Neil Howard Memorial Stages Rally

Oulton Park ended the 2016 season on a high last weekend (5th November) with the Neil Howard Memorial Stages Rally…

Cold winter sunshine and the promise of a firework display drew a huge crowd to the Cheshire circuit for the final event of the year. A capacity entry of over 100 cars took on nine special stages, including some large sections of the track, a watersplash and the circuit access roads. The rally was the opening round of the 2016/17 MSVR Circuit Rally Championship, which consists of seven rounds held at circuits across Britain throughout the winter.

Victory went to Kevin Procter and Derrick Fawcett in their Ford Fiesta R5, despite only winning one stage of the rally. The Ford pair were in second place for much of the day behind the charging Subaru Impreza WRC of Stephen Simpson and Patrick Walsh. The Subaru retired on stage 7, leaving the way clear for Procter and Fawcett to take the win by 45 seconds from James Yates and Tom Woodburn in another Fiesta R5. Third place went to event sponsor Graham Coffey in his Subaru Impreza WRC, co-driven by Victoria Myers. Paul Swift finished as the leading classic runner, taking an impressive fourth place overall in his Ford Escort Mk II.