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Perez hammers in another gravel win on Woodpecker
publication date: Sep 7, 2009
 | | | Following on from victory last time out on the
Pro-Art Signs Swansea Bay Rally, former champion Steve Perez from
Chesterfield and co-driver Paul Spooner of Raglan stormed to a dominant
victory on the penultimate round of the 2009 Pirelli MSA Gravel Rally
Championship by winning every stage of the Sixty & Worcestershire
National Rally.
As part of the Ludlow-based Woodpecker Rally, which was making a
welcome debut in the ANCRO-organised series, the Ford Focus WRC crew
came home well ahead of their nearest rivals Nik Elsmore (Coleford) and
co driver Craig Drew (Bream) after a dominant display in and around the
famous Welsh borders.
From the very first stage Perez set the pace in the ex Marcus Gronholm
Kick Energy-backed car, stopping the clock three seconds ahead of his
nearest rivals and from then on, he built on his lead to win by a
mammoth two minutes and eight seconds.
Although the title had already been decided with Marcus Dodd (Poole)
and Andrew Bargery (Hove) claiming a third successive crown in their
Hyundai Accent WRC in Swansea, Perez's victory moved him and Spooner
into a comfortable second place in the standings and also clinched him
two class awards for good measure.
With no round of the Mitsubishi Ralliart Evo Challenge on the event,
two crews failed to add to their points tallies, namely Daniel Barry
(Enniskerry)/Martin Brady (Nevan) and Simon Hughes (Abergele)/Craig
Parry (Oswestry) but with their best result of the season, Elsmore and
Drew moved into joint fourth place going into the final round of the
series with the Trackrod Rally in Yorkshire in three weeks time.
After two non-finishes, Alan Cookson (Saltash) and Julian Wilkinson
(Wandsworth) claimed their first ANCRO podium finish of the season in
what is probably their swansong event in their venerable Subaru WRC
nicknamed 'Daisy' and in doing so, climbed to seventh overall in the
standings and with it, runner-up spot in Class 9.
The Tonypandy pairing of Trev Baynham and Anthony Bailey were hoping
for a third maximum score in Class 8 in their Ford Escort and with it
an unassailable lead in the Mintex Two Wheel Drive Challenge but their
day ended on the final stage with a broken driveshaft on their Ford
Escort, the same fate which also befell Trevor Martin (Medstead) and
Ray Cleghorn (Chalfont St Peter) who retired their Subaru Impreza at
first service.
Former ANCRO champions Roger Duckworth and Mark Broomfield (Subaru WRC)
were in contention when they experienced engine management system
problems, which caused the engine to cut out continuously, and as a
result they dropped nearly eleven minutes to the leaders to eventually
finish in eighth overall.
For full results go to
www.woodpecker-rally.co.uk
© Image courtesy of Mark Simpson
www.cmwi.net
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