Alex and Mark WIN the Bulldog National Rally 2010. 1st Overall!

Stalybridge Rally Driver Alex Allingham and co-driver Mark Glennerster boosted their Hankook Welsh National Rally Championship campaign in fine style this weekend with a brilliant Result at the Bulldog National Rally that started from Welshpool, Powys.
Starting as car one in the National section of the rally, Alex felt pressured to arrive home first overall, but the battle was not an easy one. A problem the pairing found running first on the road was catching spectators walking down the stage unaware of cars approaching, and on SS1 this distracted their concentration briefly losing a few seconds.

Alex limited his pace not taking any risks on the following two stages, Dyfi and Gartheniog, where speeds of 130mph were reached at some points and the pair arrived at the service halt 2nd overall, 4.9 Seconds down on their nearest rival Paul Davy in a much newer Subaru Impreza. With two more stages and a further 18 competitive miles left to complete within the forest complex Alex knew he had to up the pace.
Alex and Mark decided to push very hard on the final two 9 mile tests, beating Paul Davy by 3.1 seconds and 7.1 seconds respectively leaving them Winners of the Event by 5.3 seconds. Paul Davy was a further 50 seconds up on third overall Paul Walker in his Subaru Impreza WRC.
Mark and Alex scooped maximum points for themselves for the Hankook Welsh National Championship and look forward to their next round in the championship.

Top 10 Results:

1st: 101 Alex ALLINGHAM/Mark GLENNERSTER N4 1 Subaru Impreza 0:44:37.9
2nd: 102 Paul DAVY/Roger ALLAN N4 2 Subaru Impreza N12b 0:44:43.2
3rd: 104 Paul WALKER/Mark LEWIS B13 1 Subaru Impreza 0:45:28.3
4th: 106 Martin NEWCOMBE/Peter NEWCOMBE B13 2 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6 0:45:31.7
5th: 103 Wug UTTING/Bob STOKOE N4 3 Subaru Impreza N12B 0:46:06.0
6th: 118 Shon REES/Owain DAVIES N4 4 Subaru Impreza 0:48:34.8
7th: 114 Nigel JENKINS/Karen WATTS B9 1 Vauxhall Nova 0:50:45.0
8th: 108 Geoff COTTRILL/Nathan CREWE B13 3 MG Metro 6R4 0:51:58.8
9th: 117 Sion MATHEWS/Endaf DAVIES B9 2 Vauxhall Nova 0:52:20.0
10th: 111 Ian SUTTON/Heather WATKINS B9 3 Vauxhall Nova 0:53:43.6

Full Results and Radio Interviews can be found at Bulldog-rally.co.uk
Report and Photos Courtesy of Chris Horner of mccrash.co.uk

Alex and Mark are 13th Overall at Rally Sunseeker, bagging a healthy amount of ANCRO points.

Alex Allingham, co driven by Mark Glennerster finished a hard earned 13th overall on the Sunseeker Rally based in Bournemouth. The High profile event based in Bournemouth and Poole had a ceremonial start on Friday evening at Poole Quay, giving the 4000 spectators that turned out a chance to meet both the cars and their drivers. This is the first time Alex has competed on Rallye Sunseeker along with Co-driver Mark Glennerster.

The Stalybridge driver had a mixed day with the poor conditions hampering driving on the stages. The first few stages were very wet and slippery and the pair was happy to arrive back in first service having survived the treacherous conditions.

The 3 stages to the west around Wareham provided conditions that allowed Alex to push harder and the pair gradually pulled time back on their Gp N rivals. After another service halt, the pair headed off to the last set of stages, looking to try and take time out of fellow GpN competitors Tristan Pye and Tom Naughton. However, an overshoot in SS9 meant that 15 secs were dropped followed by a puncture on the penultimate road section, Alex and Mark then decided to just hold pace and get a points scoring finish.

At the finish Alex said ‘ We are pleased just to have finished today, the conditions and stages don’t suit my style of driving, and we are happy to pick up a good haul of ANCRO points which was our main aim of the event '

Alex and Mark will next contest the Bulldog rally at the end of March and then the Pirelli, the next round of the ANCRO series where they are currently lying 3rd in the Production cup, and 9th in the Overall Championship.

Alex is backed by Mccrash.co.uk rally media, Richard Allingham Cars, Workwear4you.co.uk, brokenpencil.co.uk and Racebits.co.uk. For More Information see http://www.alexallingham.co.uk or http://www.mccrash.co.uk

Photos and Report courtesy of Chris Horner of mccrash.co.uk

See the excellent full mccrash gallery from Rallye Sunseeker Here.

Allingham's Shakedown Surprise!

Stalybridge Rally Driver Alex Allingham aged 25, had intended to use last weekends Ludlow Gravel Sprint as a shakedown event for the ANCRO season opener Rallye Sunseeker. However, as a total surprise, he emerged as the event winner after 6 stages with his new livered Subaru Impreza.

The Ludlow Castle Motor Club member backed by Workwear4you, Richard Allingham Cars, McCrash Rally Media, racebits.co.uk and Brokenpencil.co.uk had intended to take it easy and not risk damaging the car due to the event being only one week prior to the ANCRO season opener.
However, due to unexpected extreme icy conditions Alex's lesser power GpN Machine was more suited to the treacherous conditions, and coupled with a steady consistent attack on Hankook Tyres, it allowed him to beat local ace Shaun Gardener by 52 Seconds and win the event. Event favourite Shaun Gardener, having won the event twice before, took 1st in Class, and 2nd Overall. A further 1 minute 13 seconds behind Shaun was the Subaru Impreza WRC of Paul Walker.

Alex is now starting his preparation for Rallye Sunseeker ' this was an excellent way to start 2010' he commented ' I just hope we can continue the momentum into next weekend’s event'.

Award Photo Courtesy of Russell Kenhard of Kenton Photografix
Car Photos Courtesy of Chris Horner of mccrash.co.uk