Burnham-On-Sea’s Neil Dashfield and Steve Winter, pictured above, narrowly missed out on victory at Saturday’s 2006 Somerset Stages Rally in Minehead.
The turbo-charged duo in their Subaru Impreza were narrowly pipped to the top spot on the podium by Hereford team Andrew Burton and Shelley Rogerson who completed the event in 41 minutes and 40 seconds.
Speaking to Burnham-On-Sea.com after the race, Steve said: “We made a few mistakes and lost valuable seconds as a result, but we’re still very happy to have come second. It’s been a good day.”
The pair had some consolation when they broke their own time record during the day. “We held the record for the best time on the Toll Road section and set a faster today after a very fast round,” he added.
It was a disappointing day, though, for another Burnham team, Alex Jones and Tim Walters, in their Ford Escort Mk 1 RS2100 (pictured right).
They suffered a dramatic crash on the penultimate round of the day and picked up two minutes of time penalties as a result.
“We took a sharp bend at the wrong angle and flipped over, damaging the car, but fortunately landed on our wheels and managed to finish. Our hopes of doing well were over, though,” Tim told Burnham-On-Sea.com.
It also was an unsuccessful day for Mike White of Highbridge and driver Stuart Haskins (pictured right) in their Mitsubishi Evo 7.
They had high hopes of doing well at the start of the day but suffered a gear box problem and retired from the event mid-way through the day on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Highbridge-based father and daughter team Ed and Karen Hardy did well, finishing 53rd overall in their Mitsubishi Lancer (pictured right).
Ed said afterwards: “I won the very first Somerset Stages event 27 years ago, so this event means a lot to me. It’s something special.”
Saturday’s event was jointly organised by Burnham-On-Sea and Minehead Motor Clubs and was attended by large crowds who enjoyed bright sunshine and mild Spring temperatures.
.Somerset Stages Rally 2006 – Final Overall Positions
.(With Burnham and Highbridge entries highlighted in red)
Penalties
1 1 1 Andrew Burton Shelley Rogerson Peugeot Cosworth 0:41:40 2 2 2 Steve Winter Neil Dashfield Subaru Impreza WRC 0:42:21 3 3 8 Hugh Hunter Andy Marchbank Ford Escort WRC 0:42:26 4 4 14 Ian Joel Graeme Wood Ford Escort Cosworth 0:42:26 5 5 6 Peter Elkins Andrew Joll Ford Escort Cosworth 0:42:26 6 6 16 Martin Healer Shaun Ogorman Ford Escort WRC 0:42:49 7 7 25 Martyn England Ian England Mitsubishi Evo 8RS 0:42:52 8 8 12 Nigel Griffiths Andrew Owens Subaru Impreza 0:43:15 9 9 11 Paul Benn Richard Cooke Ford Focus WRC 0:43:35 10 10 10 Michael Obrien Mathew Pearce Subaru Impreza 0:43:36 11 1 9 John Bannister Dave Robson Subaru Impreza 0:43:54 12 11 22 Stuart Newby Graham Lewis Subaru Impreza 0:43:54 13 12 3 Roger Chilman_Jnr Andrew Sankey Mitsubishi Evo 6 0:44:15 14 13 30 Simon Rogers Paul Wakely Ford Escort Cosworth 0:44:17 15 2 36 Philip Mcvay Nick Cadwallader Subaru Impreza 0:44:20 16 3 26 Owain Beman Nathan Parry Mitsubishi Evo 6 0:44:25 17 14 20 Gary Cooper Jon Riley Subaru Impreza 0:44:28 18 4 21 Iwan Rees Aled Rees Subaru Impreza 0:44:40 19 5 27 Karl Simmons Guy Simmons Subaru Impreza N10 0:44:48 20 6 24 Nik Elsmore Nigel Gardner Mitsubishi Evo 7 0:44:57 21 7 44 Paul James Derek Davies Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 8 0:45:08 22 8 43 Martin Newcombe Peter Newcombe Mitsubishi Evo 6 0:45:19 23 15 37 Jeff McNeil Matthew Whattam Subaru Impreza 10 0:45:23 24 1 35 Dave Brick Rob Woodhouse Ford Escort 0:45:24 25 1 38 Will Onions Tim Hobbs Ford Escort 0:45:27 26 16 18 Bob Morgan Adrian Williams Mitsubishi Evo 4 0:45:46 27 2 29 Phil Squires Michael Squires Ford Escort RS 1800 0:46:03 28 1 201 Neil Weaver Nick Thornton Vauxhall Corsa S1400 0:46:22 29 9 53 Wayne Radford Craig Drew Mitsubishi Evo 6 0:46:23 30 2 47 Jim Munden Andy Frost Ford Escort 0:46:28 31 3 51 Dave Harris Glyn Thomas Ford Escort 0:46:36 32 10 60 Mark Fowler Chris Dewsnap Subaru Impreza 0:46:37 33 4 49 Tim Jones Don James Ford Escort Mk 2 0:46:42 34 11 41 Glyn Jarman Damien Rigden Subaru Impreza 0:46:53 35 12 75 David Pinckney Jody Spencer Subaru Impreza 0:47:00 36 1 57 Chris Moore Richard Edwards Ford Fiesta 0:47:13 37 1 77 Jamie Hickman Thomas Ward Peugeot 206 0:47:41 38 1 207 Gary Barlow Nick Chapman Vauxhall Astra 0:48:04 39 13 67 Robert Dalziel Ian Jarman Subaru Impreza STi 0:48:04 40 2 84 Philip White Richard Hage Vauxhall Astra Gsi 0:48:23 41 17 74 Richard Barrow Nickolas Jeffery Subaru Impreza 0:48:26 42 18 17 Jamie Vincent James How Subaru WRC Impreza 0:48:34 43 1 71 Stuart Windsor Andrew Richards Ford Escort 0:48:35 44 19 73 Simon Dowdeswell Keiron Bhargava Land Rover Defender 90 0:49:08 45 20 56 Lloyd Furse Rob Short Subaru Impreza 1:00 0:49:20 46 2 208 Nathan Crewe Christopher Brooks MG ZR 0:49:24 47 3 209 Steve Sproat Jessica Rogan Ford Escort Mk 2 1:00 0:49:31 48 2 80 Jason Pritchard Martin Jones Peugeot 106 Super 1600 0:49:41 49 1 215 Marcel Freling Karen Robinson Nissan Micra 0:49:45 50 5 66 Matthew Thorne Mark Parsons Ford Mk2 0:10 0:49:49 51 3 97 Paul Davey Roger Allen Vauxhall Astra 0:49:58 52 6 78 Adrian Allen Mike Wilding Opel Manta 0:50:00 53 21 52 Ed Hardy Karen Hardy Mitsubishi Lancer 0:50:00 54 1 221 David Meredith Robert Owen MG ZR 0:50:10 55 22 109 Paul Stevens Mark Hickman Subaru Impreza 0:50:23 56 7 96 Paul Gunter Stuart Williams Ford Escort MK II 0:50:37 57 2 230 Roger Mustoe Alison Perkins VW Polo 0:50:41 58 3 223 Graham Roberts Alan Lock MG ZR105 0:50:51 59 2 98 Darren Pinchin Simon Staddon Proton Satria 0:50:56 60 2 220 George Mullins Des Wood Nissan Micra 0:51:30 61 8 101 Kevin Mechem Andrew Digard Ford Escort Mk 2 0:51:39 62 23 116 Oliver Maxwell Louise Mitchell Land Rover 110 Defender 0:51:49 63 4 227 Matt Cotton Anthony Godden MG ZR 0:51:50 64 5 226 Clare Samuel Graham Samuel VW Polo 0:52:05 65 3 91 Geoff Whittaker Rachel Brockington Ford Escort Mk 0:52:09 66 3 107 Tim Sunderland Kathy Barton Peugeot 106GTi 0:52:18 67 3 55 Ian Roberton Mark Withers Nissan 240 RS 0:52:19 68 1 95 Richard Baker David Porter Ford Escort 0:52:23 69 24 48 Colin Minton Nicola Parker Subaru Impreza 3:00 0:52:32 70 9 90 Martin Pilcher Simon May Ford Escort Mk 0:52:55 71 25 113 Ray Waldron Richard Lock Subaru Impreza 0:53:04 72 3 235 James Alexander Helen Alexander Peugeot 106 Rallye 0:53:17 73 2 232 Yasuyuki Munakata Stefan Arndt Peugeot 205 XS 0:54:03 74 4 234 Clare Rix Simon Banham Ford Ka 0:54:08 75 6 231 Jayne Auden David Auden Peugeot 106 Rallye 0:54:46 76 4 108 Roger Ray Ian Kamcke Ford Fiesta XR2 0:55:17 77 3 242 Tristan Dodd Alistair Dodd Nissan Micra 0:56:50 78 4 65 Alex Jones Tim Walters Ford Escort Mk 1 RS2100 2:00 0:58:50 79 7 239 Clare Rhodes Gemma Price MG ZR 0:59:16 80 4 240 James Beckett Colin Beckett Skoda Favorit 1:00:25 81 5 110 Simon Munden John Leigh Ford Escort 1:01:37 82 5 241 Shon Rees Tomos Jones Seat Ibiza 1:02:04 83 10 112 Andy Webber Jade Webber Peugeot 205 GTi 4:00 1:02:44