By Paul Evans

Dylan Davies leads the Pirelli MSA Welsh Rally Championship at the halfway point of the season – but with his advantage cut to just six points, it will be all to play for on the remaining four rounds.

The Llanon driver had made a great start to the season in his Subaru Impreza, with all of his 72 points coming in the opening three rounds of the series. But after he and Caernarfon co-driver Llion Williams elected to miss the most recent Plains Rally, that has allowed the opposition to close the gap – most notably Llandudno’s Matt Edwards, who has won the last two rounds in his Swift Group Fiesta R5.

Edwards and Pwllheli co-driver Darren Garrod recovered from a rear puncture to win the Welshpool-based Plains Rally – beating a big field of 117 competitors over stages in the Dyfnant and Gartheiniog forests. Having been as low as 13th after SS1, Edwards set the fastest time on all the remaining seven stages to turn a 28 second deficit into a 20 second victory margin.

Llangefni’s Keith Parry and co-driver Eryl Evans, from Lampeter, are third in the standings in their Subaru Impreza, ahead of Matthew Hirst (who rolled his Mitsubishi Evo out of round three) and Wug Utting (Subaru).

Former Welsh Rally Champion Luke Francis, from Rhuddlan, is sixth in the points table, after he and co-driver John H Roberts (Colwyn Bay) finished second on the last two rounds in their Fiesta WRC. Francis actually led the Plains Rally early on, before a charging Edwards overtook.

Kalvin Green (Treorchy) heads both the Junior and the Group N category for less modified cars in his Ford Fiesta ST.

The very well supported Two Wheel Drive category has seen four different drivers take maximum points on the opening four rounds. Ffestiniog’s Ieuan Rowlands won last time out, although it’s Max Utting who leads the category standings.

The next round of the Pirelli MSA Welsh Rally Championship is the Red Kite Stages. The Neath-based event, organised by Amman and District Motor Club, takes place on Sunday 24 June.