Unless otherwise clearly indicated, results on this site have been declared final and are therefore not subject to query or protest
Clerk of the Course: Steve Cole
Route: 170 Miles
Maps: 186 & 197
Starters: 32
Winners: Dominic Worsfold/Matt Fowle (Peugeot 205)
Guildford and Basingstoke MCs combined once again to organise The Pheasant Plucker Rally. The event used a 170 mile route starting and finishing at Blacknest Golf Club near Guildford but ventured as far south as Petersfield. The lanes were extremely slippery with a combination of wet mud and leaves making the going treacherous. This was particularly true of the sections in the Barnetside area. Rain fell throughout the night.
Despite a late change of date the rally attracted thirty-two starters. Navigation was straight forward but set out in such a way that navigators were kept busy at all times.
The rally proved a triumph for Dominic Worsfold/Matt Fowle who, having finished second on the Powerush, went one better and won the Pheasant Plucker, it was a first rally win for both crew members.
The rally turned out to be a battle between Worsfold/Fowle and pre-event favourites Mike Biss/Cath Woodman. Both crews dropped just three minutes over all sections bar the one between TC16 and TC17, this included a hard to find triangle control, Worsfold/Fowle spent four minutes finding the correct route and visiting the route check, Biss/Woodman missed the control and the result was decided. Worsfold/Fowle finished with seven minutes penalty, while Biss/Woodman picked up a twenty minute penalty for a missed board and ened up on twenty-three minutes. In fact only four crews found the board.
Phil Collings/Mark Collings continued their successful year by finishing third, while Rob Dance/Graham Dance finished fourth to make it a Peugeot 205 1-2-3-4. The latter crew had spent some minutes stuck on the muddy triangle that most other crews missed.
The Pheasant Plucker was a round of the 2002 South East/Central Southern Road Rally Championship. Dance/Dance led the series prior to the rally and maintained that position, although Biss/Woodman closed the gap with just two rounds to go. Due to other commitments the latter pairing would be unable to contest the final round, so the series would be decided on the Nightwatchman, where Biss/Woodman had to finish two places clear of Dance/Dance to deny the Bournemouth pairing the title.
Ken Pape/John Stringer were the first non-Peugeot in fifth, while another of the French marque took sixth, this being the 309 of Phil Kendall/David Coles. Allan Sayers/Bob Stokoe were seventh, while a tie breaker of furtherest clean had to be used to seperate Peter Noad/Peter Cox and Mike Cawthra/Brian Cammack. Noad/Cox took the placing having lost a large amount of time in a ditch after moving over to let on coming traffic pass. Andy Coshan/Zip Zerahan completed the top ten in their Sunbeam.
The leading Semi-Expert crew were Chris Shackleton/Ian Collings, who finished in eleventh place overall in their Vauxhall Nova.
Mike East, partenered by Roger Davison, was looking for a hat trick of wins on the Pheasant Plucker, Davison having guided him to victory in 2001. However they had a short but miserable event. Navigator illness, fading brakes and getting stuck on a muddy triangle meant that their rally was over by the third section.
Doug Kingsley/Ben Greenfield had an even short event, a bolt on their Nova snapped allowing the camshaft to come loose, this in turn threw off the cam belt and altenator belt, all the loose bits then flew off into the scenery never to be seen again. The disappointed crew had covered less then three miles.
The Novices and Clubman classes were amalgamated and, due to being given easier navigation, competitors in these classes were not eligible for overall awards. Tom Brooks/Tony Brooks emerged as winners of the class, leading home Sam Collins/Olly North and Rob Astle/Paul Spencer.
OVERALL RESULTS
Pos | Driver | Navigator | Car | Penalty | |
1 | Dominic Worsfold | Matt Fowle | Peugeot 205 GTi | 7m 00s | |
2 | Mike Biss | Cath Woodman | Peugeot 205 GTi | 23m 00s | |
3 | Phil Collings | Mark Collings | Peugeot 205 GTi | 52m 00s | |
4 | Rob Dance | Graham Dance | Peugeot 205 GTi | 58m 00s | |
5 | Ken Pape | John Stringer | Ford EScort | 62m 00s | |
6 | Phil Kendall | David Coles | Peugeot 309 GTi | 8m 00s | |
7 | Allan Sayers | Bob Stokoe | Ford Fiesta XR2 | 91m 00s | |
8 | Peter Noad | Peter Cox | Audi 90 Quattro | 100m 00s | |
9 | Mike Cawthra | Brian Cammack | Subaru Impreza | 100m 00s | |
10 | Andy Coshan | Zip Zerihan | Talbot Sunbeam | 117m 00s | |
11 | Chris Shackleton | Ian Collings | Vauxhall Nova | 120m 00s | |
12 | Mark Butler | Peter Barnard | Peugeot 205 GTi | 212m 00s | |
13 | Paul Swindells | Dick Howatt | Peugeot 309 GTi | 243m 00s | |
14 | Rob Reynolds | Alan Collyer | Mazda 323 | 1F 169m 00s | |
15 | Graham Child | Kevin Ablitt | Ford Escort Mexico | 2F 116m 00s | |
16 | Bob Wisniewski | Paul Lettington | Vauxhall Nova | 4F 261m 00s | |
17 | Olly Smith | Susan Broughall | Mini | 9F 192m 00s | |
18 | Clive Anstey | Verity Anstey | Vauxhall Nova | 11F 453m 00s | |
19 | Matthew Hole | Jonathan Charlesson | Peugeot 106 | 12F 527m 00s | |
20 | Dominic Taylor | Phil Haines | Mazda 323 Turbo | 77m 00s | |
Clubman Rally | |||||
1 | Tom Brooks | Tony Brooks | Saab Sonett | 116m 00s | |
2 | Sam Collins | Oli North | VW Golf GTi | 211m 00s | |
3 | Rob Aslett | Paul Spencer | Peugeot 205 GTi | 6F 491m 00s | |
4 | Ian Orford | Damien Bigden | Mazda 323 | 8F 783m 00s | |
5 | John Murdoch | Ian Young | Peugeot 205 Rallye | 10F 397m 00s | |
6 | Ben Smith | Mark Lodder | Vauxhall Astra | 15F 600m 00s | |
7 | N J Woolmore | S M Champion | Vauxhall Nova SR | 18F 769m 00s |