WWRS R.A.C. Rally Championship – Red Kite goes down to the wire

Richard Hill and Pat Cooper took a dramatic final stage victory on todays Red Kite Historic Stages and the opening round of the West Wales Rally Spares R.A.C. Rally Championship.

With a fine 60-car line-up of championship contenders, the Red Kite proved to be a fantastic start to the season as the teams took on the superb stages in the Caio and Crychan complexes. Even with all the pre-event rain, the stages were in great condition but when the rain returned the conditions became very challenging as the teams tackled the deciding 15-mile stage in Crycha.

Nick Elliott and Dave Price led from the start and took a lead again 28s into the final stage in their Ford Escort Mk2. However, with two miles to go disaster struck and the team were caught out and crashed out, allowing Hill and Cooper to take the win by 45s from the flying Terry Brown/Den Golding and Tomas Davis/Eurig Davies.

The first of two very close battles came in Category 1 as Ray Cunningham/Gary McElhinney (Mini Cooper) ended the rally tied with Simon Wallis/Graham Wride (Lotus Cortina). The Mini crew took the Category on a tie-break and also claimed first blood in the Aldon Automotive Mini and Imp Cup.

It was even closer in Category 2 as Chris Browne/Ali Cornwell-Browne beat fellow Escort Mk1 crew Roger Matthews/Paul Morris on another tie-break after pulling back a 1s deficit on the final stage. Browne got the nod after being a single second faster than Matthews over the opening stage.

Other category winners included Tom Coughtrie/Calvin Cooledge (Ford Escort Mk2) in Category K and Layton Waters/Kevin Bowcott (Toyota Starlet) in Category O.

Category winners were:

Category 1: Cunningham/Gary McElhinney (Mini Cooper)

Category 2: Chris Browne/Ali Cornwell-Browne (Ford Escort Mk1)

Category 3: Richard Hill/Pat Cooper (Ford Escort Mk2)

Category K: Tom Coughtrie/Calvin Cooledge (Ford Escort Mk2)

Category O: Layton Waters/Kevin Bowcott (Toyota Starlet)

The Red Kite Stages was organised by Amman and District Motor Club. For more details about this seasons WWRS R.A.C. Rally Championship just click.

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