Attached are the provisional results from this year's Ward Construction AEMC championship, draft regs and a registration form for this year's championship - forms & money to me or Tony Hewitt by post or Brands Hatch.

There have been a few changes since the interim bulletin that I published last month. Longmoor was a few days ago and decided the championship. Also, it has become apparent that not all contenders were aware of and approved the proposed 'incentive' to award double points for the Sculthorpe Stages; therefore in the interests of following then rules this has been removed. The Snetterton Stages was not originally in the championship regs and has also been removed from then tables. Finally, the short one-day Rockingham event has been awarded half-points, in alignment with the published regulations.

(Provisional) Congratulations to Paul King & Alicia Miles for winning the 2012 championship in a rather rapid Mk11 Escort – they had an excellent year which was rounded off by an outright win at Rockingham (and also a win on the non-championship Carfax Stages – which we hope to include this year). Tony Michael / Paul Barrett had a steady year in their 'new' white Civic and Ross Daniels / Paul Mankin were always competitive in their Impreza; these two crews split 2nd & 3rd places between them. Class A had a small entry this year and was won by Ian & Will Barnard in their ever-improving Nova. Class B honours were taken by Tim Clarke in his Mk1 Escort with Richard Taylor winning the co-driver's pot. Class C was also a small class, won this year by Charlotte Tillbrook & Louise Earthy. Pete Rayner & Richard Bonner squeaked a win in Class D in a Mk11 Escort, on the tie-break from the similar car of Alan Thistlethwaite / Mick Klein. Stuart Cadman / Dennis Suttenwood won Class E in their well-used Evo 6.

Competition in 2012 was close, with a couple of tie breaks being applied, and for 2013 a few enhancements have been made to the rules to even things out.

Chelmsford Motor Club convincingly won the club championship, with 77 points to Wickford's 34. Chelmsford also finished third overall in the Motorsport UK Club of the Year 2012 competition and has three of its four stage rallies in the championship last year.

This year we have decided to focus the main tarmac single-venue championship on the core events in, or close to, the Eastern Region which should allow crews to manage their budget and enter as many events as possible. There are ten fairly evenly spread events during the year, with six counting towards the final results. To cater for those crews who prefer loose-surface and multi-venue events this year we are pleased to introduce the Ward Trophy as a second category; registered contenders can score points in both the main championship and trophy. We hope this will maximise competition during the year.

We are fortunate to have the continued support and enthusiasm from Ward Construction for the championship and sincerely thank Pat Ward for his input to this over the years.

These results are provisional and will be final on 8th January, with awards presented at Brands Hatch on 12th January - any winners not competing should either register to marshal or contact me for admission tickets. Any un-collected awards can also be picked-up at Chelmsford Motor Club's awards night on 17th January.

Good luck to all stage rally competitors in 2013!