Elliot Payne and Patrick Walsh tightened their grip on the 2026 BTRDA Gold Star series with another win.
Words by James Downie, Videography by Nikolay D Nedelchev for Rally Media UK. Images supplied courtesy of Connor Taylor/CDT Rally Photography.
The Plains Rally was back on the BTRDA Calendar for 2026 with a new date and different stages. It had moved to mid June to fill an empty slot in the calendar, which also meant that its traditional stages were available again after many years. Some things remained the same though, it was based in the North Wales market town of Bala, and Elliot Payne and Patrick Walsh were favourites to win.
They came in to the Plains in a very strong position having taken wins in the previous two rounds in the upgraded lighter and faster Rally2 Fiesta. Reigning BTRDA Gold Star Champion Matthew Hirst hadn’t scored in the last round after putting the Fabia R5 into a Kielder ditch and had it all to do to fight back from well down the Table, but at least he would be back with his long-standing co-driver Declan Dear for the Plains. Second in the Championship, having come agonisingly close to a maiden win in kielder were Icelands Daniel Sigurdarson and sister Asta Sigurdarsdottir in a Rally2 Fabia RS.
Other quick crews taking the start in Bala were Russ Thompson/Steve Link in the Fiesta Proto, and Al Ginley/Carl Williamson in the Rally2 Fabia who were third and fourth in the standings. Liam Clark and Micheal Gilbey were also there in the Rally2 Fiesta. Like Hirst they were registered for the Pirelli Welsh Championship as well as the BTRDA Gold Star Championship, and also like Hirst, they were looking to bounce back from a costly error in Kielder. Irelands James Wilson and Scotlands Dom Buckley were also there and capable of setting some fast times.
The format was 2 loops of 5 relatively short stages separated by service in back in Bala. The weather was dry and mild as the crews left the start and headed out on the short road section to Llangower, a 3 mile stage in the nearby Penllyn Forest.
Daniel Sigurdarson and Asta Sigurdarsdottir lost out on 3rd place on a tie break.
Payne edged his way into the lead by a single second but Dom Buckley sprung a surprise by being 2nd quickest in the ageing Polo R5. Hirst was next from Sigurdarson, Thompson, Clark and Ginley but there wasn’t much covering the leading group. As expected, Boyd Kershaw and Keegan Rees’s Escort led the Silver Star from Ben Jemison’s Chevette, and Dylan Fowler-Bishop and Dan Evans’ Micra led the Bronze Star.
SS2 was Dwrs-y-Nant. A forest stage to the North East of Dolgellau that had not seen rally cars for over 20 years. It was steep in places with a couple of hairpins. Buckley continued to be the surprise package and set fastest time over the 3.95 miles to draw level with Payne for the overall lead. Hirst and Sigurdarson were 3rd and 4th, and this leading group had begun to establish a gap to Russ Thompson and Liam Clark who were tied for 5th.
From there it was into much more traditional Plains Rally territory in the Dyfi complex. It had been unusable last season after the storms of the 2024-25 winter and some parts were still badly damaged, but the organisers were able to get mileage in the Gartheiniog and Dyfi Main areas.
Llyn Summer was a 5 mile stage on the Eastern side of Gartheiniog featuring typical Welsh tracks with flowing climbs and drops and hairpins. Hirst got into the groove here and went quickest to leapfrog Buckley and move within 2 seconds of leader Payne.
Two short stages in Dyfi East and West followed. Hirst and Payne tied on the the first and Hirst pulled back a single second on the next to leave Payne leading by one second back at service in Bala, with this pair now starting to pull away. Buckley, Sigurdarson and Clark rounded out the top 5. Boyd Kershaw had dominated the Silver Star again and was leading by 41 seconds, whilst Fowler-Bishop held a comfortable Bronze Star lead.
Matthew Hirst and Declan Dear had a better run this time and pushed Payne hard.
On the second pass of Llangower Payne extended his lead over Hirst to 3 seconds, only for Hirst to grab a second back on Dwrs-y-Nant 2, whilst Sigurdarson drew level with Buckley to tie for 3rd. Northern Ireland’s Viv Hammill had moved into 5th in another Fabia Rally2 with Paddy Robinson alongside after Clark had dropped time.
The 2026 Plains looked set for a tooth and nail battle all the way to the end, but it was not to be. A very nasty RTC between a competitor and a motorcyclist at the turn off from the public road into the service area resulted in the rally having to be stopped there and then. All Competitors were re-directed to rally HQ and the result was called as per the standings after SS7, confirming a 2 second win for Elliot Payne and Patrick Walsh over Matthew Hirst and Declan Dear…their 5th Rally win of 2026 and their 3rd out of 3 in the BTRDA Gold Star series. Hirst and Dear took maximum Welsh Championship points. Gold and Bronze BTRDA wins were awarded to Kershaw and Fowler-Bishop respectively.
This early season Hat-trick of wins for Payne means that it will be very difficult for anyone to catch him over the remaining four rounds, especially with the points scoring system in place which means that scores have to be dropped. Hirst will be pleased with the pace and fight he showed here, and there was a strong chance he could have gone on to win this rally if those last three stages could have run, but that’s the way his luck is at the moment. With overall finishes at the bottom of the top 10, Ginley, Thompson and Dan O’Brien scored well on the Plains and are also showing well in the Championship table. In reality though, if Payne wins one of the remaining events, it will probably be all over, but his challengers will have the chance to go again at the Nicky Grist Stages next month…
Final Results:
1 Elliot Payne/Patrick Walsh Fiesta Rally2 23m39s
2 Matthew Hirst/Declan Dear Fabia R5 +02s
3 Dom Buckley Jr/Michael Wastling Polo R5 +27s
= Daniel Sigurdarson/Asta Sigurdarsdottir Fabia Rally2 +27s
5 Viv Hammill/PaddyRobinson Fabia Rally2 +48s
6 James Wilson/Paul Mulholland Fabia Rally2 +1m05s
7 Liam Clark/Michael Gilbey Fiesta Rally2 +1m06s
8 Al Ginley/Carl Williamson Fabia Rally2 +1m09s
9 Russ Thompson/Steve Link Fiesta Proto +1m26s
10 Dan O’Brien/Liam Regan Fiesta Rally2 +1m46s
18 Boyd Kershaw/Keegan Rees Escort MK2 +3m18s
24 Dylan Fowler-Bishop/Daniel Evans Micra K11 +4m08s
BTRDA Gold Star Standings after Round 4 (Round 1 cancelled)
1 Payne 90 points
2 Sigurdarson 82
3 Thompson 78
4 Ginley 71
5 O’Brien 67
BTRDA Silver Star
1 Kershaw 61
BTRDA Bronze Star
1 Watts 82
