Carlisle racecourse has witnessed many a grandstand finish in its time but little was the impressive base of the Pirelli Tour of Cumbria expecting one on round three of the 2009 Pirelli MSA Gravel Rally Championship, but that's exactly what happened as just ten seconds separated the leading three drivers.

Defending ANCRO Champion Marcus Dodd and co driver Andrew Bargery (Hyundai Accent WRC) edged out local aces Paul Bird and Ian Windress (Ford Focus WRC) as well as another ex-champion Steve Perez with his co driver Paul Spooner but that didn't tell the dramatic story of the rally as Dodd suffered throughout the event with a gearbox problem and the erstwhile leader Bird lost nearly a minute when he overshot a chicane on the opening loop. Try as he might, despite setting fastest time on all stages bar one, Bird couldn't quite reel Dodd in and at the end fell just 4.6 seconds short of victory.

Perez for his part, toiled hard in the unseasonably warm and dusty conditions for his third place in his Ford Focus WRC and gained more important points, but had to concede defeat on this occasion to his title rivals in the dauntingly fast tracks of Kielder Forest.

"We had a problem with the gearbox from the very first stage and struggled with it all day as we had no actuator (paddle shift). We backed off on the long stages to try and save the tyres and then we noticed an oil leak on the final stage which luckily turned out to be the dipstick. I'm delighted with the victory and with a second successive ANCRO win especially with the likes of Paul and Steve behind me" said Dodd.

Behind the leading trio, the battle for Group N honours in the Mitsubishi Ralliart Evo Challenge intensified with Welshman Simon Hughes getting the better of flu-ridden Irishman Daniel Barry and England's Nik Elsmore meaning at the head of the series, Barry's lead was cut to just two points going into the next round on the Isle of Man, but with drivers still having to drop scores by the end of the Championship the battle is still wide open.

Owen Murphy came home in seventh place ahead of top Mintex Two-Wheel Drive competitor Steve Bannister (Ford Escort Mk II) with Alan Cookson claming eleventh place points overall after getting stuck in a ditch in his Subaru WRC. The Cornwall driver saw the Army come to his rescue when a competitor in the Land Rover Challenge stopped to tow him out.

The next round of the championship sees the Manx Telecom Rally take place on the Isle of Man on 8th/9th May and will see all the leading crews battle it out on the only tarmac event of the season.

Results
1, Marcus Dodd/Andrew Bargery - Hyundai Accent WRC - 0:49:45.2
2, Paul Bird/Ian Windress - Ford Focus WRC07 - 0:49:49.8
3, Steve Perez/Paul Spooner - Ford Focus WRC07 - 0:49:55.5
4, Simon Hughes/Craig Parry - Mitsubishi Lancer Evo9 - 0:51:07.8
5, Daniel Barry/Martin Brady - Mitsubishi Lancer - 0:51:44.7
6, Nik Elsmore/Craig Drew - Mitsubishi Evo9 - 0:52:06.4
7, Owen Murphy/Dai Roberts - Mitsubishi Lancer Evo9  0:53:32.7
8, Steve Bannister/Louise Sutherland - Ford Escort II - 0:56:00.7
9, Jeff McNeil/Fred Roberts - Subaru Impreza - 0:56:25.7
10, Harry Dodd/Richard Skinner - Hyundai Accent WRC - 0:56:41.5

Championship Positions (Provisional)
1, Daniel Barry - 59pts
2, Simon Hughes - 57pts
3, Marcus Dodd - 51pts
4, Nik Elsmore - 49pts
5, Owen Murphy - 47pts
6, Alan Cookson - 45pts
7, Alan Carmichael - 43pts
=, Steve Perez - 43pts
=, Paul Bird - 43pts
10, Sean Devine - 25pts