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Gravel champions maintain their pace and position at the top
publication date: Jun 7, 2010
 | North Yorkshire pairing Jonny Milner and Ian Windress
made it two wins in a row after triumphing on the third round of the
2010 MSA Gravel Rally Championship, after seven stages of hot and
dusty action on some of Wales' finest forest stages.
Superb weather brought out the crowds and clouds of hanging dust on the tracks, making it difficult for following crews to keep up the pace set at the front.
| ©Image http://cmwi.net/
| | From the Builth Wells start of the Severn Valley National
Rally, former ANCRO champion Duckworth was fastest out of the blocks,
anxious to make amends for his indiscretion on the recent Pirelli Tour
of Cumbria when he crashed out in his Subaru Impreza WRC.
Milner,
from Driffield and co driver Windress from Northallerton, could only
manage third fastest through the opening stage in Cefn in their Toyota
Corolla WRC, pipped by both Duckworth and Ripon driver Charlie Payne and
York co driver Craig Thorley in the Focus WRC.
Milner then clawed
back the advantage on the second stage in Crychan as the following field
struggled with visibility in the hanging dust. Payne was second fastest
again but then undid all of his good work by spinning backwards into a
bank in the third test, Halfway, dislodging the rear bumper and ended
the stage with the offending item resting on a hot exhaust and on fire.
By
first service, Milner held a slender four second lead over Duckworth,
the two rivals having taken a pair of stage wins apiece, and during
service the main talking point was tyres as all crews reported excessive
wear in the hot conditions.
Bury driver Tom Naughton had
experienced a frightening off in the opening stage, crashing head first
into a tree and causing the stage to be halted. Fortunately both Tom and
co driver Horace Saville were unhurt but this allowed Wug Utting from
Gatwick and Tatsfield co driver Bob Stokoe a clear run and the pair
returned to service with a four second advantage over Alex Allingham
(Stalybridge) and Mark Glennerster (Wanborough) in their Subaru.
The
15 miles of Radnor comprised SS5 and saw Milner and Duckworth separated
by a mere 0.2 of a second as third fastest on the stage was Stephen
Petch (Hamsterley) and Bedale co driver John Richardson in their Hyundai
Accent WRC.
At the same time a rapid run from Allingham, coupled with
Utting being stuck behind a stricken Jamie Anderson (Ellistown) and Mark
Mason (Tyneside), saw the reigning BTRDA Production Class Champion
regain the Group N lead. This stage also saw the demise of Headley
driver Nigel Seabold and co driver Tim Barton from Epsom as the pair
rolled their brand new Subaru Impreza N2010 into retirement.
The
final two stages were re-runs of the first two of the day and saw
Duckworth and Milner resume their battle. Whilst Duckworth was 0.6 of a
second faster on the penultimate stage, Milner attacked hard through
Crychan to take seven seconds back from the Subaru driver and returned
to Builth Wells with a narrow victory margin of just 10.9 seconds to
record his second maximum score in a row.
"What a fantastic day!
Radnor was brilliant and in really good condition. Roger and I had a
cracking battle all day long and to come out on top is the best way to
end such an event" said Milner at the finish.
A frantic final stage
saw Charlie Payne finally come to grips with his Ford Focus WRC and he
did enough to move from fifth to third on the final stage, taking the
final podium position by seven seconds from Stephen Petch.
Just
behind the Proton of Tom Cave and Ieuan Thomas, Alex Allingham ensured
that he took his first ever MSA Gravel Rally Championship Production
Class victory with a pair of rapid times over the final two stages,
doing enough to take maximum points by a comfortable 42 seconds from Wug
Uttings similar Subaru Impreza.
Paul James (Wellington) and co
driver Derek Davies (Bishopton) took their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 to
eighth overall, one place ahead of the Hyundai Accent WRC of Peter
Egerton and Jamie Edwards whereas Tony Macwhirter and Steve Green in
their Mitsubishi edged out the unfortunate Jamie Anderson for the final
top ten placing.
The Viking Escort Challenge saw Chris Wigmore
(Bicester) and co driver Steve Lyons (Brackley) overcome a broken clutch
cable to go fastest over all seven stages, finishing 13th overall and
some three minutes ahead of Robert Cholmondeley (Barnt Green) and Dave
Evans (Leeds) in their similar Ford Escort MkII.
Retirements
included Trevor Martin/Ray Cleghorn (Subaru Impreza) with an oil leak as
SS3 claimed both Sara Williams/Dai Roberts (Subaru) and Kevin
Rowledge/Paul Whittaker (Mitsubishi) and Nigel Seabold/Tim Barton
(Subaru) stopped after SS5.
The championship stays in Wales for the
next round on 17 July, the Pro-Art Signs Swansea Bay Rally. |
| Severn Valley National Rally - Result (Provisional) | | 1, Jonny Milner/Ian Windress | | Toyota Corolla WRC 1:00:59.8 | 2, Roger Duckworth/Mark Broomfield
| | Subaru Impreza
1:01:10.7 | 3, Charlie Payne/Craig Thorley
| | Ford Focus WRC 06
1:02:44.3 | 4, Stephen Petch/John Richardson
| | Hyundai Accent WRC
1:02:45.7 | 5, Tom Cave/Ieuan
Thomas
| | Proton Satria Neo 1:02:50.1
| 6, Alex Allingham/Mark Glennerster
| | Subaru Impreza
1:03:57.9 | 7,
Wug Utting/Bob Stokoe
| | Subaru Impreza 1:04:40.1 | 8, Paul
James/Derek Davies
| | Mitsubishi Evo 9 1:06:44.2 | 9, Peter
Egerton/Jamie Edwards
| | Hyundai Accent WRC 1:07:19.9 | 10, Tony
MacWhirter/Steve Green
| | Mitsubishi Evo 7 1:07:48.2 |
| Championship Standings after Round 3 (Provisional) | | | 1, Jonny Milner - 68pts | | 6, Wug Utting - 21pts | | 2, Stephen Petch - 58pts | | 7, Marcus Dodd - 25pts
| | 3, Charlie Payne - 46pts | | 8, Paul James - 24pts
| | 4, Roger Duckworth - 43pts | | 9, Steve Perez - 22pts | | 5, Alex Allingham - 33pts | | 10, Kevin Rowledge - 21pts
=, Jamie Anderson - 21pts | | | | |
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