Kelly/colman come out on top after mechanical woe for Hughes/cunniff
Organiser: Caernarvonshire & Anglesey MC When: November 23-24 Where: Anglesey Circuit, Anglesey Championships: WAMC, ANWCC, Formula 1000 Club, Junior 1000 Rally Championship,
Junior 1000 Ecosse Challenge Stages: 15 Starters: 44
Top seeds Mark Kelly and Neil
Colman took a clear victory in their 2.5-litre Ford Escort Mk2 as they cruised to a convincing win by nearly four minutes.
But initially it wasn’t as simple as the final result suggested as, by the end of the first day, they only held an 18-second gap to the Ford Fiesta R5 of Rob Hughes and Sion Cunniff.
The Fiesta R5 crew even took the overall lead on Sunday’s second stage but, as the weather got worse, the Escort crew started to reel them in.
With the gap down to just three seconds with two stages remaining the chance for a scintillating climax was denied when the Fiesta’s driveshaft snapped, handing a comfortable victory to the northern crew.
The fight for the runner-up spot was a close family contest as Scott Moran and Christopher Ridge brought their Escort Mk2 home just 3s ahead of the elder Moran – Roger – and Jamie Vaughan in a Darrian T90 GTR. A further 23s behind were Lee Jones and Lewis Griffiths, gaining their best ever result in their Mitsubishi Lancer E5.
Brandon Smith and Merfyn Williams (T90 GTR) took a steady fifth spot, just two seconds up on the Fiesta R5 of Hughes/cunniff who, despite the stage maximum penalty, pulled back to sixth overall.
Seventh were Andrew Morris and Chloe Thomas (Escort Mk2) in the first of the two-litre cars, who required just a reasonable finish to take the ANWCC Stage Rally Championship and the North Wales Stage Challenge, having won both in 2018.
The top 1600cc car was the Citroen Saxo of Sion Jones and former event winner Will Owen, this time in the left-hand seat, in eighth, while the top 10 was completed by the orange Escort Mk2 of Chris Berry and
Daniel Petrie and Greg Williams and Richard Edwards’ Impreza.
In the 1400cc class, Jonathan Davies and Jamie Wallis (Vauxhall Corsa) ended the first day in the lead from Martyn Quant and Chris Evans (Corsa) but the battle faded on first stage of the second day when the latter crew ran out of fuel midway through the stage! Davies/wallis held the lead until the end with Chris Row and Jayne Audenrow in their MG ZR and Stephen and David Terry’s Nissan Micra next.
Rob Wilson (Citroen C1) only had to start the event in order to be unassailable in the 2019 Junior 1000 Championship and, seeded first, held the lead until the second day when a route error cost himself and co-driver Martin Haggett a big penalty, dropping them down to ninth place at the finish.
This allowed Archie Swinscoe, alongside Neil Bye, to claim victory and also take the championship runner-up spot in his Skoda Citigo.
Results
1 Mark Kelly/ Neil Colman (Ford Escort Mk2) 1h13m05s; 2 Scott Moran/ Christopher Ridge (Escort Mk2) +3m53s; 3 Roger Moran/ Jamie Vaughan (Darrian T90 GTR); 4 Lee Jones/ Lewis Griffiths (Mitsubishi Lancer E5); 5 Brandon Smith/ Merfyn Williams (T90 GT); 6 Rob Hughes/sion Cunniff (Ford Fiesta R5); 7 Andrew Morris/chloe Thomas (Escort Mk2); 8 Sion Jones/will Owen (Citroen Saxo); 9 Chris Berry/ Daniel Petrie (Escort Mk2); 10 Greg Williams/ Richard Edwards (Subaru Impreza). Class winners: Jonathan Davies/jamie Wallis (Vauxhall Corsa); Jones/ Owen; Morris/thomas; Kelly/ Colman.