Red Kite Stages - (NEW DATE) 8 Sep 13

Win Number 2 for Brecon Rally Star Sara

Posted: February 7, 2014 12:26 PM

Rising Brecon rally star Sara Williams clinched her second outright win of the season at the weekend (8th September) with victory on the Red Kite Stages.

The event, organised by Ammanford and District Motor Club, is a special one for Sara because it was the first ever gravel rally that she competed on, in 2009. Then she was seeded last on the road and she and co-driver Patrick Walsh from Aberystwyth finished in 21st place.

Just four years later Sara was seeded at the head of the field in her Subaru Impreza STi. The Llandovery based event saw some of the forest stages completely dry while others ran in torrential rain. Sara, with Dai Roberts from Carmarthen alongside her on this occasion, mastered the difficult conditions on the six stages surrounding the Epynt military ranges to finish 23 seconds ahead of their nearest rivals after setting the fastest time on three of the six stages.

Second place went to the Surrey based duo of Max and Wug Utting in their Impreza while Gloucester’s Jason Morgan and Adie Williams finished third in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI.

After the event a delighted Sara commented, “It was great to win the Swansea Bay Rally earlier in the season but to come back to where my gravel rallying career began and take another win feels really special.”

She believes that experience she picked up earlier in the year has helped her in her rallying, explaining,
“I’ve been doing some rallying in Ireland and the events out there, particularly the high speed sections that are common on their events, have really helped me develop my driving style and I was able to make use of that on this event.”

Sara was also quick to share the credit for the victory, however, saying,
“Having Dai, with all his experience, co-driving for me was invaluable and I couldn’t do any of it without my sponsors, Millers Oils, Pro-R, Ian Jones Tyres and Geoff Jones Motorsport, Dunlop Tyres, Brecon Motors and Brecon Car Rentals.”

Sara will now continue her build up to the biggest event of her season, Wales Rally GB in November. The Llandudno based event will see her tackling the same stages as the world’s top rally drivers.

You can follow Sara’s progress at www.sararally.com.

Video: Full TV Program

Posted: January 30, 2014 11:59 AM

Video Clips

Posted: January 30, 2014 11:55 AM

McCormack and Clarke settle the WWRS R.A.C. Rally Championshi

Posted: January 30, 2014 11:48 AM

Marty McCormack and Phil Clarke are the inaugural West Wales Rally Spares R.A.C. Rally Championship victors after another mighty performance on the Red Kite Historic Stages (Sunday 8 September).

The Escort Mk2 crew led from the start to take their fourth straight victory and seal the 2013 championship after a superb day of rallying on classic Welsh stages. While Nick Elliott and Dave Price retired after an off, Jason Pritchard and Dale Furniss turned in another fine performance to lead the challenge of McCormack and take maximum points in the FIA Appendix K category.

McCormack made his intentions clear on the opening stage in Crychan by going five seconds faster than Pritchard as Elliott dropped 10s with too soft a tyre compound. McCormack pressed home his advantage in the following stage just across the road in Cefn and then took his lead out to half a minute after the fast and flowing Caio stage.

“We were straight on it this morning: there are no lie-ins with this championship,” said McCormack. “We kept pushing because we knew Nick and Jason would be coming hard at us.” However, Elliott, now getting into the groove, was out on the second run through Crychan, when the car slid off the road. There was very little damage, but their rally was over.

After a dry morning with some dust starting to kick up, heavy rain showers arrived as crews completed the second lap of stages, but the dramatically different grip levels did not unsettle McCormack, who kept up his pace to head Pritchard back to Llandovery by 42s for a fine victory.

“We were a bit slow on the first run through Caio,” admitted Pritchard, after losing 18s in eight miles. Otherwise, Pritchard kept well in touch with McCormack despite nursing a sore hand after a recent workshop accident. “I’m pleased to be so close in our first season in historics,” said Pritchard after another impressive performance.

A strong and rapid rally from Matthew Robinson/Nigel Hutchinson put them up to third overall from Kevin Davies/Dale Bowen. “It was slippery on the first couple of stages, but we’ve had a good day,” reported Robinson. Davies, on only his third rally of the year, was slowed in the morning by an ailing clutch which needed pumping, but upped his pace once it was fixed. “I was pleased with our pace in the afternoon,” he said after strong runs in Cefn and Caio.

Out on the opening stage with gearbox failure went the Escort Mk2 of Terry Brown/Tomos Whittle and clutch dramas put Matt Edwards/Andrew Murphy out of contention.

Probably the best performance of the rally came from Ben Mellors and Alex Lee, who pushed their Pinto-powered Escort Mk2 into a class-winning sixth overall, just eight seconds behind the BDG version of Tim Pearcey/Jamie Edwards. An on-going gearbox problem hindered Pearcey on his first rally for three months, but Mellors had a clear run to chalk up another fine result.

Packing out a quality top 10 were a trio of Escorts, all tied on time: Warren Philliskirk/Paul Wakely, Will Nicholls/Nick Broom and James Potter/Bob Duck ended the day level, with Philliskirk setting the better time on the opening stage from Nicholls and Potter. The three cars were never more eight seconds apart on any one stage and were covered by just two seconds on the first run through the 8.5-mile Caio stage.

With another storming performance, the BMW 2002 of Terry Cree and Richard Shores was the class of category 2, finishing half a minute clear of the Escort Mk1 of David Kirby/Chris Rixon as Dick Slaughter and Geoff Dearing took third. “Excellent stages,” reported Cree. “The car has been very good. The second run through Caio was very slippery in the rain and we were half a minute slower.”

Nick Jarvis and Paul Spooner had a good rally to take class C5 from Ian Rix/Rob Cook, while Vince Bristow and Elgan Davies topped class C2 after running first on the road with a freshly rebuilt engine. Bristow was let down on a service crew, so drove the van and trailer from Sussex and fettled the car himself during the rally to make the win very well deserved. “I’m grateful to all the people who helped in the service area,” he said after finishing clear of the similar Escort Mk1 of Robin Shuttleworth/Ron Roughead.

Away from the Escort Mk2s in category 3, class D2 went to the Hillman Avenger of Graham Thatcher and Robert James. “We had understeer for the first two stages and lost a minute on the last stage with a puncture,” reported Thatcher.

In Category 1, the Singer Chamois of Chris and Jo Tooze dropped a lot of time in the opening stage when it stopped with a chronic misfire and though they completed the stages, they were OTL. Meanwhile, a fuel problem sidelined the Alfa Romeo of John Everard/Mark Sharpley on the final stage so maximum category points went to the Saab 96 of Stephen Higgins and Don Bramfoot. “It’s been a good day with excellent stages,” said Higgins before dashing to Liverpool for the ferry back to the Isle of Man.

In series 7, for the open category cars, Dylan Davies and Llion Williams came out on top in their Ford Escort Mk1 despite some major issues with tyre wear. However, they had gone into the final Caio stage trailing the Escort Mk2 of Ben Llewellin/Chris Davies by seven seconds. Sadly, Llewellin lost a wheel in Caio and his rally was over after another highly impressive performance.

Marty McCormack: WWRS R.A.C. Rally Champion

Posted: January 30, 2014 11:47 AM

Marty McCormack has paid tribute to his rival competitors after winning the inaugural West Wales Rally Spares R.A.C. Rally Championship on the Red Kite Historic Stages (Sunday 8 September).

McCormack and co-driver Phil Clarke were confirmed as 2013 champions after taking their fourth win from five rallies and cannot be caught on the final round, the Trackrod Historic Cup (27/28 September).

“We’ve had a fantastic season,” said McCormack. “A lot of people have come together to make this happen. Phil has done a fantastic job and his vast experience shows.” Clarke wins the overall co-drivers’ title to add to their famous victory on the 2012 Roger Albert Clark Rally.

McCormack said it has been a tremendously competitive season.
“The competition this season has been fierce and you’ve had to be on your game straightaway. We’ve had some good first stages and that has been one of our strengths. There are no lie-ins with this championship!”

He said his key rivals made him work very hard for the title.
“Nick Elliott is always quick and there have been a lot of people pushing us on. Jason Pritchard has very little experience in a Mk2 Escort and to come on the way he has this season is very impressive.”

McCormack said that he was particularly pleased with his speed in Wales, which included victory on the Neath Valley Stages by just seven-tenths of a second over Elliott.

“We just did it one rally at a time. Going to Wales and being as competitive as we are: I’m really happy with that, because it is so fast down there. I’d not done much rallying in Wales before this season.”

McCORMACK & CLARKE WIN INAUGURAL WWRS R.A.C. RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP WITH KUMHO-SHOD MKII ESCORT

Posted: January 30, 2014 11:46 AM

Marty McCormack and Phil Clarke slid their Kumho-shod MKII Escort to a fourth consecutive victory on September 8’s Red Kite Historic Stages event, thereby clinching the inaugural West Wales Rally Spares R.A.C. Rally Championship with one round still to run.

Commenting on their dominant performance McCormack said: “We were straight on it this morning: there are no lie-ins with this championship.” And how right he was, having blasted his Escort into a full five second lead over the similar Ford of Jason Pritchard and Dale Furniss during the opening stage in Crychan. After a dry, dusty morning’s rallying, heavy rain showers completely changed the conditions in time for the second round of tests. This could well have upset McCormack’s momentum, but he used his Kumho gravel tyres to full advantage and had ground out an impressive 42-second advantage by the end of the event.

Commenting on the result, Kumho’s European Motorsport Manager Steve Thompson said:
“Marty and Phil have performed faultlessly throughout this excellent new championship and thoroughly deserve their win. We are naturally delighted with the way our tyres have aided their cause.”

The final event in the WWRS R.A.C. Championship is the Trackrod Historic Cup, which takes place in the rallying heartland of Yorkshire over September 27/28.

Results

Posted: January 30, 2014 11:40 AM

Red Kite Stages - 8 Sep 13 - RESULTS

Results by: Amc Rally Results

Seeded Entry Lists

Posted: September 6, 2013 3:38 PM

Red Kite Stages - (NEW DATE) 8 Sep 13 - HISTORIC ENTRY LIST
Red Kite Stages - (NEW DATE) 8 Sep 13 - MODERN ENTRY LIST

8th of September confirmed

Posted: April 8, 2013 10:26 PM

RED KITE STAGES

WWRS R.A.C Rally Championship backs Red Kite postponement

Posted: January 19, 2013 3:35 PM

The organisers of the West Wales Rally Spares R.A.C Rally Championship have given 100% backing to the decision to postpone the Red Kite Stages due to heavy snow. Championship manager Colin Heppenstall has pledged to work with the team at Amman and District Motor Club over a revised date for the event.

With a foot of snow in the Welsh forests, Sunday’s rally (20 January) was rightly postponed as the organisers put the safety of competitors, officials and spectators first.

“We fully respect the decision made by the event organisers and appreciate the difficult decision they had to make,” said Heppenstall. “It is a massive disappointment that the British weather has intervened and after so much hard work by the Red Kite team.”

Heppenstall also confirmed that the championship team will work with the organisers over a revised date for the rally later in the year. “We are fully behind the event and the organisers,” he said. “The next step is that we need to speak to all registered championship contenders and the MSA about a new date.”

RED KITE STAGES - 20 Jan 13 - POSTPONED - New Date - 8 Sep 13

Posted: January 18, 2013 6:59 PM

Statement from the organisers of the Red Kite: 6pm Friday 18 January 18, 2013

"After careful consideration, discussions within the organising team and a member of the safety crew attempting some of the route late this afternoon and the change in the weather not coming as predicted, we are sorry to have to announce that The RED KITE STAGES and RED KITE HISTORIC STAGES has been postponed.

This decision has not been taken lightly, but we MUST consider the safety of ALL competitors, marshals, and spectators alike.

By postponing this evening we are giving everyone a fair chance, as we have competitors, officials and marshals travelling from all over the country and further afield.

A full statement will follow in due course.

The revised date will be the 8th September."

WEATHER UPDATE: Latest info from the Red Kite organisers (2pm Friday):

Posted: January 18, 2013 3:49 PM

The Red Kite Stages & Red Kite Historic Stages Weather Update.

"At present we are in the lap of the Gods.

We can appreciate that you are all anxious if the event is going to run.
We are at this time putting in place contingencies for the event to run.
With a change in the weather due later tonight, we are not going to make a final decision until 07:00 on Saturday Morning.

If the event is cancelled we will put a statement on the Website and BRF.


We can only apologise if this is not a definitive answer."

On behalf of the organisers.

Running Order

Posted: January 15, 2013 10:59 AM

The running order will be:

RAC series 1 cars (numbers 36-40)
Short gap
RAC series 2, 3 and 4 cars (numbers 41-83)
10-minute gap
RAC series 5, 6 and 7 cars (numbers 31-35) Short gap
Event modern entries (numbers 1-29)

Regulatons / Details / Event Website

Posted: December 18, 2012 4:57 PM

RED KITE STAGES