LLANDOVERY hosted the opening round of the prestigious 2016 Mintex MSA British Historic Rally Championship, which took place last Sunday in the forests around Tirabad and Caio.
Organised by Amman and District Motor Club, The Red Kite Stages rally has proved an extremely popular rally over the last three seasons with outstanding special stages and a compact format, covering 45 stage miles spread over six times stages.
Reigning British Historic Champion Jason Pritchard from Builth Wells and co-driver Phil Clarke made the dream start to their title defence by securing the top spot in the North Road Garage supported Ford Escort RS – finishing some 13 seconds ahead of championship rival Nick Elliott also driving an Escort.
Malcolm Rich wheeled out his new mount for the season, stepping up to a category one class Ford Escort RS. Despite very little testing, difficult conditions and tough opposition Malcolm and co-driver Iwan Jones finished a credible 18th and no dents.
Another debutant was Craig Jones from Felinfach who was contesting his first forest rally in a newly built BMW 328 Compact. Craig and co driver Jon Hawkins from Llyswen finished a credible 33rd position in the modern section. Fellow BMW pilot Dai Block and Glyn Price from Sennybridge finished 19th.
After a quiet 2015 season Cameron Davies from Llandovery took delivery of a new fiesta and finished 10th .
The modern section of the rally was won by David Bogie from Scotland who used the event as a shakedown for his new Skoda Fabia R5 car in preparation for the opening round of the British Rally Championship; The Mid Wales Stages, which starts in Newtown on March 5.