By Paul Evans
Matt Edwards stormed to another sensational win on the Plains Rally – setting the fastest time on all 10 stages in his Fiat Abarth 131 to win the ‘National’ 2WD section of the Bala-based event by exactly a minute.
The result puts the three-time British rally champion second overall in both the Pirelli Ravenol Welsh and British Historic rally championships – not to mention the class lead in the highly competitive Restruct Welsh Historic category.
“It has been really nice to have that sort of run in the car,” said Edwards.
“We have been looking for that sort of result all along, really.
“We have won a couple [of rallies] already this year but we have always had a few gremlins so it’s a huge credit to the team and, of course, Hamish [Campbell] who was great on the notes all day.
“Taking fastest time on every stage is a really nice bonus, too.
DAVIES: Dylan Davies’ Škoda Fabia R5 in Bala this evening ahead of tomorrow’s Plains Rally 2022.
🏴 @MarkGlennerste1 | @MotorsportSkoda | @plainsrally | @WnRC | @ourmotorsportuk | #PlainsRally pic.twitter.com/9giNGP1JsQ
— Rallying UK 🌐 (@RallyingUK) May 20, 2022
“It’s all coming together now.”
Matthew Hirst/Declan Dear won the event outright in their Delta Salvage Ford Fiesta R5+, despite picking up three punctures along the way.
Three wins from three rallies leaves them with a perfect 90 points score at the top of the Pirelli Ravenol Welsh Rally Championship leaderboard.
Carmarthen’s James Giddings finished a brilliant second on the Plains Rally in only his second event in his Group N Fordpad Mitsubishi Evo 9.
Co-driven by Aled Davies, the former Fiesta ST Trophy and Citroën C2 Challenge champion drove superbly well to eventually get the better of Bob Morgan/Ade Williams in their Winner Garage Škoda Fabia R5+.
However, Dylan Davies’ hopes of winning the Welsh title for a second time took a dent when he retired his Škoda Fabia R5+ on the opening stage.
Superb day out on the @plainsrally yesterday! Huge congrats to @MatthewHirst2 & @DeclanDear on the overall win, and @MERallysport on winning the Historics again in the epic 131! #PlainsRally pic.twitter.com/IrYEyR12xi
— BritishRallyMedia (@BritRallyMedia) May 22, 2022
Presteigne’s Liam Griffiths has extended his lead in the OnThePaceNote.co.uk supported Welsh Junior Championship after he and co-driver Andrew Sankey won the category in their Discover Parks Ford Fiesta ST.
Hefin Lloyd-Davies has also taken the Welsh class W3 lead after he and co-driver Rich Jones won the category in their rapid Jones Bros Engineering Vauxhall Corsa.
A great run on the Plains Rally saw Brynli Thomas score back-to-back wins and take the lead in the Road Rally class, the Peugeot 306 Rallye driver loving forestry events after many years in the lanes.