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Eagle Road Rally 1996
Newtown & District Automobile Club
20th/21st July 1996
Clerk of the Course: Graham Evans
Route: 99 Miles
Maps: 136
Starters: 36
Winners: Alun Bound/Shaun O'Gorman (Ford Escort)
Having won Newtown and District AC's 1994 Holrus Rally with Colin Bound, Shaun O'Gorman navigated Colin's brother Alun to victory on the same club's Eagle Rally. They stamped their authority on the event by cleaning the first half and maintained the advantage in the second to win by three minute from Cyril Crook/Chris Ware, thus depriving the Welsh Border crew of a hat trick of victories on the event.
The rally took in 99 miles of some of the classic Mid-Wales lanes. Starting and finishing at Newtown, it took in a long anti-clockwise loop via the Hafren Forest, Llanidloes and Mochdre. For all but the novices the format was plot and bash navigation for each section, with time controls every two to three miles punishing any errors. The dry weather made for ideal tarmac conditions but meant that dust could be a problem, especially as much of the second half took in a number of forest tracks in the Sarnau complex.
By the end of the second section two of the top four seeds had dropped out. Alyson Acreman/Byron Jones put their Astra into a ditch approaching a three metre control, while Jon Ross/Maurice Leech saw their promising start come to nought as their Escort's head gasket failed. This section also saw the demise of Dave Evison/Ralph Harvey-Robson as their Sierra's clutch failed ten miles into its debut event.
The top seeds were also in trouble at the start of the third section, Cyril Crook/Chris Ware, looking for their third successive Eagle win, had a puncture and dropped two minutes at TC10. Having already dropped a minute previously, they arrived at Petrol at Dolwen Garage near Llanidloes in second, three minutes down on the flying Bound/O'Gorman in their Geoff Jones prepared car. Third was held by Paul Hughes/Paul Middleton in a MG Maestro, Mrs Hughes' shopping car. Despite a slight clutch slip they were only a minute down on Crook/Ware. Unfortunately they failed to notice that the competitive section started immediately on departure from Petrol and thus dropped seven minutes as they ambled to the next TC before realising their mistake, it was an expensive error as it cost them a possible second place at the finish.
The Semi-Expert class was led at halfway by Des Phasey/Steve Price, who also held fourth overall. However they were only two minutes in front of their nearest class rival, Gareth Morgan/Carl Williamson in their Skoda. This latter pair maintained their pace for most of the second half and looked to be heading for a creditable seventh overall when they were forced to retire on the last section when the sump plug worked lose allowing oil to drain from the engine. Phasey/Price equalled the pace of the two leading crews over the second half, with all dropping four minutes, thus giving them yet another class win, however this will be the last as Semi-Experts as third overall promoted them to the Expert category.
Wayne Morris/Steven Holder had an eleven minutes lead at halfway in the Novices category, unfortunately their rally lasted only two miles beyond the restart as their alternator failed. The class win was therefore left to Alwyn Jones, navigated by top North Wales driver Rob Roberts, who remained free of fails to take 20th overall. They led home the battling Aberyswyth crews of Kim Turk/Beth Evans (Escort) and Roger Harris/Peter Cooke (Manta), who picked up the other class awards.
Bound/O'Gorman thus took a three minute victory over Crook/Ware, a winning margin that couldn't just be put down to the latter's puncture in the first half. With Phasey/Price taking third, the first time pairing of Pete Cotton/Owen Dodd gained fourth place at the expense of Hughes/Middleton, who were left ruing that error on departure from Petrol.
OVERALL RESULTS
| Pos | Driver | Navigator | Car | Penalty | |
| 1 | Alun Bound | Shaun O'Gorman | Ford Escort | 4m 00s | |
| 2 | Cyril Crook | Chris ware | Talbot Sunbeam | 7m 00s | |
| 3 | Des Phasey | Steve Price | Ford Escort | 10m 00s | |
| 4 | Pete Cotton | Owen Dodd | Ford Escort | 12m 00s | |
| 5 | Paul Hughes | Paul Middleton | MG Maestro | 12m 00s | |
| 6 | Peter Zjalic | Richard Preece | Toyota Corolla | 13m 00s | |
| 7 | Owain Beman | Damian Cole | Peugeot 205 GTi | 20m 00s | |
| 8 | Brian Davies | Jayson Brown | Ford Escort | 26m 00s | |
| 9 | Simon Stock | Patrick Walsh | Ford Sierra Sapphire | 26m 00s | |
| 10 | Dave Painter | Dave Stocking | Opel Manta | 34m 00s | |
| 11 | Dick Lee | Karl Ellis | Ford Escort | 35m 00s | |
| 12 | Wayne Edwards | Sharon Jarvis | Toyota Starlet | 36m 00s | |
| 13 | Kevin Hutchings | Garry Thomas | Talbot Samba | 37m 00s | |
| 14 | Dyfed Pritchard | Tecwyn Jones | Ford Escort RS | 41m 00s | |
| 15 | Graham Evans | Mark Hill | Ford Escort | 42m 00s | |
| 16 | Sean Rowlands | Chris James | Peugeot 205 | 50m 00s | |
| 17 | Richard 'Tyson' Morris | Keith Davies | Toyota Corolla GT | 52m 00s | |
| 18 | Tony Watkins | Medwyn Evans | Mini 1275GT | 53m 00s | |
| 19 | Alan Thompson | Neil Boyd | Toyota Corolla | 54m 00s | |
| 20 | Alwyn Jones | Rob Roberts | Ford Escort | 59m 00s | |
| 21 | Ben Henson | Patrick Henson | VW Golf | 65m 00s | |
| 22 | Brian Jones | Craig Parry | Ford Escort | 1F 29m 00s | |
| 23 | Kim Turk | Beth Evans | Ford Escort | 1F 74m 00s | |
| 24 | Meredith Roberts | Rob Duke | Ford Escort | 3F 40m 00s | |
| 25 | Roger Harris | Peter Cooke | Opel Manta | 17F 45m 00s |