Recently we previewed the Defender Challenge by Bowler rally series with a rather awesome picture of a very sideways Land Rover. The first round of the competition kicked off yesterday and produced more great photos.
Run as part of the Mid Wales Stages rally, five entrants for the Defender Challenge took to the slippery forestry roads and hillside tracks around Newtown, Wales. Taking in famous rallying stages such as Sweet Lamb, the 55 mile route proved to be a sufficient challenge to test the capabilities of the Bowler Motorsport prepared Defenders.
In fact the inaugural event proved almost too testing for one team, Richard Hayward and co-driver Matt Lister, who damaged the transmission of their Defender whilst rejoining the road after colliding with a tree. Unfortunately, they lost too much time on stage 4, and were excluded from stage 5.
Edd Cobley, with co-driver Alan Jackson, took the first win in the seven event series, which requires entrants to compete in at least five rounds. More teams are due to be added to the first five ahead of the second round (details below) in April, with a maximum of 15 able to take part in the Challenge.
We love the idea of the Defender Challenge, with its roots in a vehicle first released over 30 years ago, showing just how capable the Defender 90 still is. EngageSportMode will bring you more updates, and hopefully amazing pics, as the series progresses throughout the year.
Defender Challenge by Bowler – Round 1 Results
1. Edd Cobley (driver) & Allan Jackson (co-driver)
2. Damien Taft & Simon Taft
3. Andrew Wicklow & Simon Armstrong
4. Steve Richards & Kevin Handley
5. Richard Hayward & Matt Lister
Provisional Defender Challenge Calendar
Mid Wales Stages, Newtown – 2nd March
Somerset Stages, Minehead – 12th April
Dukeries Rally, Nottinghamshire – 7th June
Welsh Hill Rally, Swansea – 19th/20th July
Woodpecker Stages, Ludlow – 30th August
Rallye Sunseeker, Dorset – 24th/25th October
Borders Hill Rally, Dumfires 22nd/23rd November
More info on the Bowler Challenge here. Picture credits to Land Rover UK.
