by Geoff Mayes


On a day when North Wales threw everything at the gathered competitors, from bright sunshine to heavy winds, torrential rain and even hail, Norwegian wonder kid Andreas Mikkelsen once again showed no mercy as he put in a sublime performance on Saturday's Bulldog Rally, the final round of the 2006 ANCRO Rally Championship, whilst Craig Middleton did enough to take his first major title.

Winning five of the six stages Mikkelsen was never troubled despite the rally attracting some tough competition. With the ANCRO Gravel Rally Championship going to the wire both Welshman Craig Middleton and Subaru World Rally Car pilot Roger Duckworth were aiming to push hard. Also rejoining the fray after skipping the last few rounds was former champion Steve Perez in his Ford Focus WRC03. At the wheel of a slightly older spec Focus was Jon Ingram, whilst the fans favourite Andy Burton was entered in his unique Peugeot Cosworth, ensuring no one would have an easy day.

Mikkelsen immediately stamped his authority on the opening stage, blitzing through the 8 mile Dyfnant 3 seconds faster than anyone else. Second quickest was Middleton, eager to pull out an advantage over his championship rival Roger Duckworth. Duckworth was fourth quickest, sandwiched between a slightly rusty Steve Perez and a cautious Andy Burton, who had spent the previous week rebuilding his engine.

The next stage, Gartheiniog, was the longest of the rally, and Mikkelsen was a second a mile faster than anyone else through the very slippery 14 mile stage. Once more Craig Middleton was best of the rest, 4 seconds quicker than Perez but more importantly 15 seconds faster than Duckworth who was struggling slightly in the treacherous conditions.

Returning to first service Middleton was happy to be second considering the conditions but knew that he could not afford to relax.

"The stages are really slippery and Roger is less than 30 seconds behind us," said the Norwegian. "One spin and he'll be past us."

Perez was third and beginning to get into the rhythm whilst a quick time for Jon Ingram on the long run through Gatheiniog had seen him move up to fifth overall.

Two stunning times for BRC regular Julian Reynolds saw him leading Group N, but Wyn Humphries, also in a Subaru Impreza, was only 4 seconds behind him. A puncture on Stage 2 had cost Burton a lot of time and the Peugeot Cosworth was languishing outside the top ten.

Burton pushed hard on stage 3, but so did those ahead with Middleton, Perez and Ingram separated by a handful of seconds - however out front once again it was Mikkelsen on a seemingly unstoppable march to yet another victory. A slow time for Reynolds saw Humphries move to within 0.4 of a second of the class lead.