Reports from Motorsport News of 24th October 2007

In Brief

Hague edged the Mini tussle

Malcolm Hague and Dave Read (Ford Escort, pictured right) took top honours in the Bulldog Mini Rally on Saturday after a fight with 2006 winners Pat and Ella Flynn (Peugeot 205). Flynn said: “We just couldn't beat his more potent car. We had the spectators jumping back several times and finished two minutes ahead of the rest of the field.”

The eight entries on the Mini Rally included Kim Jones, sister of PWRC driver Stuart Jones. Kim competed in the Peugeot 205 she used on the Plains Rally recently. She has now bought the car from her other brother Darren to use on more rallies in the future.

David Weston and Dave Robson won class N3 - Weston's fifth rally in four weeks. “He's a tenth-of-a-second faster per mile than four weeks ago,” said Robson of his teenage driver. Weston will attempt to compete on several more rallies between now and Rally GB.

Class N1 honours went to Roland Jones and Andy Wynn in their MG ZR. “We only finished the car on Thursday,” said Jones. “We did a quick test at Phil Prices and came here. It’s been fantastic, worth taking time off rallying to build.”

Frank Kelly, from Moy in Northern Ireland, finally contested the Bulldog Rally on Saturday after three years of trying. The Ford Escort Mk2 driver was co-driven by Liam Brennan and won classB11 .The timing of the rally coincides with the end of the Southern Forestry championship in Ireland where Kelly became 2WD champion. “The engine will go to Mountune for a rebuild now” said Kelly. “It’s massively overdue.”

John Lloyd and Pauline Gullick won class B13 in their Ford Focus WRC despite Lloyd fighting pain in his foot “Left-foot braking is hard to concentrate on when your foot is so sore,” said Lloyd. “And we lost part of the front of the car when we spun into a bank on stage three.”

Huw Jeffreys and Avarina Connor were top Subaru Trophy runners on the rally. Jeffreys was glad to finish the rally after a hairy moment on stage four. “A massive spin,” he said. “We're lucky to be here at all after that. I got told off by my co-driver after that.” When Jeffreys arrived at the end, the top of his gear stick was missing.

Icelandic Evo Challenge team Daniel Sigurdarson and Asta Sigurdardottir crashed out of the rally on stage four. “The front of the car went into a ditch and we reversed out,” said Sigurdarson. “But it didn’t work and there was nothing we could do.” The brother- and-sisterteam are halfway through finalising a sponsorship deal to contest Rally GB.

Still trying to secure a co-driver for 2008, Evo Challenge driver Nik Elsmore tried to bribe Patrick Walsh into co-driving for him all the way to the finish of the Bulldog Rally. Walsh had to get to the finish to win the Evo co-driver’s title. “When he called a direction for the way back I’d ask if he was going to sit with me next year," said Elsmore. “I told him one wrong turn and he'd not win the title." Walsh, who is likely to sit with long-term partner Julian Reynolds again next year said, “Really. He did it on every junction."

Jody Patterson and Jeremy Taylor were 17th in their Mitsubishi Lancer E9. The crew take turns to drive and co-drive on alternate events and are eyeing Killarney International and Rally Isle of Man next year.

Simon Rogers and Paul Wakely (Mitsubishi Lancer E6) were doing their first ANCRO event for four years on the Bulldog. “It's an outing on a longer rally than our usual BTRDA events for end- of-season fun," said Rogers.

Evo Challenge duo Stephen Petch and Michael Wilkinson had misfire problems from the start. After fixing the problem. They retired but lifted the PIAA Junior title in the Evo Challenge.

Jonathan Sparks and Bradley Magnus had a traumatic end to their rally when their turbo started falling off. “We crawled through stage six and had to let three cars past,” said Sparks.

Cunningham slip-slides to Clubman win

Scotland’s Gordon Cunningham and Stuart McManus won the Clubman Rally on the Bulldog in their Mitsubishi Lancer E9. Cunningham had started the year hoping to be a regular competitor in the MSA Gravel Rally Championship but, after having to hire a car for the opening round, Rallye Sunseeker in February, he sat out some events waiting for his new E9 to be finished.

“All we wanted to do was keep it steady to get to the end today,” said Cunningham. “Stage one, Dyfnant One, was absolutely fantastic but stage two was a slippy reminder to keep it on the road.”

Iwan Rees and Peter James took second in their Subaru Impreza despite being held up on the second stage when two cars went off in front of them. Third to fifth places went to the front-runners in the Fiesta Sporting Trophy UK (see sidebar), Jonny Greer, Alistair Fisher and Tom Walster

EVO CHALLENGE

Few tales to tell as Barry and Bowens take first Evo win

It’s a running joke between Motorsport News staff and Daniel Barry and Mark Bowens that they always have a tale to tell when arriving into service on a round of the Evo Challenge.

But his luck changed last weekend with a relatively trouble-free run to take his first Evo Challenge victory on the Bulldog Rally. “Would you believe the car threw all the oil out on the penultimate stage,” laughed Barry. “It was going onto the exhaust so we could smell burning inside the car. Apart from that, it was a great day.”

Nik Elsmore, with Julian Reynold’s co-driver Patrick Walsh on the notes, initially led the Challenge but Barry got past on stage two and stayed there until the end.

Elsmore explained: “On stage two, we caught a car and we were in its dust for about half-a-mile before we got a chance to pass. Then there was someone off over a bank, Jock Armstrong we think,

WRC this time. The duo and there were spectators in the road. We thought the stage was stopped but then they suddenly opened up and let us through.” The result was enough to make Walsh the champion co-driver. While Phillip Morrow won the driver’s title this year, he was co-driven on some events by his brother Simon and others by Daniel Barritt.

Fiestas

Rivals fail to rein in Greer on Bulldog blitz

Fiesta Sporting Trophy UK champion Jonny Greer stamped his authority on the title by taking another event win on the Bulldog on Saturday. Greer led the event from start to finish to win by 26.1 seconds.

Irish Fiesta champion Alistair Fisher finished second despite briefly falling to third place when he failed to make it around an acute hairpin right. A fastest time on the fifth stage moved him up to second. He had been fighting for position with Tom Walster, who had also hit trouble when he late braked at a junction and stalled. Walster took the final place on the podium by less than a second from Elfyn Evans, who had been unhappy with his final two stage times.

Many Fiesta regulars hit trouble on the Bulldog. Tim Sunderland's rally stopped before it began when his fire extinguisher went off on the way to the first stage, Max Utting went into a ditch on a stage one hairpin, and Liam Regan also retired in stage one when the gearbox mount on his Fiesta broke, pulling out the driveshaft.

And the Class Winners