Further back Zimbabwean Conrad Rautenbach had recovered from a time consuming spin to take sixth overall and move into the lead of the Junior Cup, whilst Guy Wilks took the S1600 win, with young James Wozencroft taking the runner up honours.
Class R3, for 2 litre 2 wheel drive cars swayed backwards and forwards between Matt Beebe and Justin Dale all day, with first Dale loosing time in a ditch and then Beebe loosing power steering and having to deal with an in car fire mid stage. However Justin Dale recovered from a 5th gear moment that dented the roof of his Renault Clio against a gate post to take the class win.
But for Champion it was a fine reward after a series of troubled runs on the tarmac rounds: "I pushed hard all day long but was a bit nervous going into that last stage, but everything just worked perfectly and it is great to win my home event. Well done to the organisers on a brilliant rally."
Mark Higgins has been the class of the field all year and with two wins and three runner up spots the Manxman has also been Mr Consistent: "Today we drove for the title, but once we had sorted the engine mounting problems out we got a bit bored and decided to push a bit! Well done to Ryan, he drove a brilliant rally today and we had a great battle."
Despite Mark Higgins having already wrapped the title up the battle for second is still a very closely fought battle with any one of eight drivers still in with a chance at taking the runner up spot.
The final round of the 2006 Tesco 99 Octane British Rally Championship is also the final round of the World Rally Championship, the Wales Rally GB which runs over the first weekend in December.
