Considine and Layland are the toast of Cornwall
The first road rally to be run in Cornwall for several years, South Hams MC’s Primrose Rally, was won by John Considine/Shaun Layland. Their final victory margin of over two minutes was misleading as the contest for the win was a close-fought battle right up to the final section.
Iwan Davies/Andrew Lowe had led for most of the event, but were passed by James How/ Nic Jones just before the last regularity of the rally. However, How/ Jones then planted their MG ZR on top of a bank and lost 10 minutes.
Davies/Lowe were back in front, but at the very next control they, along with nine other crews, collected a wrong approach, adding 15 minutes to their total.
These incidents allowed Considine/ Layland, who had been closely matched throughout, to jump from third to first, giving the driver his maiden rally win.
The runner-up spot went to Dave Webb/ Jacob Williams, who were well clear of third placed Paul Watts/Andy
Ballantyne at the Finish.
Standing water, a legacy of the previous week’s Storm Eunice, was a major problem and accounted for the retirements of both Ethan Davies/Nick Bloxham and Pete Stimson/Mark Butler.
Brendan Wellman/ Daniel Pidgeon had towed How/Jones from the bank after the latter’s off, but immediately afterwards had the clutch on their Nissan Micra fail.
Result
Primrose Road Rally
Organiser: South Hams Motor Club When: February 26-27
Where: Southern Cornwall
Championships: AWSMC Route: 140 miles Starters: 31. Results
1 John Considine/Shaun
Layland (Ford Fiesta ST150) 4m45s; 2 Dave Webb/Jacob Williams (Daihatsu Sirion) +2m25s; 3 Paul Watts/Andy Ballantyne (MG ZR); 4 Lucas Redwood/Zak Linham (Ford Sierra); 5 Luke Quinnell/
Kayleigh Dingle (MG ZR);
6 Ashley Rice/Trevor Disney (Mini Cooper); 7 Simon Heywood/Rhys Williams
(Honda Civic); 8 Byron Jones/ Matthew Maidment (Mazda MX-5); 9 Iwan Davies/Andrew Lowe (Ford Escort); 10 Andrew Hankey/Nathan Coles (BMW 318Ti) Class winners: Experts: Redwood/Linham; Novices: Paul Howard/Andrew Axford (Peugeot 206)