As the cars returned to mid-day service local boy Jonny Milner held a slender 0.9 second lead over Ryan Champion with Mark Higgins in third position. Further back Conrad Rautenbach, Phil Morrow and Guy Wilks were embroiled in a three way fight for the Junior Cup whilst Guy also held a commanding lead in the S1600 category after Roman Kresta had retired with engine maladies, leaving young guns Barry Clark and James Wozencroft to fight over second in class.
With his engine mountings tightened up champion elect Mark Higgins went on a bit of a charge going quickest through the second running of Cropton, Gale Rigg and High Moor. At the same time Ryan Champion had gradually overhauled Jonny Milner and it was now Champion leading, but Higgins had closed the gap down to a mere 4 seconds with 2 stages still to go. Although Milner was still third he had the Hankook shod Mitsubishi of Gwyndaf Evans breathing down his neck but things very nearly went horribly wrong for Gwyndaf on Stage 11, Langdale 2. An overly ambitious attempt to make up time over a crest had resulted in the Mitsubishi punching a hole in a hedge and it cost him a fair bit of time rejoining the track! The crew were also concerned that the car was now down on power but discovered that that was because the airbox was full of bracken.
His team mate, Stuart Jones, had earlier retired when the brake calliper had collapsed, seizing the wheel and ending the young Welshman’s strong drive.
With Champion beating Higgins by a mere 0.1 second on this stage it meant that the pair were headed into the final 18 mile Dalby Forest stage separated by 4 seconds. Although Higgins was right on the limit at times Champion managed to pull something a little bit extra out of the bag and took the stage win by almost 3 seconds, and in doing so took his second rally win of the year. Second overall was more than enough to give Mark Higgins his third outright British Rally Championship crown and his second in a row, whilst third overall for Jonny Milner helped extend his lead in the Mitsubishi Evo Challenge.
