Brave effort by injured Nik (From Free Press Series)

Brave effort by injured Nik

Many competitors thought that with the weather conditions being as bad as they were, the Rallye Sunseeker should have been renamed the Rallye Snowseeker!

The conditions in the Bournemouth area last weekend were not good. Main roads were trouble-free, but the forest stages were icy and in some parts fresh snow had fallen to hide the slippery conditions underneath.

Leading entries approached the stages with caution and having cut up the gravel, later running crews were setting some fast times.

The event attracted a top entry of 130 cars to tackle 16 special stages.

Local interest was in Coleford's Nik Elsmore and Cliff Simmons in a Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 6. Tackling the Mitsubishi Lancer EVO challenge for the first time, they were one of 39 crews officially registered for the Challenge.

In spite of driving with a broken arm, Nik set fastest time on stage three. But, admitting to being in some pain, he finished the event 16th overall, 7th in class N4 and 5th in the EVO Challenge class.

Nik was a definite contender for the Man of the Rally award, if such an award existed. He had been second overall in Group N after stage 5, but was unable to attack the event as he would have liked due to the pain he was suffering.

By the next round - the Astra Stages - his arm should be healed, so he is hoping to improve his position.

Many of the pre-event favourites on the rally retired, with Marcus Dodd crashing out of the event having been the leader for some time. Andy Burton retired after clipping a tree stump and putting the Peugeot Cosworth on its side. The event was won by six tenths of a second by Roger Duckworth, from Craig Middleton.