Crowsley leads 'best Sarnian effort in 40 years of Jersey Rally'
Dale Crowsley has repeated last year’s fifth-place finish at the Jersey Rally after mounting a real challenge for a podium spot.
But having joined co-driver Will Rutherford to claim one of his best results yet in the sister isle, he praised the depth of Guernsey representation, with two other Sarnian crews making the top 10.
‘I think we have done exceptionally well as an island and we have represented ourselves the best we have in 40 years of the Jersey Rally,’ the Guernsey No. 1 said.
The 24-stage epic is never easy going, with Crowsley calling this year’s edition ‘probably the hardest rally I have ever driven’.
Jersey’s James Labey and Robbie Hannah dominated throughout, but the Sarnians featured heavily in a huge battle for second place.
Holding second spot deep into Friday’s night stages, they finished the evening a close third after some late car issues.
It was only near the end of Saturday’s programme that they dropped into fifth, due to more car issues and overshooting a corner, which opened the door for Jersey duo Ross Le Noa and Dominic Volante, multiple Guernsey Rally champions, to win Class D. The Sarnians were solidly second.
‘The battle for second place overall was one of the closest and most toughly-fought battles in the 40-years of the Jersey Rally,’ Rutherford said.
‘Five similar Escorts all battling no more than seconds apart on all 24 stages made it a tough weekend mentally and physically.
‘For Dale and I to be on the pace of the fastest Jersey crews on their local event, many of which have won the events in the past 10 years, is very satisfying.’
Crowsley added: ‘What a result. We were running second and third most of the weekend, until Saturday afternoon, but we had a couple of issues which dropped us back.’
Paul Trebert and Jason Carre put on a strong show for eighth, while only one place back were Craig Robert and Chris Guille, who won the FWD2 class.
Fraser Torode and George Symons finished second in FWD2 and 15th overall.
Overall, 10 of the 16 Guernsey crews completed the rally in its brutal entirety.
In the trophy rally, which offers a shot at redemption for those that retire on Friday, Karl Robert and Luke Saunders placed fifth.
Motorsport stalwart John Robert went over as stage safety officer and thanked other volunteers who travel from Guernsey to help the event happen.
He was also taken aback by the numbers travelling to spectate, providing a sports tourism boost for the sister isle.
‘There were so many I saw that went to watch the event and stayed for so many days I could not count – it could be 100 people or more,’ he added.
