Matthew Hirst and Declan Dear were the stars of the Pirelli Motorsport UK Welsh Rally Championship on the penultimate round of the season, the Lewis and Hunter Cambrian Rally on Saturday October 24.
Hirst and Dear (Delta Salvage/Witham Motorsport/Speedline Corse UK/Pirelli Skoda Fabia RS Rally2) took control of the Interclub rally to win by more than half a minute, despite picking up a 30-second penalty at a virtual chicane in the Clocaenog stage. The result was enough to confirm Hirst as champion driver in the Welsh Championship this season although Dear will have to wait until the final round, the Wyedean Stages in November, to see if he can secure the co-drivers' title.
On a day when storm force winds and heavy rain made it a truly challenging day for everyone, there was a high rate of attrition over some testing gravel stages. Everyone involved in the PWRC sends grateful thanks to the organisers, officials and marshals who kept the event running in the conditions.
Hirst and Dear dominated championship Class 10 for the R5 and Rally2 cars as James Wilson and Paul Mulholland (Road Tankers Armagh/Rigual/Emco Wheaton/Pirelli-Skoda Fabia Rally2) took second from Dan O'Brien/Martin Brady (M O'Brien Group-Ford Fiesta Rally2).
Bob Morgan/Ade Williams (Winner Garage Skoda Cinderford-Skoda Fabia R5) battled the tough conditions to take fourth from Paul Bonas/Bryn Pierce (Rallynuts Motorsport Ltd-Ford Fiesta R5) and Colin Minton/Izzie Holman (Ignition Motorsport Rally Team-Ford Fiesta R5), while Rob Morris/Daniel James (RMG Groundwork/Construction Hub-Citroen C3 Rally2) retired with brake problems but later rejoined to complete the afternoon stages and finished the rally with an impressive third fastest time in the second run of Crafnant.
Class nine for the non-R5/Rally2 four-wheel-drive cars was won by the elated pairing of Peter Baylis and Paul Godden (Artificial Lawn Company-Mitsubishi Lancer E9). "We were not expecting a result like that," said Bayliss after early leaders Russ Thompson and Stephen Link (GPM/PD Extinguishers-Ford Fiesta R5 Proto) hit several problems on the morning stages and eventually retired with an electrical issue.
Patrick Naylor/Tom Bishop (Fuchs/GPM/MRF/Bremax-Mitsubishi Evo 9) posted a late retirement while Arwel Parry/Catrin Price (Moduron Arwel Parry Motors/GPrice Photographs-Subaru Impreza) rolled out of the rally and Geoff Smith/Joe Dunn (Liberty Express Ltd-Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6) also retired.
Instead, Wug Utting and Dan Nieroda (Utting Estates/Geoff Jones (Wales) Motorsport-Subaru Impreza) took second among the PWRC pack from Chris Gash/Dylan Williams (Subaru Impreza).
Class 8 for the over 2000cc 2WD cars was completely decimated with Andrew Fox/Jaime-Lee Fox (Severnside Defibs and Training/Fitzgerald Plant Services-BMW 325) retiring after only two stages with electrical issues. Boyd Kershaw/Keegan Rees (Flying Kiwi Rally Team-Ford Escort Mk2) retired in Hiraethog while Dan Chester and Jack Morris (Dan's Action Vehicles Ltd/Silverstone Rally School-BMW E30) stopped with transmission problems.
Geoff Phelps/Colin Jenkins (Cherry Rock Ltd/Dave Jenkins Motorsport-Ford Escort Mk2) turned in a strong performance to head Damian Cole/Ian Allsop (Get Connected Peugeot 208 Rally4) in Class 7 for the 1600 to 2000cc cars where more retirements were recorded for Max Utting/Huw Mathias (Ford Fiesta) when a brand new alternator failed while Tom Todd/Dan Morefield (Historic Motorsport-Ford Escort Mk1) went out in Hiraethog.
In Class 6 for the up to 1600cc cars Christopher Skinner/Mark Williams (Peugeot 205 GTi) battled home to score maximum class points as alternator failure in the second stage sidelined Michael Jenkins and Christian Brown (Ignition Motorsport-Ford Fiesta R2). Neil Commons/Harriet Worth (Ford Fiesta R2) retired late in the rally after sliding off.
Richard Phillipson/Brian Cammack got their BL Mini 1000 MK3 to the finish in Class 1 for road rally cars and Mike Simpson/Ian Jones headed Class H4 for historic Category 3 cars over 1600cc in their Ford Escort Mk2 with an impressive 18th overall finish in the Interclub rally.
Dylan Fowler-Bishop/Dan Evans (Restruct Ltd/Total Spray Solutions/JFB Motorsport/Jordan Road Surfacing-Nissan Micra) won Class 0 for the 1400cc cars by a huge margin after another attacking performance despite some car issues. Joel Lewis/Jamie Mills (Bucknell Auto Services-Peugeot 106 XSi) were second while Luke Watts/Matt Rogers (Ian Watts & Son Funeral Directors/Watts Memorials Limited/NJ Auto Repairs-MG ZR) finished third after taking a stage maximum in Gwydyr.
Joining the list of retirements were Geraint Williams and Ifan Rowlands (GW Services/Gwynedd Skip and Plant/Carafanau Hamdden/Ceir Seiont/Cacenau Tyn Twll Cakes-Vauxhall Nova) who stopped in Brenig when the car cut out while Ed James/Kevin Lane (EJM Preparation/SJG International-Nissan Micra kit car) went out after hitting a rock in Clocaenog.
The Motorsport UK Pirelli Welsh Rally Championship is supported by Pirelli, Ashmores Press Brake Tooling, Restruct, Moduron Arwel Parry Motors, 57 Tyres and LH Motorsport.
