Neil Weaver and Nick Thornton made it a hat-trick of wins as they claimed victory in the 1400 section of the Quinton Stages Rally on Saturday
Newtown-based driver Weaver and Shipley co-driver Thornton finished first in the 1400s, 21st overall and won class B9 in their ACCREDIS UK and Hankook Tyres-sponsored 1400cc Proton Satria as they ended-up an impressive one minute clear of the Vauxhall Nova of Justin Lawson and Paul Hargreaves to make it three wins in three years on the Quinton.
It was the crew's fourth outing in the Harry Hockly Motorsport-run car and they made no mistakes as they set the fastest times in the 1400s across six of the seven stages on the Llandovery-based forest gravel event.
By stage four the reigning BTRDA 1400 champions had already carved out a comfortable 44-second lead on the board before they cushioned their advantage by a further 10 seconds on the fifth test despite breaking the power steering belt mid way through the stage.
Although they fixed the problem in service, the belt came off again half a mile into the next stage so they completed the event without power steering but still managed to maintain their pace to the end to notch-up their fourth podium of the season.
“We had a fantastic run and the stages were excellent,” Weaver said. “The event went really, really well and we had no major problems. The power steering belt coming off was a bit frustrating but it didn't hinder us too much or cost us any time.
“The stages were good on the second run through, they hadn't cut up too much, you would never have known they had been used twice. It's a good feeling to have won the Quinton 1400s three times in a row and we'd like to thank all of our sponsors: Telford-based ACCREDIS UK, Hankook Tyres and Harry Hockly Motorsport and everyone else who helped this weekend.”
Weaver and Thornton will next be in action on the Woodpecker Stages Rally on September 1, which is based in Weaver's hometown of Ludlow.
![Neil Weaver / Nick Thornton [Pic credits: Rally Action Photography - www.rallyaction.co.uk]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/315663.jpg)
