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74 | AUGUST 2019BIRCHALL DOMINATES AT
2019 WELSH HILLRALLY
Words and pictures: Gary Simpson / SongasportJUSTIN BIRCHALL AND
JONATHAN KOONJA led
from start to fi nish to claim a
dominant Zictory at the 201
;elsh ,ill Rally at ;alters Arena.
The result saw fi rst place go to
a traditional off-road race car
̄ though in a sign of the times,
Birchall and /oonNa were pursued
to the fi nishing line by no less than
three UTV-based Zehicles.
The eZent, organised by That’s
Motorsport 0imited, was sponsored
by Voxcloud, 7taffordshire 7igns,
Britpart, 4ar ,omes, Bowler,
;ynne ;illiams 4roperties, Birchall
*oodserZice, Nicky+rist.com,
+amber, A.( Offroad, Commercial
Colours and AlldriZe Classic x.
The action started on the *riday
eZening with two short stages.
Birchall got off to a ¾ ying start in
his 0ofthouse *reelander, heading
the leader board by 21 seconds
from last year’s winner 4aul
Rowlands in his 4olaris.Ant .ackson’s ;arrior was third
at this stage. A couple of crews had
problems early on, howeZer, with
.on 7prackling losing driZe in his
Bowler Bulldog and Chloe .ones
damaging the steering on her 5T
̄ an issue which was still being
fi xed late into *riday eZening.
A marathon day of action on
the 7aturday saw no less than tenstages being completed. Birchall
continued to set a blistering pace
and was fastest on eZery single one
of them, with Rowlands maintaining
second place. Mark .acUues in his
0ofthouse 07 was third at the
end of the day, with .ackson haZing
dropped down the leader board
after a stage maximum following a
broken propshaft..ackson was to encounter more
problems on the 7unday, when his
steering broke. ,e and naZigator
4eter ;iddop did battle on to fi nish
the eZent, albeit only in 1th place.
7aturday’s stages were causing
problems for other competitors,
too. Alan Thomas stopped on
7tage with suspected differential
issues on his ;alker-Adams