by Geoff Mayes


Marcus Dodd emerged as the winner of one of the toughest rounds of the 2006 ANCRO Gravel Rally Championship as he took a finely judged victory on the Swansea Bay Rally in South Wales at the weekend.

As was the case on the recent Severn Valley Rally dust was the talking point but with Julian Reynolds, last year's winner, seeded at car #1 this meant none of the championship contenders would have the advantage of clean air.

Any concerns about Reynolds' Production class Subaru Impreza holding people up were immediately dispelled when he stopped the clocks an incredible 14 seconds quicker than anyone else through the opening 16 miles of Resolven. Roger Duckworth, Marcus Dodd and Craig Middleton were next, the three of them separated by less than 2 seconds.

Intercom failure had hampered Dodd slightly, whilst Middleton had had a brief off after being unsighted by the dust.

Languishing down in eighth was Norwegian hotshot Andreas Mikkelsen. Mikkelsen, debuting his new gravel spec Ford Focus WRC05, lost a load of time after a costly overshoot.

Championship contender Barry Johnson was already out, terminal gearbox problems before the event had even begun, whilst numerous cars were off in the scenery, either as a result of the dust or just trying too hard too quickly.

Stage 2, the first running of Walters Arena, went to Mikkelsen, who had gone 5 seconds quicker than Middleton with Dodd, Duckworth and Richard Gower all close behind.
So at first service Julian Reynolds still led, but with a dramatically reduced advantage. Dodd was second, 0.8 seconds up from Duckworth with Craig Middleton 0.6 seconds further back. Mikkelsen was up to fifth, but still lay some 37 seconds off the lead.

Mikkelsen went quickest over the next three stages including beating the bogie on Tyle, the last stage before second service. Dodd had been consistently third fastest throughout the morning and as cars returned to service Middleton now led Marcus Dodd's similar Hyundai Accent WRC by 4.8 seconds with Mikkelsen already up to third, a further 15 seconds further back.

Julian Reynolds had dropped to seventh as the more powerful World Rally Cars gradually overhauled him, but he was still comfortably ahead of the fight for second in Group N, now headed by fellow British Rally championship contender Stephen Petch Jr.