Round 5 Swansea Bay National Rally, Saturday 19 July 2008

Aberdeen driver Dave Weston claimed the overall victory on the Swansea Bay National Rally as Marcus Dodd took his second win of the season in the 2008 Pirelli MSA Gravel Rally Championship.

Dodd and co-driver Andrew Bargery in the Hyundai Accent WRC finished ahead of championship leaders Jon Ingram and Ian Allsop who finished third overall and took second in the series in their Subaru Impreza WRC. Ingram still leads the title chase but with Dodd's victory, and the two dropped scores to be taken into account, it is still all to play for.

"I'm pleased with the win but it's a shame someone didn't finish between Jon and I to keep the championship more open," Dodd said. "We had a push on stage five but we were a bit sensible on the last one."

Dodd and Bargery took charge at the top of the championship leaderboard from Ingram/Allsop on stage four after Ingram drove through the test in road mode and lost a bit of time. Dodd had his fair share of problems too as a brake seal went on stage three, but it cost him little time.

Julian Reynolds and Patrick Walsh finished fifth in their Impreza WRC after a relatively trouble-free run. Scottish crew David Bogie and Kevin Rae followed in sixth and took the honours in Group N and the Mitsubishi Evo Challenge in their Mitsubishi Evo9. Richard Cathcart and Martin Brady were second in Group N and the Evo Challenge, just 3.2 seconds behind Bogie/Rae, as they were seventh overall, taking sixth place in the Gravel Championship in their Evo9 and made it to the finish despite an overshoot on stage two and a tyre problem on stage four.

The Pirelli MSA Gravel Rally Championship returns for round six, the Trackrod National Rally on Saturday 27 September.

Result1, DaveWeston/Aled Davies - Ford Focus WRC -1:00:21.0s2, Marcus Dodd/AndrewBargery - Hyundai Accent WRC -1:00:41.03, Jon Ingram/Ian Allsop - SubaruS11 WRC- 1:01:05.34, Steve Perez/Stephen McAuley - Ford Focus WRC-1:01:14.55, Julian Reynolds/Patrick Walsh - Subaru Impreza WRC-1:01:33.56, David Bogie/Kevin Rae - Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9-1:01:44.87, Richard Cathcart/Martin Brady - Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9-1:01:48.08, Damian Cole/Cliff Simmons - Hyundai Accent WRC-1:02:33.19, Neil McCance/Graham Hopewell - Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9-1:03:05.910, Euan Thorburn/Claire Mole - Subaru Impreza-1:03:50.4