News

The third round of the Pirelli MSA Welsh Forest Rally championship, the Plains Rally organised by Knutsford and District Motor Club, produced the third different maximum points scorer of the year as Euan Thorburn and Paul Beaton took outright victory in their Ford Focus World Rally Car.

The Scottish pairing took the lead on the opening stage of the event and went on to set fastest times on six of the day's eight dry and dusty stages.

While second placed David Weston Jr and Dave Robson, and Stephen Petch and Ian Windress who finished third are not registered for the Welsh championship, their performances meant that the podium consisted of a Scottish crew, a Welsh crew and an English crew with all three teams using Pirelli tyres.

Second amongst the championship contenders were Rhuddlan's Luke Francis and John H Roberts of Colwyn Bay in their Mitsubishi Evo 9. In third place was the similar car of Tom Naughton and Andi Mort, the Lancashire duo finishing just five seconds ahead of the Subaru Impreza of Alex Allingham and Chris Williams.

The overall championship lead, however, remains with Worcester's Paul Davy and Roger Allen after they took fifth place amongst the championship contenders in their Subaru Impreza. They also retain the lead in the Group N category for near showroom specification cars. They continue also to head the battle for the "Road to Wales" award which provides the winner with a free entry in November's Wales Rally GB. In second place in both the overall and group N standings are Haverfordwest's Roland Llewellin and Jamie Edwards of Wrexham. Completing the top three overall are Luke Francis and John H Roberts while Alex Allingham and Chris Williams lie third amongst the Group N contenders.

There was a change in the lead of the two wheel drive category. With reigning champion Rob Dennis not starting the event, Matthew Robinson and co-driver Sam Collis now head the standings in their Mark 2 Ford Escort.

An impressive drive by Rory Jones of Penmaenmawr and Tom Hughes from Conway saw them take their class in their MG ZR  also giving Rory the lead in the Junior category of the championship for drivers aged under 25.

The junior category lead was conceded by James Hamer after the Tewkesbury driver suffered a turbo failure on the first stage of the event. Another championship contender to go out on the opening stage was Terry Brown of Carmarthen who rolled his Ford Escort. Meanwhile, Nathan O'Connor and Jessica Rogan retired their Citroen C2 at the end of the stage 6 having suffered gearbox problems for much of the event.

There was disappointment too for Sara Williams and co-driver Dale Furniss. With the Brecon driver competing on her first event since last year's Wales Rally GB, they ran in the top 10 for much of the event until power steering problems dropped their Subaru Impreza down the order

Competitors have just two weeks to wait now until the next round of the championship, the Severn Valley Stages based at the Royal Welsh Showground in Builth Wells, which takes place on Saturday 31st May.

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Issued May 19th 2014