Payne Is The Malton Master With Third Win In A Row

Charlie Payne took his sixth win on the Malton Forest Rally and his third event win in succession. With Carl Williamson on the notes, their Ford Fiesta RS WRC was never headed over the six stages in tricky conditions.

- Peter Scherer

On the opening Cropton stage the brand new Proton Iriz R5 – making its competition debut – of Ollie Mellors/ Ian Windress was able to match Payne’s time, with Stephen Petch/ Michael Wilkinson’s Fiesta RS WRC a further two seconds down in third.

After runs through Gale Rigg and Langdale, Payne’s lead had grown to six seconds, with Petch second, one second up on Mellors. “After the first one and a half miles of each stage it goes flat, so we are losing time,” said Petch.

“I scared myself a little in Gale Rigg, arriving at a corner about three gears too high,” Mellors added.