Motor sport: Llandudno driver celebrates first win

Jun 24 2010 By Dave Jones

MATT EDWARDS claimed his maiden victory on Sunday’s Mid-Wales Stages Rally in Newtown.

The Llandudno speedster, along with co-driver Sam Collis, triumphed following a late package offered by Geoff Jones Motorsport to contest the event in a Subaru Impreza N12.

The Swift Group Ltd and Dunlop Tyres supported driver took fastest times on all six stages to win the event by a staggering margin of nearly three minutes, despite this being the Welshman’s first outing in a four-wheel-drive car since a third overall on the 2008 Cambrian Rally.

With a late morning start from Newtown, the pairing, normally found in a 1.4 engine MG ZR this year, led the field away followed by several world rally cars set for five fantastic stages in the Hafren and Myherin forests near Llanidloes.

As is now seemingly customary for Edwards, he would immediately get to grips with his new stead and promptly set a time 25 seconds faster than anybody else through the first nine-mile stage.

He followed that up with a further 16-second blitz of his rivals in the following test to head to service with a 41-second lead.

“We seemed to settle in to a really good rhythm straight away which is always important, and I felt comfortable with the pace and handling of the car not long after the start of the stage, so we built on that as the stage progressed and it seems to have done the trick,” exclaimed Edwards.

“The car is a lot more powerful yet progressive than the last Subaru I drove in 2008 but it’s a big challenge to totally change your driving style for four-wheel drive again just a week after doing an event in two-wheel drive car, but with the package offered by Geoff Jones, we are able to do a few miles testing beforehand to ease the transition.”

The afternoon would see two more long stages in Myherin then a final blast round the Sweet Lamb spectator stage, but there was no stopping Edwards and Collis as they returned to Newtown with a winning margin of two minutes 51 seconds. It was Edwards’ first overall rally victory.

“I’m obviously over the moon, as besides the result, we stuck to what we planned to do, drove our own rally to get some experience of the car, and just kept it clean and tidy without making mistakes,” he added.

Edwards and Collis will resume their BTRDA 1400 campaign on the Quinton Stages on July 10.

For more information on Edwards visit www.merallysport.com for news reports, in-car footage and photos.