Bulldog Rally
By Sean Moriarty
Saturday’s Bulldog Rally was perhaps the most significant event in Marcus Dodd’s 20-year rallying career.
The Dorset driver and his Brighton-based co-driver Andrew Bargery recorded a clear win on the Oswestry based event, leading from the opening test. More importantly, the win gave the Hyundai Accent WRC driver the Pirelli MSA Gravel Rally Championship for the second year in succession. Dodd won the old National title twice, giving him a record four ANCRO championship wins.
In the absence of chief title rival Jon Ingram, because of his wife’s injuries sustained in a horse-riding accident last month, Dodd knew he had to win the rally to lift the title.
But nothing is simple in rallying and when the newly-built engine of the Poole businessman’s Hyundai expired on Thursday night it looked as if his title bid was over.
Dodd called upon his friend Peter Egerton, who is also a customer of his HPM Motorsport concern, and borrowed his almost identical Accent on the eve of the event.
“It could be a good omen,” said Dodd before the start, “Any rally where I have a lot of problems leading up to it tends to go well.” The 37-year-old’s prediction was spot on. He took control of the rally on the opening 8.91-mile Dyfnant test and held his nerve through the remaining five stages to record victory.
"It could be a good omen" Dodd
“I was very nervous going into the last stage because I held a 40- second lead and this was the same margin I had going into the last one on the Trackrod last month when my engine blew up,” added Dodd, “I was hoping history wouldn’t repeat itself.” Fittingly, it was the Ford Focus WRC05 of former champion Steve Perez and Paul Spooner who were best placed should Dodd falter on the last stage. The Chesterfield pairing inherited the Trackrod win after Dodd’s engine woes but they had to settle for second this time round. Perez rued a poor tyre choice in the earlier tests and once he opted for a more open compound in the afternoon he worked his way up from fourth after the first stage to second at the finish.“The stages were a lot muddier than I thought they would be,” said Perez. “The open tyres cleared the mud but lost too much time earlier in the day”
Roger Duckworth and Mark Broomfield were in the early running for a podium position. The Subaru Impreza WRC crew set fastest time on the second stage, the 13.07-mile Wolfone, named after the radio call sign of Wolverhampton and South Staffordshire Car Club member Ray Lloyd who died last year.
Their run was short lived as they suffered a puncture on stage three, Big Ray [another reference to Lloyd], the longest stage in the rally at 15.69 miles. “We decided to stop and change it as there was still ten miles to go,” explained Broomfield after they dropped to 15th. They later recovered to 11th.
The similar machine of Julian Reynolds and Patrick Walsh slotted into third place but they were plagued by an engine- misfire that was eventually traced to faulty spark plugs. Still, the South Wales driver did well to keep his ageing 1999 specification Impreza in touch with the more modern equipment in front of him, securing third in the final gravel championship standings in the process.
Mark Higgins was out for another run in the Bill Gwynne Motorsport MG S2000 Sport. The Manxman had Killarney’s Paul Nagle on the notes for the first time but they slid wide on an approach to a hairpin on stage one and lost ten minutes waiting for spectators to extract them. They set an impressive string of top three times later in day on their way to 21st overall.
The event was also the final round of the Mitsubishi Ralliart Evolution challenge and the Dumfries crew of David Bogie and Kevin Rae knew that a top five result in the category would secure them the title and a works drive in a Lancer E10 on Wales Rally GB in December.
However, four other crews had a chance of taking the coveted title if Bogie faltered and this prompted Keith Cronin and Greg Shinnors into an early charge. The Cork youngster impressed with his third overall on the Trackrod and looked set to repeat the performance in Mid-Wales. He was just six seconds off Dodd on the opening test and slotted into a solid second overall after two stages. But it all went wrong on stage three when he got caught out by a right-hander that tightened suddenly and his Lancer ran wide, caught the undergrowth and flipped slowly onto its roof and out of the rally.
A three way battle developed between Nik Elsmore/Craig Drew, Daniel Barry/Martin Brady and Neil McCance/ Graham Hopewell, while Bogie elected to drive conservatively to ensure the prize drive. He finished tenth overall and fifth in the Challenge, 49 seconds behind Jonny Greer and Dai Roberts,
Elsmore held on to record fourth overall and his first category win since the 2004 Swansea Bay Rally It also meant he ended the year tied with Bogie on points, but missed out on the title on a tie-break due to Bogie’s three victories this season.
Barry was out in a hired Lancer E9 because his own car is still being rebuilt following his Trackrod Rally smash. The 23- year old was struggling to put the demons of Yorkshire to rest and it was not until the final tests that he set times that he was happy with. Nevertheless his fifth overall and second of the Evo Challenge runners ensured him the junior title while co-driver Brady topped the overall Evo Challenge co-drivers’ points.
McCance kept Barry within his sight but admitted he could not find that extra little bit of pace to pass his rival. Less than three seconds separated them at the finish of the event.
Stephen Petch and Michael Wilkinson had to contend with a faulty hydraulic pump that controls the rear differential in the Accent WRC on their way to seventh. The Mitsubishi Lancer team of Charlie Payne and Jamie Edwards were less than 11 seconds behind after they changed the car’s rear wheel bearings at the first service halt at Dolgellau.
Class rounded-up
Media guru Tony Jardine and his co-driver, Evening Standard journalist David Smith, dominated Class N3 in their Ford Fiesta ST150. They finished nearly a minute clear of the similar car of father-and-son team Kit and Tim Leigh.
Citroen C2-R2 pairing Andrew Hockridge and Rich Mills, using the event to get some Welsh forest mileage ahead of an appearance on Wales Rally GB in December, were clear winners of Class A6. Andrew Coley and Dan Pearce were second in the category but did enough to clinch the gravel championship class title after rivals Rod Bennett and Harry Richardson's Fiat Punto broke a front driveshaft on stage three.
Steve Perez and Charlie Payne were the top runners in Class A8 (see main report), while Irish crew Martin Cairns and Andrew Purcell marked their first visit to the Bulldog Rally with third in class and 18th overall in their ex-Nigel Hicklin Subaru Impreza.
Isle of Man visitors Connor Corkhill and Howard Allison were the highest placed crew in the historic section and were the only starters in Class H3 on their way to 27th overall. Class H2 winners Andrew Siddall and Colin Thompson finished one place behind but were disgusted that a cam follower in the engine of the their Ford Escort Mk1 broke for the third rally in succession.