by Geoff Mayes


Mitsubishi works driver Guy Wilks took his third win of the 2007 Tesco 99 Octane MSA British Rally Championship on Saturday when he beat triple British Rally champion Mark Higgins by 50 seconds on the International Rally Yorkshire.

With eight fastest times from eleven stages Wilks led from the word go and by the mid-day service was already some 20 odd seconds ahead of team-mate Gwyndaf Evans with Higgins a further 7 seconds down on the two Mitsubishis.

Gwyndaf, a former British Rally Champion and the 2006 Mitsubishi Evo Challenge winner, was looking all set for the runner up spot, despite a precautionary gearbox change, when a gear selector pin worked itself loose on the very last stage, costing the Welshman over 2 minutes and dropping him down to fourth overall.

Fourth spot had been fiercely fought out between Ryan Champion and David Higgins. Both drivers were out in Subaru Imprezas for the first time this year but were trading seconds all morning long until Champion ran into mechanical problems, dropping back to the bottom end of the top 10.

This meant that, when Evans lost time on the last stage, David Higgins joined his brother Mark on the podium back in Pickering.

Phillip Morrow drove a steady but still rapid rally to take fifth overall, and more importantly he won the Evo Challenge, and along with it the prize of a works drive in the 2008 British Rally Championship.

Both Wyn Humphries and Rob Swann had headed to Yorkshire on the back of some very strong results in the championship and were second and third overall respectively in the standings.

However both men had rallies that they would rather forget. Wyn struggled with handling issues before retiring mid-way through the day with mechanical maladies. Swann had no intercom all morning but was still inside the top 10 at the mid day re-group. However the engine let go shortly after lunch, ending his chances of climbing up the championship ladder.

Another competitor to suffer at the cruel hand of fate was Matt Beebe, the reigning R3 champion. The young driver had just moved into the overall 2 wheel drive lead when he cracked his gearbox casing late in the event and was forced to retire. That gifted Frazer Jones in his Fiesta not only the R2 honours but also the distinction of being the first 2 wheel drive finisher as well.