MSA National Gravel Rally Championship ace Marcus Dodd left Mid Wales a happy man on Saturday evening after scoring maximum points on the Severn Valley National Rally. Dodd overcame late brake problems to fend off the challenge of arch rival Steve Perez by just 8.3 seconds after a hot and dusty event near to the rally base of Builth Wells.
Prior to the event Dodd had warmed up for the challenge by winning the Red Dragon Rally. Boosted by that performance, the Flitewise.com, Sunseeker Powerboats, Pirelli Tyres and Sunoco Fuels backed driver from Poole in Dorset was confident he could claim the maximum points haul on stages that suit him and the HPM Motorsport run Hyundai Accent WRC4 well.
Together with Hove based Manxman Andrew Bargery, the pair were keen to make a good start on an event they last won in 2005. True to form, Marcus started well. The first stage in Crychan forest would see the non championship registered Andrew Burton set the overall pace in his unique Peugeot-Cosworth hybrid. Hot on his heels was Marcus with Steve Perez slotting into third spot.
The result of that first stage would set the tone for the remainder of the event with the three drivers in question never more than a couple of seconds apart on every stage. Heading into the final stage of the rally, Dodd and Burton were separated by just 0.8 of a second, with Perez 16 seconds further back in third. Rally leader Dodd was keen to go for the overall win, but brake problems manifested themselves early in the long final test in Crychan, forcing Dodd to back off to preserve his maximum points scoring position.
Although disappointed not to have won the event after a day long battle, Marcus was nevertheless delighted to have taken another maximum points score this year:
“Andrew drove well and it was a very close finish at the end. We were more interested in Steve’s (Perez) progress through the day and I’m glad that we were able to keep ahead of him until the end. It is a shame that we had some brake problems right at the end of the day as the Pirelli tyres had been working extremely well in the dry and dusty conditions. The stages were in excellent shape and it really was a very challenging and competitive event. Steve is 17 points ahead of us in the championship now, so the most important thing for us to concentrate on from here on in is keeping ahead of him and scoring as many points as possible. It now looks like being a two horse race between us and I’m sure we are both equally as keen to win so I’m sure it will be a very good battle to the year end.”
The second car in the HPM Motorsport team for the weekend was that of Harry Dodd and Richard Skinner. Driving the identical Hyundai Accent WRC4, Dodd senior and his fellow Manx co-driver were 24th overall after the opening stage of the rally. Unfortunately that good work was to come to an end on the next test when they slipped off the road in the Cefn stage and were unable to rejoin the action.
A short mid season break awaits the crews ahead of the next round of the MSA National Gravel Rally Championship. Marcus and the team will travel to South Wales for the Swansea Bay Rally on July 21st. Marcus and Andrew will look to repeat their victory from last year where they successfully fended off the charge from Norwegian star Andreas Mikkelsen to win by just three seconds.
