Aberdeen driver Dave Weston claimed the overall victory on Saturday's Swansea Bay National Rally as Marcus Dodd took his second win of the season in the 2008 Pirelli MSA Gravel Rally Championship.
Weston and co-driver Aled Davies led from the outset in their Ford Focus WRC and never looked back as they finished 20 seconds ahead of the leading gravel series crew Dodd and co-driver Andrew Bargery in the Hyundai Accent WRC.
Championship leaders Jon Ingram and Ian Allsop finished third overall and took second in the series in their Subaru Impreza WRC as Steve Perez and Stephen McAuley were fourth in their Focus 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 Evo 9.
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 Evo 9 and made it to the finish despite an overshoot on stage two and a tyre problem on stage four.
The Hyundai Accent WRC of Damian Cole and Cliff Simmons finished eighth with Neil McCance and Graham Hopewell ninth in their Evo 9 with the crew suffering with a puncture on stage five. Euan Thorburn and Claire Mole rounded up the top 10 in their Subaru Impreza.
![Marcus Dodd / Andrew Bargery. Hyundai Accent WRC. Swansea Bay Rally. July 19 2008. [Pic credit: www.cmwi.net.]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/470156.jpg)
