WWRS R.A.C. Rally Championship award winners announced

The special award winners for the second round of the West Wales Rally Spares R.A.C. Rally Championship have been announced following the Mid Wales Stages (2 March).

Robert Cholmondeley and Dave Evans were unfortunate enough to post the first retirement of the rally when their Ford Escort Mk2 developed problems on the way to the opening stage. The last retirement was the Ford Escort Mk1 of Chris Browne/Ali Cornwell-Browne, which went off on the final stage of the rally. Both crews will receive a £100 voucher from West Wales Rally Spares, as will Toyota Starlet crew Layton Waters and Kevin Bowcott after their number came out of the hat in the draw for a third voucher.

Meanwhile, Ford Anglia crew Peter Stimson and Mark Butler will receive a cheque for over £300 from Holton Homes after their number came out in the draw for a refund of 50% of the event entry fee.

The new Kumho Clubmans Challenge was another great success, with 28 crews electing to contest the Challenge for cars using no more than six tyres during the event. Once again, the top overall finishers in the Challenge were Tim Freeman and Paul Wakely (Ford Escort Mk2) who finished just outside the overall top 10.

Category winners in the Kumho Clubmans Challenge were Gwilym Roberts/Don James (Lotus Cortina) in Category 1, Terry Cree/Richard Shores (BMW 2002) from Category 2, Freeman/Wakely in Category 3, Tom Coughtrie/Calvin Cooledge (Ford Escort Mk2) in Category K and Layton Waters/Kevin Bowcott (Toyota Starlet) in Category O. Tim Freeman won two tyres from Kumho for his Ford Escort Mk2 in the draw for Challenge contenders.

The Spirit of the Rally product award from Fuchs Lubricants goes to Darren Moon and Alan Walker for a tremendous sixth overall in their Ford Escort Mk2. It was Walkers first time co-driving for many years and his first time on route notes, so their performance was all the more creditable and they had a lot of laughs with other crews in the process.

Mike Tomkinson and Shaun Whitehurst won the Best Improvement on Seeding, which is a set of axle brake pads from Mintex, after an excellent run in their Ford Escort Mk2. Finally, Owen Murphy won the Hard Charger award of a 20-litre jerry can from Green Valley Industrial Supplies. His pace in the Talbot Sunbeam Lotus was outstanding and he finished fourth overall, right up among the fastest Ford Escorts.

Overall results:

Nick Elliott and David Price took a resounding victory at the Mid Wales Historic Stages (Sunday 2 March), the second round of the West Wales Rally Spares R.A.C. Rally Championship.

Over 55 miles of classic Welsh forest stages, made slippery and extremely challenging by steady rain, Elliott and Price took control from the opening stage at Pikes Peak. With a 28s lead going into the final stage, Elliott took a steady approach and that helped Matthew Robinson/Sam Collis to pull back 10s to leave the margin of victory at 17.6s. Meirion Evans and Iwan Jones made it three Ford Escort Mk2s on the overall podium before the flying Sunbeam Lotus of Owen Murphy/James O’Brien.

With 75 registered contenders starting the rally, the Newtown-based event set a new record for the R.A.C. Rally Championship and fans packed the stages to watch the action despite poor weather.

Once again, Ray Cunningham and Gary McElhinney (Mini Cooper) were the stars of Category 1 as they saw off a very strong field to take the spoils and maximum points in the Aldon Automotive Mini and Imp Cup. Meanwhile, David Stokes and Guy Weaver (Ford Escort Mk1) made a strong championship debut to win Category 2.

Other category winners included Darren Moon/Alan Walker (Ford Escort Mk2) in Category K and Simon Crook/Alister Crook (Opel Manta) in Category O.

Category winners were:

Category 1: Ray Cunningham/Gary McElhinney (Mini Cooper)

Category 2: David Stokes/Guy Weaver (Ford Escort Mk1)

Category 3: Nick Elliott/David Price (Ford Escort Mk2)

Category K: Darren Moon/Alan Walker (Ford Escort Mk2)

Category O: Simon Crook/Alister Crook (Opel Manta)

More details about the WWRS R.A.C. Rally Championship can be found at www.racrallychamp.org

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