DOMINANTWINFOR PAYNE/WILLIAMSON Glyn Memorial Trophy Rally
Organiser: Caernarvonshire & Anglesey Motor Club When: November 24/25 Where: Anglesey Circuit Championships: ANWCC Stages: 14 Starters: 55 and 18 Juniors.
In a dominant performance on the Glyn Memorial Trophy Rally, Charlie Payne/ Carl Williamson secured their fourth win of the year aboard their Ford Fiesta WRC. They took fastest time on all of the two-day event’s 14 stages.
By the end of Saturday’s eight stages their lead was 57 seconds, but this was extended to over a minute by stage nine and was in excess of two minutes when the rally was brought to a premature end after 14 tests.
It had been intended to run 16 stages but oil dropped onto the track while recovering a Junior Rally contender’s car on that event’s final run didn’t allow time to clear the slick, run the final two stages and dismantle the stage furniture before darkness fell on Sunday.
Like the lead, second and third places did not change throughout the rally. The first-time pairing of Mark Kelly and Neil Colman took second fastest on nine stages, dropping down the stage order only on Sunday morning when they struggled with getting their Ford Escort balanced on Hankook tyres. The last-minute entry of Wesley Simpson/ Joe Ford were third overall in their Proton-millington.
Top seeds Wil Owen/paul Maund withdrew after picking up a maximum for taking the wrong route on a stage. They had been in sixth at the time of their indiscretion.
Roger Moran/ashley Trimble debuted their newly acquired Darrian T90 GTR+, but retired with wheel bearing failure on Sunday morning.
The Junior Rally was won by Rob Wilson/martin Haggett (Citroen C1). Having taken 10 fastest stage times, they finished almost a minute and a half ahead of Ioan Lloyd/jonathan Jackson also in a C1. The latter crew survived a lurid high-speed spin into the pitwall on Saturday morning.
Eddie Lewis (C1) did enough to win the 2018 Junior Formula 1000 Championship with eighth overall on the junior event. Results 1 Charlie Payne/ Carl Williamson (Ford Fiesta WRC) 65m05s; 2 Mark Kelly/ Neil Colman (Ford Escort) +2m03s; 3 Wesley Simpson/ Joe Ford (Proton Millington S2500); 4 Rob Hughes/ Sion Cunniff (Escort); 5 Eric Roberts/ Iwan Pritchard (Escort); 6 Lee Jones/ Lewis Griffiths (Mitsubishi Lancer E6); 7 Mark Smith/tim Nunn (Escort); 8 Scott Moran/ Chris Ridge (Escort); 9 Carwyn Ellis/ Dion Morley (Escort); 10 Tom Barber/ Chris Ransley (BMW Compact).
Class winners: Dion Rowlands/ Kai Alcock (Vauxhall Corsa); Ben Wilkinson/andrew Wilkinson (Citroen Saxo); Roberts/ Pritchard; Payne/ Williamson; Linda Thomas/ Vera Jones (Escort); Robert Kennedy/ Catrin Jones (Nissan Micra).
Junior Rally: 1 Rob Wilson/ Martin Haggett (Citroen C1) +1m26s; 2 Ioan Lloyd/jonathan Jackson (C1); 3 Rob Cotton/ Chris Williams (Toyota iq).