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Wednesday, 17 June 2009 |
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Saturday 13th June 2009 saw the running of the Golden Jubilee Dukeries Rally based in & around the sherwood forest of Nottinghamshire. The 50th consecutive running of the event was a round of the Silverstone Tyres BTRDA Rally Series & associated championships which boasted an ever impressive entry.
Stage 1 saw the Impreza WRC of Nicholls / Broom take the honours with some 19 cars behind them within 10 seconds. The action was fast & furious as the sun beemed down over the dusty forets tracks.
Nicholls charge was to end soon after though the retirement on the next competitive section. It was all close at the top of the leader board until SS4 when Burton / Rogerson (Peugeot Cosworth), Hunter / Marchbank (Focus WRC) & O'Brien / Spooner (Focus WRC) all retiring.
The opportunity was their for Steve Perez / Sam Collis (Focus WRC) to dominate the afternoon sections of which he duelly did & eventually took the win from Hyundia Accent WRC of Damien Cole / Tim Sturla by some 21 seconds. Charlie Payne / Craig Thorley (Mitsubishi Lancer WRC) hard driving saw them come home an excellent 3rd a further 6 seconds adrift of Cole.
The win was Perez's second on his local event & puts him within striking distance of the men that have won the event on 3 occasions each (Roger Clark 1962,1972,1977, Brian Bell 1992,1999,2002 & Andy Burton 1995,1996,2003)
2009 Rainworth Skoda 50th Dukeries Rally Results
1, Steve Perez/Sam Collis - Ford Focus WRC - 0:40:40
2, Damian Cole/Tim Sturla - Hyundai Accent WRC - 0:41:01
3, Charlie Payne/Craig Thorley - Mitsubishi Lancer WRC S2 - 0:41:07
4, David Wright/Michael Wilkinson - Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 - 0:41:11
5, John Lloyd/Adrian Cavenagh - Ford Focus - 0:41:40
6, Andrew Barnes/Guy Simmons - Ford Focus - 0:41:43
Report by James Redman
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