Swansea Bay Rally 2007 Results
Nationals
Clubmans
Peugeot 205
Swansea Bay Rally 2006 Results
Nationals
Clubmans
Peugeot 205
Rally Report 2006
Former ANCRO National Rally Champions Marcus Dodd and Andrew Bargery took victory on Saturday, in round five of the MSA National Gravel Championship, the Swansea Bay National Rally, that ran through the Neath & Afan Vales.
The Poole driver finished just over three seconds ahead of Norwegian newcomer on only their second British rally Andreas Mikkelsen and his co-driver Ola Floene who in turn crossed the finish ramp just over eight seconds ahead of Craig Middleton and Robin Hernaman.
Mikkelsen said I'm very pleased to have finished second. I think we showed that we can set some good times, and we're learning the stages as we go. Of course the other drivers know what to expect more than I do, but it is another event finished for me. The battle was good fun, and it was good to have recovered most of the time that we lost in the first stage, missing a junction. Without that mistake in the dust I'm sure we could have really challenged for the win, but there will be another time for that !
Dust was a major problem over the opening loop of two stages with most competitors complaining about lack of visibility as the dust was hanging in the trees quite badly. Last year’s event winner and first on the road, West Walian Julian Reynolds benefited most from the conditions through stages one and two and he and co-driver Paul Spooner had a 1.5 second lead over Marcus Dodd going into the first service halt of the day. Organisers decided to allow two minute gaps for the remainder of the stages on the grounds of safety and it was then that the WRC crews began to move up the leader board.
Roger Duckworth and Mark Broomfield took the lead after stage three, the second run through Walter’s Arena above Glyn Neath, and he held a 0.6 second lead over Dodd and Bargery going into stage four. It was here that Duckworth lost over forty seconds when his car slid off the road and he dropped to fourth overall. Craig Middleton another young up and coming driver took the lead after stage four and he extended his advantage by setting quickest time through stage five, the six mile Tyle test and he held a near five second lead over Marcus Dodd going into second and final service.
A short distance into the penultimate stage saw Craig Middleton hit disaster. A quarter way into the seven mile Rheola test at a fast medium right, they hit the rear of the car on a bank and badly damaged a wheel. They dropped nearly thirty seconds and fell to third overall, and as a result of the final stage being cancelled, they remained in that third place, finishing over eight seconds behind Mikkelsen. Marcus Dodd and Andrew Bargery scored their second maximum score in this year’s championship.
Julian Reynolds and Paul Spooner won GroupN, but are not registered for championship points. Stephen Petch and Michael Wilkinson therefore scored maximum points for finishing second GroupN, Rob Smith and Alun Cook took second placed points and finish third GroupN while Anthony Willmington and Andy White picked up third placed championship points. Petch and Wilkinson scored maximum points in the Mitsubishi Evo Cup and Rob Smith took maximum points in the Subaru GroupN Trophy.
Declan Magee and Thomas Nugent won the Special Tuning 206 Super Cup section of the rally, finishing six seconds ahead of Colin Britton and Ross Butler.
A talented Welsh youngster Kevin Davies remains in contention for the Fiesta Sporting Trophy title, after finishing eighth on the Swansea Bay Clubmans Rally. The 21 year old from Llanfihangel-ar-Arth near Llandysul is now third in the overall points standings.
Kevin was dismayed to drop 20 seconds to series rival George Thomas on the final stage, Resolven. The 16 mile stage was the longest of the rally, and Davies was desperately unhappy to record a slow time. The www.rallycarsforsale.net and X-Cite Motorsport Supplies backed youngster just could not understand where the time loss was, and it was a disappointed Kevin who returned to the finish in Swansea in eighth place.
'I just don't know what the problem was today' he remarked. 'I feel as though I've been pushing as hard as I could, and we were certainly taking the same lines as everyone else and driving as hard as we could”.
The overall rally results hands Middleton second placed points in the championship as Mikkelsen is not registered. Roger Duckworth and Mark Broomfield finished fourth and picked up third placed championship points to head the series outright going into the next round, the Park Systems Stages rally in Scotland in September.
The rally overcame difficulties with the rare nesting birds, whose presence disrupted the original route, a few cars that had spectacular accidents resulting in hospitalisation for the crews, though fortunately without life threatening injuries. At the Ramada Jarvis Hotel finish rally winner Marcus Dodd praised the seventeen year old Norwegian Mikkelsen, who won the recent Quinton Stages just two days after passing his driving test ! Having set fastest time on every stage of that mid Wales rally, and on five of the six run on the Swansea Bay (the final one cancelled for National crews to keep the rally on schedule), Marcus admitted he was unlikely to have kept ahead of the youngster had that final stage been run.
It looks as though a new star has been discovered in Wales his next rally in Sweet Lamb, just next week-end. Will that bring yet another victory for the RAMsport Ford Focus WRC driver ?
Roger Gale Event Press Officer
Swansea Bay Rally 2005 Results
Nationals
Clubmans
Peugeot 205
Rally Report
Swansea Bay National Rally 2005
West Walian rally driver Julian Reynolds made it a first for Wales as he took overall victory on the Swansea Bay National Rally on Saturday July 23rd, the Port Talbot Motor Club event round five of the 2005 MSA National Gravel Championship. Reynolds, driving a Ford Focus WRC, and partnered by Raglan man Paul Spooner, took the win after an immense battle with Subaru Impreza WRC driver Barry Johnson towards the end. Roger Duckworth – partnered by Welsh co-driver Aled Davies in his Impreza WRC - secured third place ahead of Vodka Kick backed Ford Focus WRC man Steve Perez, his car an ex Markko Martin factory machine, while series leader Paul Bird finished the event fifth overall, driving yet another Ford Focus WRC, with support from Eddie Stobart Transport.
Dry conditions leading up to the weekend caused a serious problem with hanging dust over the opening loop of three stages, with most drivers complaining of poor visibility, and the PTMC organisers took the wise and safe decision to separate the cars by two-minute gaps for the remainder of the day.
The first three stages saw the retirement of Marcus Dodd – Hyundai Accent WRC - , Andy Burton – Peugeot Cosworth - and Craig Middleton, also driving a Hyundai Accent WRC. . Dodd, former Swansea Bay victor and winner of round four, the Mutiny Rally in Mid Wales ended his rally in a lake on stage one, “Tyle”, near Hirwaun Common, joined later by the Mitsubishi of Paul Jones. The latter car landed upside down in the lake, Jones and co-driver Hamish Campbell bravely rescued by Dodd and Co-driver Andrew Bargery – for which they received the “Men of the Meeting Trophy” - whilst Burton retired on stage two, the 11.3 miles of Resolven Forest, when residual oil from a leak caught fire and forced him into retirement. Craig Middleton, who had led the event after the opening test, retired on stage three with a broken steering rack, and last year’s winner Mark Perrott also fell foul to the stages when he lost a wheel on his Ford Escort WRC on stage five, seventeen unforgiving miles in Rheola forest in the Neath Valley..
Perrott had led the event from stage two and he had a three second lead over Barry Johnson before his demise moved Johnson up to the top spot, and he had a seven second advantage over Julian Reynolds going into the final stage, a second run of the 11 miles in the forests above Resolven. However, Johnson lost his brakes and Reynolds was nine seconds quicker through the eleven mile Resolven test and this ensured him the win by a mere two seconds.
Third placed Roger Duckworth and co driver Aled Davies had gear selection problems over the first three stages, and lost approximately thirty seconds on stage four when they overshot a junction and stalled the Impreza WRC. Two fastest times over the final two stages guaranteed them their third position.
Steve Perez had suffered badly from the dust on the first three stages but he had a clean run over the remainder of the event. Perez and co driver Neil Dashfield finished forty seconds behind Duckworth and nine seconds ahead of Paul Bird. Bird also struggled with the dust and had to resort to manual gearshift and the car also kept cutting out through stage four. The problem was diagnosed and repaired in service though he had already dropped a lot of time, and thereafter maintained a steady pace over the remaining three stages to finish fifth.
Welshpool driver Stuart Jones took the overall honours on the Mitsubishi Ralliart Evolution Challenge whilst Rally School manager Jonnie Wigmore took overall victory in the Special Tuning (UK) 206 Super Cup. In the ANCRO Clubmans Championship, Allan McDowall ended up with his third successive win and as a result increased his lead at the head of the Championship, and now leads by ten points from Simon Hawthorn.
The fact that Julian Reynolds is not registered for points in the Championship means that Barry Johnson and co driver Stewart Merry scored maximum points. Johnson now leads the overall Championship on 101 points, one point ahead of Paul Bird in his Stobart Motorsport Ford Focus WRC, Paul saying “The pressure is now on for sure and after losing so much time early in the rally I really did have to drive hard but sadly I just couldn’t quite pull it off on the day !”
Other respectable results included the ninth place for Conrad Rautenbach, driving a Subaru Impreza and co-driven by Ammanfords Ieuan Thomas, a seventeenth for Ray Bellm and Welsh co-driver Mark Solloway in another Subaru, a thirtieth place for Bridgend man Tony McWhirter driving a Mitsubishi Evo3, a thirty first for Gower driver Mandy Bowman, whilst Llanelli duo Huw Jeffreys and Averina Connor got their Subaru Impreza into 41st spot.
In the Clubman rally Port Talbot MC crew Micah Morris and Simon Anthony took a class third with their Peugeot 309, with another PTMC duo Gareth and Neil Bevan of Hirwaun took the ANCRO Clubman class win in their Minstrell Phone Care / Mike Morgan Rallying Peugeot 1600.
Proving to be three times lucky for PTMC were Ystradgynlais men Rob Wilson and Dylan Jenkins, their XR Visteon/ Isaac Signs/ Classic Clean Racewear / AJ Motors Peugeot 205 bringing them a third overall in the Peugeot 205 Rally.
Pete Johnston and Iestyn Ap-Dafydd took an eight place in the 205 Challenge, rewarding support from MDA Consulting, to mark the opening of their new Swansea office.
Other local hopes not so fortunate included Bridgend driver Leon Pesticcio, his Suzuki Ignis smashing its gearbox on a rock on the fifth stage in Rheola Forest, and Cardigan men Colin Davies and Dylan Jones with clutch failure to their Subaru on the second stage.
Swansea men Phil Morgan and Brian Davies retired their Funsters/ Griffiths Pallets/ Dulais Garage backed Ford Escort on stage three with broken steering, the driver having competed on an amazing fourteen Swansea Bay rallies.
ROGER GALE
Any Media queries to 07974-748018.
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