Llandudno’s Matt Edwards and Co-Driver Sam Collis took an emphatic victory on the Malcolm Wilson Rally over the weekend, mastering traitorous icy conditions on their way to their first ever 1400 overall victory.

The pairing also took the first win for their 586 Sport-run MG ZR on a BTRDA 1400 event, taking maximum points in that series as well as scooping honours for the MG ZR Challenge and MSA English Championship

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This event would mark Edwards’ return to the Cumbrian Lake District following a spell working for event sponsor Malcolm Wilson at M-Sport, the venue from which the crews left at 8am on a crisp Saturday morning, and with Edwards in his 710 Oil, Trade aways, Racing Lines, Pamaya.com, and EvoParts.org supported MG ZR running third on the stages, they would be amongst the first competitors to sample the challenging stages that lay in store. The Welshman however was fastest out the blocks with an instant confidence in the handling of his car despite the ever changing grip levels and a road surface that was ranging from clean and dry, to sheet ice and packed snow. As such, he would set a pace 10 second quicker than the closest class rival, and more importantly a stunning 14 seconds faster than round 1 event winner Darren Pinchin in his Proton over just 3 miles. But the stage was not completely without incident for the crew; a collision with a gate post on the outside of an icy hairpin rearranging the drivers door.

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Next, was the classic 6 mile Comb stage with steep ascents and decents invariably covered in snow; but yet again it was the enthusiastic duo who dominated the 1400 field and indeed making an impact on the event overall; setting 8th fastest time overall amongst four wheel drive World Rally Cars and 2 Litre turbo charged ‘Group N’ cars, a tremendous achievement in 1400cc 2 wheel drive car. This now opened up their advantage to 37 seconds at the head of the 1400 field after just 10 miles of competition, and with a further 22 seconds pulled from under his rivals feet in the 2 remaining stages of the mornig, the talented youngster would arrive in Penrith service halt with 4 seconds shy of a minutes lead;

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“This morning couldn’t really have gone any better for us” he claimed after climbing out the passenger side of his 586 Sport machine due to the cosmetic damage to his own door. “Apart from the indiscretion with the gate post which happened at almost walking pace, we have just tried to keep the car moving forwards and off the iciest patches by using the fresh snow and grass banks and verges to snow down, as that’s the only place with any grip on many occasions. The balance of the car makes it predictable even in these conditions so it’s just about carrying the best speed you can and making sure you can brake early enough and get it facing the way you want in time! Its scary at times but great fun” he admitted.

The stunning drive over the first 4 stages would mean baring major mistakes or mechanical failure, the event was already Edwards’ to lose; often an uncomfortable position to be in, giving rise to the problem of going fast enough to maintain concentration yet not get into trouble. Relying on experience of his Fiesta Sport Trophy and Bulldog BRC Challenge win of almost a year ago, the 25 year old set off into the 7 mile Grizedale North test at a solid pace, and made use of his relative knowledge of the technical yet flowing stage to eek out another 11 seconds over all the chasing 1400 cars, with team mate Callum black also consolidating a fine 3rd for the 586 Sport team. A longer 10 mile test in Grizedale South now lay between Edwards and Collis before the return to service, and with loose stones pebbled across the stage making punctures a strong possibility from deviating off-line, a slower yet still rhythmical pace through the stage would see them safely through dropping just 4 seconds to Pinchin who now lay over a minute behind with a stage to go.

Following the second visit to Penrith service for routine checks on his faultless MG, just 6 miles separated Edwards and the team from their first 1400 overall victory; an ambition Edwards was ambitious to achieve. Simple it may have soundedsounded; yet straight forward it wasn’t, with ice patches and slush still on the Greystoke stage, leaving the crews with just two wheel-tracks to follow through the winter wonderland. Nevertheless, the Welshman remained as cool as the icy road before him to take an impressive and well-earned victory by 51 seconds. Added to that feat was the remarkable position of 16th overall from an entry list of over 100, as well as the accolade of being the fastest 2 wheel drive crew over the first three stages of the rally, taking the Comb and Hobcarton trophy as donated by the local forestry commission.

Following the Champaign celebrations in Cockermouth High Street, Matt commented;

“Today has been one really tough day! The stages have been lethal in parts making controlling the car very difficult and carrying good speed near impossible, but being able to keep going and not loose unnecessary time enabled us to open up a really good margin this morning. From then on it was all about making sure we didn’t give it all away. Today is what rallying is all about and I must say a huge well done to the organisers for seeing all stages run as planned and admire their bravery for doing so despite their somewhat ‘slick’ characteristics in paces; as we found out this morning! A big thanks to all at the 586 Sport Team, EvoParts.org, Racing Lines, Trade Aways, Pamaya.com and 710 Oil for their help and support and of course to Sam on a spot on job on the notes today – it was scary enough having the pedals and a steering wheel so I don’t know what he was going through!! I just hope we can find the budget to continue as we have started the year”

The next outing is scheduled to be the Somerset stages in 6 weeks time, but Edwards’ on going budgetary constraints are likely to result in the pairing missing the event in favour of the more local Plains Rally in May. Their progress however can be followed at http://www.merallysport.com.

Further info on 586 Sports and Callum Black can be found at http://www.586group.com/ and http://www.callumblack.com/ respectively, as well as event results being available at http://www.BTRDARALLY.com.

ENDS