Bulldog International Rally 2009 results: Keith Cronin pips Mark Higgins to claim win

After a titanic battle, the Bulldog International Rally of North Wales has been won by Irishmen Keith Cronin and Greg Shinnors in their Mitsubishi Evo 9 as they finished a narrow nine seconds ahead of former champion Mark Higgins and co-driver Bryan Thomas in their Subaru Impreza N11 on the 82-mile Bala-based event

Cronin pushed Higgins throughout the entire day in a close battle, with Higgins having a three second advantage heading into the sixth and final test after leading from the outset. But Higgins encountered a problem in the final stage when they hit a pothole and damaged the suspension, which allowed Cronin to push ahead to claim his first ever victory in the UK forests and maximum points in round one of the BRC on their debut in the series.

The victory puts Cronin and Shinnors in the lead of the British Rally Championship (BRC) and the driver, who crashed out of the event in 2008, said: “It’s not quite sunk in yet but I couldn’t ask for more really at the start of the season. We’ve never had any luck much over in the UK until today, but luck was on our side. On the penultimate stage we bent the back wheel and it was hard to drive but we made it.”

Welshman Stuart Jones and co-driver Andy Bull were third in their Mitsubishi and made it home despite having a roll on stage three, in which they only sustained superficial damage, as well as a puncture on stage one. Fourth place went to Adam Gould and Sebastian Marshall in their Subaru Impreza followed by the Scottish pair of David Bogie and Kevin Rae in their Mitsubishi and fellow Scotsmen Dave Weston Jnr and Neil Shanks in their Impreza.

There were three winners in the Bulldog Historic Rally, the opening round of the Dunlop/Gambia 2009 British Historic Rally Championship.

Nick Elliot and Dave Price took the overall victory in their Mk2 Ford Escort and claimed the win in Category D. They set the pace over three of the four stages on the 50-mile event. Category C was won by former British champion David Higgins and Ieuan Thomas in their Ford Escort, who also finished fifth overall. The crew had an off on one stage and lost a bit of time. Higgins also battled on despite putting a metal rod through his hand at work midweek and was driving with more or less one handed. Son and father crew, Jonathan and Graham Gale, won Category B in their Sunbeam Tiger and were 15th overall.

The Bulldog Challenge followed the International Rally over a shorter route and was won by Welsh crew Matt Edwards and Andy Murphy who also took the honours in the Kick Energy Fiesta SportTrophy in their Ford Fiesta ST. They finished a comfortable two and three quarter minutes ahead of the Fiesta of Luke Francis and Jon Madoc-Jones.

The fourth and final event on the oversubscribed rally was the Bulldog Clubman Rally, which featured many local club rally drivers. Michael O’Brien and Ian Allsop took the honours in their Ford Focus WRC. They finished over a minute eight seconds ahead of the Ford Escort Cosworth of Ian Joel and Graeme Wood.

The event was a credit to the organisers, who turned it around into an International status event to be included in the BRC with just five months from the last time it was run.

It was Clerk of the Course Kevin Witton’s first time in charge on an International event and he commented: “It’s gone really well and it’s been an exciting rally with the close battle for the win. I’d like to thank all the marshals, organising committee, officials and competitors for making it a good day and our sponsors Bulldog.”
For full results visit www.bulldog-rally.co.uk

Bulldog International Rally Results:
1. Keith Cronin/Greg Shinnors Mitsubishi 1:20:59.7
2. Mark Higgins/Bryan Thomas Subaru 1:21.08.7
3. Stuart Jones/Andy Bull Mitsubishi 1:23:20.3
4. Adam Gould/Sebastian Marshall Subaru 1:24:09.9
5. David Bogie/Kevin Rae Mitsubishi 1:24:30.6

Press Release