The penultimate round of the 2015 MSA English Rally Championship was the Trackrod Forest Stages which took place over forest stages in North Yorkshire on Saturday 26th September. There were 40 MSA English Rally Championship crews amongst the large entry.
The hotly contested 1400 category saw another close contest between Ashley Slights / Alex Lee (Toyota Yaris) and Dave Bennett / Alistair McNeil (Corsa) on their local event. This time it was Slights who opened up an early lead in Langdale and extended it over the next two stages and although Bennett took time back on stages 4 and 6 it was not enough, and the Toyota driver came out ahead by some 26 seconds.
Boyd Kershaw / Bryan Hull (Ford Escort Mk2) won class E5 ahead of Jody Bowcott / David Millard (Ford Escort Mk2), whilst Tony Simpson / Ian Bevan (Fiesta ST) took the points in class E4.
Rhys Yates (Ford Fiesta R2) accompanied by Tom Woodburn was again the winner of the large E3 class and Rhys now moves into the overall lead in the driver championship.
Nick Carr / Joe Sturdy (VW Lupo) also took the maximum points in the E1 class for standard cars, finishing ahead of Sion Ellis / Caron Tomlinson (Micra). This result brings Nick and Joe back into championship contention but they will have to score well on the final round.
After Round 6 (of 7) the leading drivers in the 2015 MSA English Rally Championship are:-
1 Rhys Yates Chesterfield 121
2 David Bennett York 119
3 Ryan Weston Aberdeen 105
4 James Hutchings Telford 104
5 Nick Carr York 101
23 year old Rhys Yates is also the leading junior driver in the championship. The prize for the winning driver of the MSA English Rally Championship is a free entry to the Wales Rally GB National Rally.
There are 135 drivers and 110 co-drivers who have scored points on the 2015 MSA English Rally Championship and a full list of all the points scorers can be found under CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS (Best 5 scores to count) The final round of the 2015 MSA English Rally Championship is the Tempest 2 Rally on Saturday 7th November.
Photo is of Rhys Yates / Tom Woodburn (Fiesta R2) on the Trackrod Forest Stages. Courtesy of RalliPhotosWales