KUMHO WINS FIRST RALLY OF 2014 WITH MKII FORD ESCORT

Richard Hill and Pat Cooper took their newly-built MKII Ford Escort to an historic win in last weekend’s Red Kite Historic Stages event – the opening round of the West Wales Rally Spares R.A.C. Rally Championship.

The 60-strong field enjoyed stages in the Calo and Crychan complexes and, though conditions were surprisingly good considering the ongoing wet weather, the return of heavy rain as the leading cars set about the deciding 15-mile long test certainly upped the ante.

Hill and Cooper trailed their fellow MKII-mounted rivals Nick Elliott and Dave Price going into this last stage, but were handed the lead when the other Ford was caught out by a bump and crashed out of the event.

The Kumho pair eventually won by a convincing 45 seconds from Terry Brown and Den Golding – an experienced crew whose combined ages total 136!

Kumho is supporting the new-for-2014 Clubmans Challenge that now forms part of the West Wales Rally Spares R.A.C. Rally Championship. The company is giving away two tyres at each of the seven rounds, the winner of which will be drawn from a hat containing the names of all the registered crews.

The Challenge recognises crews competing on limited resources and, to be eligible, teams must use no more than six tyres per rally. The Kumho Clubman’s Challenge runs alongside the main championship and is both class and category based.

Championship Manager Colin Heppenstall said: “We have pledged to try and contain costs and maintain a level playing field, and the Kumho Clubmans Challenge is a major part of that commitment. We are very grateful to Kumho for its generous support of this initiative and for providing welcome assistance to crews competing on limited budgets.”

Kumho’s European Motorsport Manager Steve Thompson remarked: “We are very happy to offer support to competitors in this excellent championship, which was won by Kumho driver Marty McCormack last year. Motorsport is an expensive pastime and it’s good to think we can make life a little easier for those putting their heart and soul into contesting this very competitive series.”

The next round of the seven event championship is the Mid Wales Stages rally on March 2.

TS
08.02.2014
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