Now struggling to keep his temperature gauge out of the red, Barry slid off the road and damaged his Lancer too badly to continue, the outcome of which saw Cathcart come through to claim second place ahead of Cronin.
The final stage also saw the demise of Greer, good luck continuing to evade him when his car's throttle stuck open. Stopping to see if he could fix the problem, he finally managed to get the engine to rev at constant and more manageable 3000rpm, but by the time he got to the end of SS7, he found he had exceeded his maximum lateness.
But even after the last stage the drama continued, as reports came in that Bogie's car was seen stopped at the side of the road with steam coming out of the engine. However, by topping up the radiator the young Scot was able to nurse his car back to Builth Wells to record his second Evolution Challenge victory of the season.
“What a rally!” said Bogie. “After winning the first round and then suffering disappointing results in rounds two and three, I'm chuffed to bits to finish in first place again. However, for a moment I didn't think I was going to do it when the car overheated on the drive back to the finish. But we made it and today's result has made all the difference to my championship hopes.”
Behind the leading trio, Elsmore was satisfied with fourth place, as was Sparks with fifth, whereas Johnston's day got even more frustrating when he found he had to stop to change a puncture on the final stage.
Unfortunately, after all of his and his team's hard work, Sigurdarson's rally came to an end after stage five, when the cross-shaft in his car's transmission fractured. Philosophically, the Icelandic Rally Champion said afterwards that he had achieved the result he was looking for by getting his car to the event and not putting any dents in it this time around!
The outcome of the Severn Valley National Rally sees the chase for the Evolution Challenge title hotting up, with the top four drivers separated by just one point, Barry and Cathcart on 28 and Bogie and Elsmore on 27.
The battle now resumes on July 19, when competitors return to Wales for round five, the Swansea Bay Rally.
