After a testing night's motorsport Matthew Fowle/John Upham almost caused an upset, but eventually lost out to Biss/Woodman on the end the furthest cleanest tie decider. Pressing them both close, despite a dodgy clutch came Paul Wright/Mark Goodman. Leading in the Semi-Experts came Martin Smith/Gemma Morris, whilst David West/Keith Hounslow lead in the Novices. Best (and only) Beginners were Rob Jacobs/Micheal Campbell, with a very respectable total.

Starting from Wycombe Airpark, the route took in a last minute reroute to arrive at NTC3 just west of Marlow. From here the route took in the familliar south Chiltern lanes, with the first photo point at the gravelly triangle in Davenport Wood. This set the tone for the rest of the event, with straight forward navigation combined with short sections of twisty lanes. TC5 saw the first of the fancied runners slip up, Smith/Morris taking a five minute excursion which put them plumb last. They staged a magnificent comeback, making up more places with accurate navigation than outright speed.

By the first regroup at Wallingford the field had been whittled down to 8 cars clean. These included all the familliar faces, and West/Hounslow who had made full use of the navigational hints and tips. The second quarter of the route headed directly for petrol at Chieveley, directly that is except for an excursion to pick up TC13.

The short section included two PCs, the first one being a classic long way round triangle. With the marshal instructed to be roofless with his penalties a number of crews were to fall foul. Steve Cole/Bob Blows were the first to succumb, but they did at least manage to avoid dropping a minute at TC13. Fowle/Upham adopted a safer tactic, trading a minute dropped at the TC for a wrong approach at the PC! With a short neutral section linking onto map 174, and free chocolate handouts from the marshals at TC16, play resumed at Stichens Green. The remaining sections down to halfway were not to prove too taxing and at halfway the standings were:

1= Biss/Woodman               Clean
1= Chris Pratt/Nick Ardern    Clean
3= Alan Goddard/Stephen White 1 min
3= Fowle/Upham                1 min
5  Jeremy Rodgers/Mark Fearon 2 min

Welcome to the second half, with navigation by PRAR proclaimed the first hand out. Navigation by PRAR was to prove quite exasperating for many, but as usual the Masters breezed on through it with minimal discomfort. The first sections were to be the ones which separated them from the also rans. It wasn't the navigation which was everybody else's undoing, but a codeboard on a road everybody drove down. Driver inattention saw a third of the field go sailing past it, and with this they lost any hope of winning. This effectively creamed off the top four: Pratt/Ardern, Biss/Woodman, Wright/Goodman and Fowle/Upham as the only crews with single figure penalties.

TC29 saw a blow to Pratt/Ardern's challenge, a minute dropped left Biss/Woodman as the only unpenalised crew. A further bit of sorting out at TC32 saw them slip to fourth, the position they held at the end. TC32 demonstrated that even the Masters are fallible, with the top three assuming that the route would not take them off the map, and failing to follow the route instructions precisely. A flustered run back to the TC saw Biss/Woodman drop a massive (by their standards) six minutes. Starting the next section in traffic saw then drop a further minute on the narrow white leading down to TC33. Benefitting for the other's mistakes Fowle/Upham leapt into the lead.

The next handout provided the roads off the edge of the map, and battle resumed at Doyley Manor. Well it would of had anybody dropped any further time on the sections up to the regroup control. From here on to the finish should have been Fowle/Upham's triumphant run to the finish, but unfortunately they were caught for 4 minutes by not reading the route instructions fully. This allowed them to drop back into the clutches of Biss/Woodman. The minute dropped at TC13 was to be Fowle/Upham's undoing.

PRAR

Final Results: