Marcus Dodd/Andrew Bargery (Hyundai Accent WRC). Photograph coutesty of CMWI.net
Defending Pirelli MSA Gravel Rally Champions, Marcus Dodd/Andrew Bargery, have won the Severn Valley National Rally in their Hyundai Accent WRC – just! After more than 60 miles of special stages in the mid-Wales forests, their winning margin was 0.6s over the Subaru Impreza WRC of Roger Duckworth/ Mark Broomfield. Following a timing problem at the end of the opening stage, Dodd found himself languishing down in 8th place and spent the rest of the event gradually whittling down the deficit to take one of the narrowest margins of victory in the history of the National Gravel Rally Championship.
Third overall, and top scorers in the Mitsubishi Evolution Rally Challenge, were Daniel Barry/Martin Brady in their Lancer EVO9. Once again, such is the competitiveness of the series this year that a mere half-a-minute separated the top three crews – Simon Hughes/Craig Parry and Nik Elsmore/Craig Drew keeping the leaders honest throughout the day.
This year the Severn Valley National & Clubmans Rally ran together for the first time, with the Clubmen contesting a shorter route and, consequently, finishing earlier in the afternoon. After a close battle, Nigel Griffiths/Jon Scott (Subaru Impreza) ran out winners from the Ford Focus WRC of Mike O’Brien/Ian Allsop. The first two-wheel drive car home was the Ford Escort RS of Henri Grehan/ Chris Ridge which took the final podium place, winning it’s class by more than three minutes.
By far the largest part of the entry was provided by contenders for the Severn Valley Historic Challenge and, from them, Gwyndaf Evans/Phil Pugh took top honours – and the Classic category - in their Ford Escort MkII, giving World Championship Co-driver Phil Mills’ new preparation company, Viking Motorsport, it’s first victory. For much of the day they had been trailing the similar car of Julian Reynolds/Ian Oakey but a determined push through the final stage in Radnor saw Evans, the former British Rally Champion, overhaul them to move ahead by just 3.5 seconds.
The Historic section was won by Graham Waite/Gill Cotton (Volvo Amazon) from the ex Patrick Watts Championship-winning Sunbeam Tiger now crewed by Jonathon & Graham Gale, while Rupert Lomax/David Alcock (Ford Escort) took the Post-Historics from the Porsche 911 of Tim Mason/Graham Wild.
The rally was run on a gloriously sunny day, although the breeze kept the resultant dust down to a minimum. Retirements amongst the front-runners were few and far between, although this will be of little consequence to former British Historic Rally Champions Dessie Nutt/Geraldine McBride whose Porsche 911 left the road on the second stage. Harry Dodd – Marcus’ father – also went out when his Hyundai Accent slid off the road on the opening stage of the National Rally. Neither car was badly damaged and all four crew members escaped unscathed.
Winner of the Severn Valley National Rally for the past two years – Andy Burton – had hoped to be present to try for a hat-trick, but complications with the repair of his Peugeot Cosworth following problems encountered on a recent event forced him to withdraw his entry at the last moment.
Further information from the Severn Valley National Rally Press Officer :
Andrew Haill - Tel : 0121 313 1416/E-mail : andrew.haill@btconnect.com
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