Local boys triumphant on the Cambrian

Local boy Matt Edwards showed a clean pair of heels to drivers in more powerful cars to not only take a class win but finish ninth overall on the Cambrian Rally which started and finished in the resort on Saturday, and at the same time, he and co-driver and Sam Collis from Chesterfield took their fifth British Trials and Rally Drivers’ Association (BTRDA)1400 Series victory of he season in their 586 Sport MG ZR.

Their 1m 38s 1400 class winning margin was made even more impressive, as they completed the last nine miles of the event with badly bent rear suspension after hitting a pothole in the road, which came on on top of the car losing power steering for the final two miles of the Penmachno South Stage. With Matt already BTRDA 1400 Champion for the year, as well as MG ZR and MSA English Champion, the pair put in a blistering first stage time over 12 miles of gravel track in the Clocaenog forest, recording a time 22 seconds faster than any other 1400 crew, closely followed by a time 12th fastest overall despite the duo referring to stage maps, rather than the traditional pace notes. _“We got off to a really good start and nailed the first stage in the morning,” _said Matthew. He then went on to record top ten stage times on the Penmachno forest stages ._“Penmachno is one of the most demanding stages in the country, as it has not been graded and altered to allow the large logging lorries to come in and out, which leaves it naturally bumpy, twisty and narrow. We pushed hard in there to try and extend our lead but took no risks and I am astonished at the result. I think it’s the fact the stage is so technical which slowed the more powerful cars down that meant we were able to take such competitive times in there.” _

It wasn’t quite such a good day though for Ruthin driver Hugh Hunter in a Ford Focus World Rally Car who had hoped to notch up his third overall Cambrian win, but an accident on the first Penmachno stage of the day saw him lose valuable time to arch rival Steve Perez from Derbyshire also in a Ford Focus WRC. After being pushed back on to the track by spectators, Hunter and co-driver Andy Marchbank went all out to make up the lost time and finished in a creditable second place. Hugh explained: “I knew there was a problem with the car on the first corner of the first stage, it wouldn’t turn in, oversteered badly and was locking up under braking. This made for a particularly interesting ride. “With these problems causing us to lose a lot of time we we’re really happy to find we were leading the event at first service and felt we could have gone on to win. Unfortunately it went wrong on the next stage when the car locked up under braking again and we went off into the scenery. It took spectators well over a minute to get us back on the road, fortunately with no real damage. This left us in second place which we maintained to the end with fastest times on the last two stages.”

Meanwhile former Cambrian clerk of the course Jon Madoc-Jones from Llysfaen, co-driven by 16 year old Tom Bishop from Lincolnshire who was navigating on his first forest rally, took a class win in a Vauxhall Corsa, with Rob Jones from Colwyn Bay co-driven by Ceri Hughes in a British Leyland Mini took second place in the same class. This was the 22nd time that Rob had competed on the Cambrian in the same car – a record that’s unlikely to be beaten by any other driver.