Other rally
MSA GRC: Series Woodpecker Rally summary
PEREZ CLAIMS SECOND SUCCESSIVE VICTORY... Following on from victory last time out on the Pro-Art Signs Swansea Bay Rally, former champion Steve Perez (Chesterfield) and co-driver Paul Spooner (Raglan) stormed to a dominant victory on the ...
Published: Oct 2, 2009, 4:18 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
PEREZ CLAIMS SECOND SUCCESSIVE VICTORY...
Following on from victory last time out on the Pro-Art Signs Swansea Bay Rally, former champion Steve Perez (Chesterfield) and co-driver Paul Spooner (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 today.
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.
-credit: msa grc
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Changes to Toyota Dealer 400 route
Next article IRC: Interwetten Racing end of stage 12 summary
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Marcus Gronholm
WRC legend Gronholm crashes out of rally return
Other rally
Other rally
WRC legend Gronholm crashes out of rally return
The Gronholm advice that helped Hirvonen take on Loeb
WRC
WRC
The Gronholm advice that helped Hirvonen take on Loeb
Gronholm to compete in RallyX Nordic's legends class
Rallycross
Rallycross
Gronholm to compete in RallyX Nordic's legends class
Latest news
Ryan Preece on RFK nearly lapping the pack: "You'll never see that again"
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Talladega II
11 min
Ryan Preece on RFK nearly lapping the pack: "You'll never see that again"
George Russell confused by lack of pace at F1 US GP despite upgraded W17
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
21 min
George Russell confused by lack of pace at F1 US GP despite upgraded W17
Complete NASCAR Cup points standings after 2026 Talladega II
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Talladega II
1 h
Complete NASCAR Cup points standings after 2026 Talladega II
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe