Coracle Stages

Another wet one up at Sweet Lamb, but not unexpected either. We managed to dodge the worst of the rain and the competition more than made up for the poor weather. After an almost faultless run in their Focus WRC Mike O’Brien & Sam Collis followed up there success on the Swansea Bay Clubman rally with another win, just a week later. Damian Cole & Ella Flynn (Accent WRC) were second after losing time on the first stage with a broken diff before mechanical woes struck again later on halting their progress. Completing the top three were Ian & Martyn England in their Evo IX.

Swansea Bay Rally

The rain dampened down the usual dust we come to expect from this event but it did not dampen the intense battle for victory. The top three seeded crews all led the rally at various points but when gearbox gremlins struck the Impreza WRC of Roger Duckworth & Mark Broomfield with two stages to go it was down to a two way battle. The Accent WRC of Marcus Dodd & Andrew Bargery led the Focus WRC of Steve Perez & Paul Spooner in to the last stage, but ten seconds dropped was enough to see Perez take victory after suffering road penalties earlier on in the event, (for leaving service late). However 2nd place was enough to confirm Dodd & Bargery as the 2009 National Gravel Champions, making a hat-trick for the crew and 5 in total for Dodd. Duckworth completed the podium half a minute back, whilst fourth place saw Daniel Barry & Martin Brady clinch the Evo Challenge.

Quinton Stages

Bit of an odd day up on the ranges with warm sun and heavy downpours. Fastest out of the blocks was Will Nicholls who led from start to finish in his Impreza WRC, co-driven by Nick Broom. Hugh Hunter & Andy Marchbank (Focus WRC) were second after only really losing out on stage 3, for the rest of the event they were level pegging swapping fastest stage times with Nicholls. Completing the podium were David Wright & Michael Wilkinson (Evo IX), consolidating their championship lead.

In the Silver Star one driver shone, Joe Price, but sadly he went OTL on stage 5 although he continued through the rest of the event. The Escort MkII driver entertained every time we saw him. In the overall standings Henri Greham & Chris Ridge took victory by 13 seconds from Mick Jones & Dale Furniss. Just over half a minute back in third were Will Onions & Tim Hobbs, making it an all Escort MkII top three.