MAGIC MEEKE TAKES MAIDEN WIN

Posted: July 23, 2001 9:40 AM

Faulkner however took the runners up spot courtesy of the fastest first stage time. Champion’s consolation however, was to move into a three point lead in the Championship overall with Jennings in 2nd place, while Faulkner moves up to 3rd.

The third round of the Peugeot Super 106 cup saw the crews visit the Swansea Bay Festival National Rally for over 64 competitive miles through the forests of the Neath and Afan Vale area. The crews arrived only two weeks after the Rallye Charlemagne in northern France having converted their cars from asphalt to full gravel specification for the five-stage event.

Rhondda 1, the first stage of the event gave the crews little time to settle, a 17.01 miler and the longest stage of the event was certainly a true test.

Mike Faulkner/Alan Clark were fastest out of the blocks with a time of 19 minutes 21 seconds, six seconds ahead of Richard Sykes/Mark Andrews with Kris Meeke/Gordon Noble well placed in third a further four seconds down.

Ryan Champion/Cliff Simmons, Jennings/McGarrity and the Dunbabin brothers all had short visits into the undergrowth losing a few seconds apiece.

Trevor Martin retired near the start of Stage 1 with head gasket failure, Shaun Gallagher hit a rock and retired. Paul Jones went OTL although he carried on to complete all the stages of the event.

Stage 2 – Tower 1 – 14.66 miles saw a stunning time from Meeke of 15:24 ten seconds clear of Champion with Faulkner 3rd on 15:30. Meeke moved into the lead six seconds clear of Faulkner with Champion lying 3rd, Dunbabin 4th and Hughes completing the top five.

Chris Moore suffered a puncture and had to stop and change it dropping over five minutes.

The shorter Stage 3 Rheola at 4.73 miles saw Champion fastest with Meeke a mere two seconds behind and Faulkner a further second back.

Stage 4 Rhondda 2 at 14.52 miles was a partial re-run of Stage 1 and Champion had a big moment on a tight hairpin, seeing the car hang on two wheels after hitting the deep ruts. Meeke was again fastest setting a time of 16:02, despite him saying earlier that he was staying in the middle of the road to avoid punctures. The closely fought nature of the Championship was shown by the fact that the next three cars were split by a mere three seconds, Brew on 16:06,Galligan 16:07 and Faulkner 16:08.

Stage 4 continued with drama when Sykes rolled out, Barbadian born Mayers lost a rear wheel and the Dunbabins had a puncture dropping five minutes when they stopped to change it.

The 12.97 mile Stage 5 – Tower 2 finally saw Meeke come of age when he crossed the finish line to take a well deserved win. Having been in contention on both the previous rounds and suffered retirements, he was understandably delighted. “Mighty” was the comment.

Adrian McElvaney/Cian Curley won the Total Quartz 9000 prize following their wonderful spirit towards their fellow competitors, letting several start ahead of them to avoid hindering them, after they themselves had fallen out of contention with a myriad of problems.

Rory Galligan said; “It’s too rough for a little car like this” as he took his car, still showing signs of the accident in France, home to 4th place for some valuable Championship points.

Manxman Michael Brew struggled with gears but took a relieved 5th.
Garry Jennings took 6th place and the Top Junior and Rookie awards again, on this, his first experience of a Welsh Forest.

Martin Evans took the Motorsport News Award for the Best Improvement on Seeding whilst Jazz Nandhra now tops the Hella Improved table after the first three events. So 22 year old Kris Meeke from Dungannon accompanied by Gordon Noble had “big smiles all round, looking forward to the next round already” as they sprayed the Champagne on their Swansea Bay Festival victory.

Results

 1 Kris Meeke 		Gordon Noble 		1:10:21
 2 Michael Faulkner 	Alan Clark 	 	1:10:35
 3 Ryan Champion 	Cliff Simmons 	 	1:10:35
 4 Rory Galligan 	Billy McCullins  	1:10:54
 5 Michael Brew 	Breeshey Christian  	1:11:22
 6 Garry Jennings 	Martin McGarrity  	1:11:44
 7 Simon Hughes 	Phil Pugh 	 	1:12:28
 8 Jaz Nandhra 		Tim Currie 	 	1:14:15
 9 Robert Gough 	Carl Williamson  	1:14:29
10 Justin Lawson 	Paul Hargreaves  	1:15:04
11 Martin Evans 	Kevin Devine 		1:15:25
12 Adrian McElvaney 	Cian Curley 	 	1:16:36
13 Chris Moore 		Andrew Dugdale 	 	1:16:38
14 Daniel Dunbabin 	Clive Dunbabin 	 	1:16:56
15 Andrew Hobbs 	James How 		1:17:05
16 Barry Mayers 	Richard Edwards  	1:20:06
17 Geno Cook 		Ieuan Thomas 		1:27:41