By Paul Evans
Matt Edwards and Darren Garrod scored their seventh rally win of what’s turning out to be an incredible season, with victory on the Eventsigns Woodpecker Stages Rally in their Swift Group Ford Fiesta R5.
Their latest rally win secures the North Wales duo the Jordan Road Surfacing BTRDA Rally Series title.
Two punctures, one on the fourth and the other on the seventh and final stage, didn’t prevent the Llysfaen driver winning the Ludlow-based event by 30 seconds, after a commanding performance.
“This is such a sentimental title for me,” said Edwards. “You know, with my dad working on events in the [BTRDA] championship and competing here for so many years, it’s such a great championship to win. I love all the events in the series but this one is fantastic and has some amazing stages. It’s a real honour to win this one and get the title in the bag.”
Former Welsh champions Luke Francis/John H Roberts finished second in their Ford Fiesta WRC, while former BTRDA champions Stephen Petch/Michael Wilkinson completed the top three in their Ford Fiesta WRC.
Dylan Davies/Llion Wiiliams finished fifth in their Subaru Impreza and lead the Pirelli MSA Welsh Rally Championship with just the final round to go.
There were plenty of retirements – even on the opening stage, when Keith Parry/Eryl Evans rolled their Subaru Impreza, Hugh Hunter/Rob Fagg parked their Fiesta WRC with engine problems and Ian Joel/Graeme Wood ripped a wheel off their Escort Cosworth after hitting a large rock. Bob Morgan/Adie Williams stopped on SS2 with fuel related issues with their Škoda Fabia vRS and Russ Thompson/Andy Murphy suffered gearbox problems in their Mitsubishi Evo IX on SS4.
Zak Hughes/Tom Wood set six out of seven fastest stage times to think they’d won the Welsh Under 23 class by almost a minute, but their title hopes were shattered when their Fiesta ST hit electrical problems on the final road section and they didn’t reach the finish. Kalvin Green/Osian Owen also hit bad luck, with a broken gear linkage putting their Fiesta ST out on SS4.
Woodpecker Stages Rally – top 10 finishers
1. Matt Edwards/Darren Garrod (Ford Fiesta)….42mins 02secs
2. Luke Francis/John H Roberts (Ford Fiesta WRC)….42mins 32secs
3. Stephen Petch/Michael Wilkinson (Ford Fiesta WRC)….43mins 07secs
4. Martyn England/Dawn England (Ford Fiesta R5+)….43mins 58secs
5. Dylan Davies/Llion Williams (Subaru Impreza)….44mins 19secs
6. Pat Naylor/Ian Lawrence (Mitsubishi Evo IX)….44mins 20secs
7. Matthew Hirst/Declan Dear (Mitsubishi Evo IX)….45mins 17secs
8. Scott Faulkner/Gareth Parry (Mitsubishi Evo IX)….45mins 20secs
9. Ian Bainbridge/Daniel May (Subaru Impreza)….45mins 31secs
10. Joe Price/Chris Brooks (Ford Escort RS)….45mins 33secs