|
Perez Blasts To Border Counties Victory |
|
|
|
|
Sunday, 25 March 2007 |
WESTON TAKES SRC WIN AND MORROW DOMINATES GROUP N
After a dramatic day of action in the forests of the Borders Region, it was the Ford Focus WRC of former ANCRO champion driver Steve Perez and local Berwickshire co-driver Claire Mole who emerged victorious to win the Brick & Steel Border Counties Rally.
In bright sunshine opposed to last year’s snow and ice, the Chesterfield man saw off a concerted challenge from the usual 2007 Hankook MSA Gravel Rally Championship contenders to take the win by 46 seconds and in doing so took the lead of the series following his runner up placing on the previous round in Bournemouth.
But the VK Vodka Kick-backed crew had to work hard for their success as
they traded early blows with the Hyundai Accent of Marcus Dodd/Andrew
Bargery who eventually suffered a low speed roll into an infamous
Kielder ditch to put them out whilst leading on SS6.
Previous rally winners Barry Johnson/Stewart Merry were first to go out
when their Subaru suffered transmission problems on the way to SS1 and
other fancied runners, including 2005 ANCRO Champion Paul Bird and
co-driver Andy Richardson (Subaru) as well as double British Champion
Jonny Milner, with co-driver Ian Windress (Mitsubishi), had problems on
the opening test also.
Perez and Dodd forged ahead and held a comfortable cushion before
Dodd’s exit allowing Perez to control the event as behind a battle was
raging and Bird was clawing back time on Roger Duckworth and stand in
co-driver Ian Allsop (Subaru). The lead may have been sorted but the
battle behind wasn’t but despite the valiant efforts of the organisers
from Whickham and District Motor Club and Hawick and Border Car Club,
the last stage (SS8) was cancelled due to lack of time which meant
Duckworth – who survived a puncture on road section to the finish -
cemented runner up spot with Bird claiming his twentieth consecutive
rally finish in third.
Leading County Saab MSA Scottish Championship contenders were
Aberdeen’s Dave Weston and co-driver Neil Shanks (Ford Focus WRC), who
only registered for the ANCRO and Scottish Championships on the morning
of the rally, and they led home the Subaru WRC of Dollar pairing Gary
and Gordon Adam with Jimmy Girvan from North Kessock and co-driver Mick
Ramsay third.
Less than a second separated the top three in the Mitsubishi Ralliart
Evo Challenge with Ulster brothers Phillip and Simon Morrow getting the
win by the smallest margin possible – one tenth of a second! Second was
Seb Ling/Aled Rees with Julian Reyonolds/Patrick Walsh third,
three-quarters of a second further back after nearly an hour of
competition. Despite a misfire, Scottish crew Jock Armstrong and Kirsty
Riddick (Castle Douglas) took their Subaru to a second successive win
in the Subaru Group N Trophy.
In the six-stage National B event, it was Gary Adam who took victory by
nearly a minute over the DAM 4100 of Andy Horne and Jim Howie with
Steven Clark and Lee Kerr bringing their Mitsubishi Evo 4 home in third
place.
The event was delayed three times over the course of the seven stages
due to accidents, two of them involving SRC regulars. Duns' Alistair
Thorburn collided with a tree in his Subaru Impreza on SS1, whereas the
Cumbrian crew of Paul Benn and Richard Cooke had a big off on SS6 in
their Ford Focus WRC. Although Thorburn was airlifted to hospital
suffering from concussion and Cooke was treated for a broken arm, both
crews escaped without serious injury.
Results and Championship positions are available from www.gravelrally.co.uk
|
