Mud Dog supremacy

The battle for Mud Dog supremacy continues to be fiercly contested as evidenced in the results of the recently held Regional Fire & Security September Safari which saw the team of Chris Armstrong and Wayne Clarke take the top spot in their Toyota Hilux.
Although June Safari winners Darrin White and Robert Warren in the Flyin’ Fish/ Lucky Locks Nissan Frontier finished second, they have taken the overall lead of the championship ahead of the crew of Dominic Brooker and Stephen Dear who up until this event, were leading in their SDRR Hydraulics & Industrial Spares/ Next Generation Electrical/ Joe Brookers Building Ltd. Toyota Hilux.
Armstrong and Clarke, 585 points ahead of White and Warren with 634 points said the straight line to map method of navigating, which many competitors are not fond of, may have given them the advantage.
Straight line to map, a method not used much in recent years, combines two of what many call the most challenging methods of navigating, a method which many of the newer teams used for the first time on Sunday.
“I think we won the rally because of the straight line” said Armstrong, who was in the driver seat, adding: “We got the hang of it early enough. When others faltered we got it.”
While navigator Wayne Clarke agreed that this may have helped, he said he preferred this method as it was easier to correct any mistakes and to get back on track if lost.
Sunday’s results show just how the straight line affected the overall standings, as the gap between competitors was wider than in previous events with many amassing most of their penalties in route two- where straight-line was the order of the day.
All this notwithstanding, second place finishers White was pleased with the outcome, saying Sunday’s outcome makes for an interesting November event- the final of the four safaris which comprises the championships- making a win a hard-fought battle.
Brooker and Dear who were previously leading the championships, having won the March Safari and finishing second in June, placed eighth in this event, after experiencing mechanic al problems for most of the Sunday. Unfortunately, the pair may not have a chance to make a comeback, as their presence in the November safari is doubtful.
The father daughter team of Paul and Tiffany Marshall in a Mitsubishi L200 placed third, 100 points behind White and Warren, while Collin Goodman and Robin Hinds in a Suzuki Samurai, finished fourth 185 points behind Marshall and Marshall, while fifth place finishers Biddy Barber and Chris O’Neal were 28 points behind them.
Overall there was a 359 point difference between the top spot and fifth place.
Other significant entries included highest placed novice competitors Ben Norris and Rhett Watson in the notable Land Rover Tom Cat, finishing ninth with 1053 points and Tiffany Marshall who was the highest-placed female finisher.
Despite the difficulties many faced with the not-much-used method of navigation, the 23 teams enjoyed the event, with many looking forward to mastering the technique in future events.
Route setter Kirk Watkins said feedback was mixed.
“Most of the more experienced guys seemed to understand where they’d been tricked, and I’m sure the only reason they were tricked at all is because it’s a new (or renewed) type of navigation. Some of the more inexperienced competitors still don’t know where they went wrong but hopefully they’ll try to find out. “
With that in mind he added: “All in all it seems to have gone down pretty well so hopefully it will be used again in the near future.”
Going into the finals, White and Warren lead with 174 points, Brooker and Dear are second with 164, Armstrong and Clarke are third with 160, Marshall and Marshall are fourth with 156 and Sunday’s route setters Sean Dowding and Watkins round out the top five with 144 points.
Previous third place holders Barry Gale and Neil Barnard did not compete, pushing them out of a top five season finish.
With such a close gap between the crews, November’s event will make for an exciting culmination to the season.

Regional Fire & Security September Safari - September 13
Mud Dogs BRC Safari Championship, round 3
Results
1st Chris Armstrong/Wayne Clarke (Toyota Hilux), 585 penalties
2nd Darrin White/Robert Warren (Flyin' Fish/Lucky Locks Nissan
Frontier), 634pens
3rd Paul Marshall/Tiffany Marshall (Mitsubishi L200), 731pens
4th Colin Goodman/Robin Hinds (Suzuki Samurai), 916pens
5th Biddy Barber/Chris O'Neal (Aqua Pur/Castrol/Visitor's Information
Daihatsu Feroza), 944pens
6th Kirk King/Tricia King (K & N Equipment Suzuki Samurai), 996pens
7th Mike Ward/Willie Hinds (Niccolls & Edghill Construction/EZ Sign
Stop Suzuki Samurai), 1013pens
8th Dominic Brooker/Stephen Dear (SDRR Hydraulics/Next Generation
Electrical/Joe Brooker's Building Toyota Hilux), 1053pens
9th Ben Norris/Rhett Watson (Pitbull Energy Drink/ACE Engineering
Land Rover Tomcat), 1114pens
10th Audley Croney/Jeremy Croney (JCB Excavators Suzuki Samurai),
1119pens

Novice Class
1st Norris/Watson
2nd Bryan Collymore/Adrian Jackman (Owlies Trucking/Williams Tools &
Equipment Suzuki Samurai), 1461pens - 13th o/a
3rd Kyle Proverbs/Daniel Christie (Jason Jones & Co/Hankook Tyres/
Ellco/Fingerprint Designs/SDRR Hydraulics/Flick Services/Ready Mix/
Ready Block Suzuki Samurai), 1462pens - 14th o/a


2009 BRC Mud Dogs Safari Championship
Positions after round three - Navigators:
1st Robert Warren, 174 points
2nd Stephen Dear, 164pts
3rd Wayne Clarke, 160pts
4th Kirk Watkins, 144pts
5th equal Willie Hinds & Tricia King, 134pts
7th Derek Edwards, 130pts
8th Neil Barnard & Warrick Eastmond, 110pts
10th Tiffany Marshall, 106pts

Drivers:
1st Darrin White, 174 points
2nd Dominic Brooker, 164pts
3rd Chris Armstrong, 160pts
4th Paul Marshall, 156pts
5th Sean Dowding, 144pts
6th equal Michael Ward & Kirk King, 134pts
8th Damian Brooker, 130pts
9th Audley Croney, 112pts
10th equal Barry Gale & Nicolas Lorde, 110pts