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All To Play For In Keilder... |
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Sunday, 18 March 2007 |
After an exciting and dramatic opening salvo with Rallye Sunseeker last month, round two of the hotly-contested 2007 Hankook MSA Gravel Rally Championship takes place next weekend when competitors descend on the Scottish town of Jedburgh for the Brick & Steel Border Counties Rally.
With sponsorship from global performance tyre manufacturer Hankook this season, all the major contenders are back for round two of the ANCRO-organised National series as well as some interlopers from the ultra-competitive Scottish Rally Championship who are bound to throw a spanner in the works.
Winner on his local event in Bournemouth a month ago, Marcus Dodd and
co driver Andrew Bargery return to the Borders region as not only
championship leaders, but as winners of last year’s event which was
held in the snow and ice and the Hyundai Accent WRC pairing will be
looking to consolidate their hold on the series in car number one.
Second placed Steve Perez and Claire Mole will be hoping they can get
the better of the competition in their Ford Focus WRC but the 2004
champion will be up against his successor in 2005 Paul Bird, who along
with co driver Andy Richardson, returns to the event in their Subaru
WRC after missing it last year. The Cumbrian pairing are third in the
Hankook GRC standings but recently won the Malcolm Wilson Rally by
beating Perez so expect some fireworks!
Irishman Stephen Harron and co driver Sean Mullally will be hoping to
get some points on the board after crashing out of Rallye Sunseeker in
their Subaru and so too will be another pair of former champions Roger
Duckworth and Mark Broomfield who also non-scored on the opening round
in their Subaru.
Vying for overall honours, although not registered for the Hankook GRC,
will be leaders of the County Saab Scottish Rally Championship, Gary
and Gordon Adam in their Subaru and they along with ex ANCRO
competitors Barry Johnson/Stewart Merry (Subaru) and Paul Benn/Richard
Cooke (Ford Focus) all of whom are expected to be in the mix.
Already the Mitsubishi Ralliart Evolution Challenge is shaping up to be
a classic and once again, battle will resume in Kielder Forest between
the leading runners. Ulstermen Phillip and Simon Morrow took the win in
Bournemouth ahead of former double British Champion Jonny Milner and co
driver Ian Windress but the crew to watch could well be Scottish
teenager David Bogie, who along with Manx co driver Rob Fagg will be
contesting his local event.
Another Scotsman in the shape of Jock Armstrong and co driver Kirsty
Riddick leads the Subaru Group N Trophy and there is healthy
competition amongst the 108 entries in the recently announced HPM
Motorsport 2WD Challenge as well as the exciting new VK1400 Challenge,
all of which will see competitors chasing such lucrative prizes as an
all expenses paid drive in Marcus Dodd’s Hyundai WRC and the chance to
go ice testing with Steve Perez’s team in Norway.
The action gets underway from Jedburgh town centre at 08.30 on Saturday
morning followed by around 70 miles of stages in the infamous Northern
reaches of Europe’s largest man made forest before cars return at
around 17.30 to acclaim the winners.
Further information is available from the Brick & Steel Border
Counties Rally official website on www.bordercountiesrally.co.uk and
further Information is available at the Hankook GRC Championship
Website: www.gravelrally.co.uk
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