dave Weston Jnr/Ieuan Thomas – Subaru Impreza – 1:42:04.7
3 Adam Gould/Craig Drew – Subaru Impreza – 1:42:31.6
4 Euan Thorburn/Paul Beaton – Subaru Impreza – 1:42:47.1
5 Jonathan Greer/Dai Roberts – Mitsubishi Lancer – 1:43:04.5
6 David Bogie/Kevin Rae – Mitsubishi Lancer – 1:44:16.7
7 Darren Gass/Neil Shanks – Subaru Impreza – 1:44:59.5
8 Jason Pritchard/Robbie Durant – Subaru Impreza – 1:45:28.8
9 Daniel Sigurdarson/Asta Sigurdardottir – Mitsubishi Lancer – 1:46:00.4
10 Elfyn Evans/Andrew Edwards – Ford Fiesta ST – 1:50:30.5

Defending champions Marcus Dodd and Andrew Bargery got the defence of their title underway in the best possible fashion with a sensational seventh victory on Rallye Sunseeker held in Bournemouth.

Driving the Hyundai Accent WRC the pair emerged 33.7 seconds ahead of the Peugeot Cosworth of Andrew Burton and co driver Robin Kellard, with former ANCRO champion Steve Perez and co driver Paul Spooner claiming third place a further 13 seconds back on the opening round of the 2010 MSA Gravel Rally Championship.

Dodd, from nearby Poole, overcame the disappointment of retiring on last year’s event, and also the drenched Dorset forests this year, to run out a clear winner and apart from a couple of moments during the day his only problem was an errant warning light on the last stage.

Burton, who decided not to register for ANCRO points, brought his crowd-pleasing Peugeot Cosworth home in runner-up spot after Perez, the 2004 national champion, suffered a last stage spin which meant the Chesterfield driver had to settle for third place in his Ford Focus WRC07.

Towcester’s Roger Duckworth and co driver Mark Broomfield had a trouble-free run to fourth place in their Subaru WRC, with Paul Bird, from Penrith, and co driver Kirsty Riddick in their Ford Focus WRC08 putting in a brave drive to finish fifth following the death of his mother last week.

Yorkshiremen Jonny Milner and Ian Windress brought their Toyota Corolla WRC home in sixth after a misfire slowed the former double British champion earlier on. Next up was Anthony Willmington, Dave Weston Jnr and Jonny Greer, but none of them were registered for points leaving Co Durham driver Stephen Petch and co driver John Richardson to claim sixth place ANCRO points following their tenth place finish in the Hyundai Accent WRC.

In the Viking Motorsport Ford Escort Challenge, Richard Lane and co driver Frank Richer took the spoils and the Nissan Micra pairing of Ian Barrett and co driver Gavin Wright claimed victory in the 1400cc Cup.

Marcus Dodd: “It’s been a very difficult rally and the stages have been as wet as I’ve ever known them but to win this event for the seventh time is fantastic. One mile from the end of the last stage the water temperature shot through the roof but it was not a problem in the end and to claim victory on my local event is a great start to the year.”

At prizegiving last night in the Marriott Hotel, Bournemouth Marcus Dodd praised the efforts of Co-Driver Andrew Bargery in helping him win his seventh Rallye Sunseeker title. He said “Andrew was magnificent today, considering the conditions we faced. He called everything spot on, and even when the mid morning stages passed within yards of my own front door, he was calling me to take the correct lines, a great job as usual”

The pair finished back in Bournemouth Town Centre 33. seconds ahead of last minute entry Andrew Burton and Robin Kellard in the newly engined Peugeot Cosworth. Both were delighted on the finish ramp and Andrew said “Its been a great battle here all day, with both Marcus and Steve, though to be honest we were on a closer battle with Steve than with Marcus. When we left the last service at Canford, we decided on the way to the next stage to give it a real go, and considering all the last minute hassles we had, our team did a great job to get us here”

Global Brands supremo Steve Perez, partnered by Paul Spooner eventually came home third in the Energy Drink Ford Focus WRC 07, rueing a last stage spin which cost him time in his battle with Andy Burton “I threw it all away on the last stage! We had a minor spin but I accidentally caught the master switch and by the time we’d realised what had happened we’d lost a lot of time. It was our only problem all day long. The car has been great as always and we had a relatively comfortable second place until that happened” said Perez.

Following Perez home in fourth place was the Subaru WRC of former winner Roger Duckworth, who had a trouble free day partnered by Mark Broomfield. A further 29 seconds behind was Penrith based Paul Bird, who had a troubled day in his Ford Focus WRC 08. Paul said at the finish “Its been a harder event than I intended for loads of reasons y’know, we lost time with a spin on stage 1, tried a different cut of tyre on the second loop to improve our times, but it was just one of those days when it didnt click, and Kirsty and I are happy to be back here safely in fifth place” He went on to say “Its been a good run out really too for the Malcolm Wilson stages next week, and I would be hopeful that we will do well there”

Jonny Milner and Ian Windress came home in sixth place in their Merlin International / BF Goodrich sponsored Toyota Corolla having endured a problematical morning in the Dorset Forests, and said at prizegiving last night “The misfire and time we lost this morning really cost us y’know and but for that we could have finished much better, but once we got the misfire sorted or times were good and to be honest happy enough to get back here in once piece considering how slippy it was out there today”

Local driver Anthony Wilmington was delighted to back to Bournemouth and a solid 7th place after enduring a day of overheating and tyre issues.

Dave Weston Jnr was delighted to win the Production Cup and arrive back in 8th place, in his brand new Gp N Subaru Impreza. Dave said at the Award ceremony last night “I am over the moon to have won in the car first time out, but then on the way back to Bouremouth myself and Ieuan realised that we had won the Richard Burns Trophy as well as the invite to the Goodwood Festival, so we were delighted with the way the whole trip down here worked out” He went on to say “It has been a good and well run event, but it always is and thats what makes you come here”

Rallye Sunseeker Overall Result

1, Marcus Dodd/Andrew Bargery – Hyundai Accent WRC – 55:02.1
2, Andrew Burton/Robin Kellard – Peugeot Cosworth – 55:35.8
3, Steve Perez/Paul Spooner – Ford Focus WRC07 – 55:48.8
4, Roger Duckworth/Mark Broomfield – Subaru Impreza WRC – 56:17.5
5, Paul Bird/Kirsty Riddick – Ford Focus WRC08 – 56:46.3
6, Jonny Milner/Ian Windress – Toyota Corolla WRC – 57:51.6
7, Anthony Willmington/Andrew White – Mitsubishi Lancer Evo6 – 58:21.3
8, Dave Weston Jnr/Ieuan Thomas – Subaru Impreza – 59:09.0
9, Jonathan Greer/Brian Crawford – Mitsubishi Lancer Evo9 – 59:40.4
10, Stephen Petch/John Richardson – Hyundai Accent WRC – 1:00.23.5

The Viking Motorsport Challenge was won by Richard Lane and Frank Richer came home as the winners.

The winners of the Free entry to the Le Touquet rally were Ian Barrett and Gavin Wirght in their Nissan Micra.

Rallye Sunseeker Historique

Run over seven of the days stages, the Winners of the Rallye Sunseeker Historique were Eric Davis and Russell Joseph in their Austin Mini Clubman by 39.5 seconds from Clive King and Bob Ward in a Mini Cooper S. At the finish Eric said “We have thoroughly enjoyed the days rallying. Ay the stages have been slippy, but it has been a test, and thats what rallying these cars is all about, cant wait to come back next year” Runner Up Clive King added “We really didnt know what to expect today as we have never been here before, but Rob Pike has put on a really good event for us, and we are happy to come home in second” Coming home third were Jason and Hugh Thompson also in Mini.

1, Eric Davis/Russell Joseph – Mini Clubman – 47:00.0
2, Clive King/ Bob Ward – Mini Cooper S – 47:39.5
3, Jason Thompson / Hugh Thompson – BL Mini – 48:42.0

Rallye Sunseeker Military Challenge

Arriving back to Bournemouth as winners of the Rallye Sunseeker Military Challenge were Majors Alan Paramore and James Sutherland in their Land Rover Wolf XD. The had a winning margin over the similar vehicle of Sgt Ewen Christie and Cpl Curtis McKerlie of over 4 minutes, who in turn were 1:39.4 ahead of Flt Lt Stephen Partridge and Flt Lt John Clayton again in another Wolf XD.

www.msagravelrallychampionship.co.uk

The JLT Rally South of England Tempest Rally which was once again based at Rushmoor Arena in Aldershot on November 7th 2009, went back to basics this year in terms of razzamatazz. But for the competitors and spectators there was plenty of action on the stage. Once again the organisers ran two separate rallies; the Tempest 2 for two wheel drive cars and the Tempest 4 to cater for the four over familure stages such as Warren, Yateley, Rushmore, Ash & Longcross.

4WD winner Will Nicholls has lost count of the number of times he has won this event! He’s not sure if its four or five but he’s certainly no stranger to the Tempest Stages. After a tight tussle with Marcus Dodd this morning the pressure was off when the Hyundai failed. “We were having a great battle but once Marcus dropped out it was a case of bringing the car home.” As Rally manager Barry Guess presented the winner’s trophy Will was quick to point out that he and Pete Egerton had sponsored the awards this year, adding “Hopefully the ones we have were paid for by Pete.”

Second placed driver Andrew Barnes edged out fellow Focus pilot John Lloyd but had a last stage scare. “There was terrible knocking and I feared that a diff was about to go. Thankfully it held out and we have claimed second. When I looked at the entry list this morning I would have settled for third so we are delighted.” John Lloyd, a great Tempest regular and sponsor set some impressive times and declared himself “very pleased” with third overall.

4WD RESULTS:
1 Will Nicholls / Nick Broom
2 Andrew Barnes / Guy Simmons
3 John Lloyd / Adrian Cavenagh
4 Robert Swann / Darren Garrod
5 Martyn England / Ian Enland
6 Wug Utting / Bob Stokoe
7 Martin Newcombe / Peter Newcombe
8 Mick Harris / Mike Harris
9 Tristan Bailey / James Howe
10 Nigel Seabold / Tim Barton

2WD winner Jason Prichard said the first run through the stages today was a bit of a recce but he said he has been comfortable with the pace and although it has been a bit rough at times he was delighted to win. “The real shame is that we are going home tonight without a party – we will have to celebrate over Sunday lunch tomorrow.” Second place Mark Gamble, also in a Citroen, admitted to being a bit slow this morning but it is his first time in this car on gravel.
At the end of the day just seconds separated the two Citroens and Mark thinks it would have been even closer still. “In hindsight I should have put the lamp pod on when Jason did. It may have made all the difference but we are really pleased with second place.”There was last stage heartbreak for Nova driver Julian Wilkes who had pushed the Citroens all day with an impressive run in his VXR190. He broke a driveshaft losing two minutes and a comfortable third place. Understandably he was gutted.

2WD RESULTS:
1 Jason Pritchard / Robbie Durrant
2 Mark Gamble / Janice Moore
3 Jim Munden / John Leigh
4 Ernie Graham / Andy Greenland
5 David Harris / Tim Babbage
6 Ian Roberton / Kenny Roberts
7 Julian Wilkes / Will Rutherford
8 Terry Brown / Arwell Jenkins
9 Simon Rees / Simon Illsley
10 Stephen Richards / Ian Withecombe

www.tempestrally.com