Cambrian Rally kicks off the BTRDA Rally Championship 2018

After the 2017 event was abandoned after the first stage due to heavy snowfall, the Cambrian Rally 2018 was again set to open the BTRDA Rally Championship in the forests of North Wales.

The Llandudno based event attracted an entry list of just over 110 and some impressive late entries further strengthened this, including local driver Matt Edwards in his Ford Fiesta R5. Another included Osian Pryce in the Spencer Sport prepared Mitsubishi Mirage. The rally was made up of seven stages in forests including Penmachno, Elsi, Crafnant and Alwen with a midday service halt in Surf Snowdonia.

Local driver Matt Edwards was amongst the names on the strong entry list.

A heavy off in the first stage for the crew of car 23 – Simon Rodgers and Steven Clark resulted in a hour delay to the itinerary for the rest of the day. Clark walked away from the crash unhurt but Rodgers was initially trapped inside the Mitsubishi Evo and was taken to hospital for minor injuries and was discharged later that day.

Matt Edwards set the benchmark in the first stage but hit a tree stump in stage 2 breaking his suspension. He returned to the event in stage 3 and set the fastest time in all of the remaining stages.

Oliver Mellors took the rally lead in stage 2 and stayed at the top of the standings for the rest of the day. However, the battle for second, third, forth and fifth was very close throughout the day, after stage 5 just 26 seconds separated Paul Bird, Stephen Petch, Hugh Hunter and Osian Pryce.

On the final stages, Hunter dropped to sixth allowing Julian Reynolds into fifth. Pryce finished forth and took the honours in the Pirelli Welsh Forrest Rally Championship. Paul Bird and Stephen Petch finished in second and third respectively with Bird taking the top spot for the BTRDA gold star championship.

Paul Bird took the 30 points in the BTRDA Gold Star Championship.

Oliver Mellors took the rally win in the Proton Iriz R5 by just 6 seconds over Bird. Mellors had a different co-driver whom he had never spoken to in person before the event making this win even more impressive.

Ollie Mellors took the overall win.

Other notable class wins include John Rowlands who took the win in the BTRDA Silver Star Championship in his Ford Escort Mk 2. Chris Powell took the BTRDA 1400 class win and Sam Johnson took the 30 points in the BTRDA Rally First class.