results@rallyroots.com

rally results service

Unless otherwise clearly indicated, results on this site have been declared final and are therefore not subject to query or protest

Eagle Road Rally 2005

Sponsored by Evans & Parry Recycling

Newtown & District Automobile Club

14th/15th May 2005

---

---

The Eagle 2005 was a perfect example of an organiser's dream event that was cut asunder by external factors. What had been a demanding route was assailed by numerous misfortunes and what was left was a largely cleanable rally.

Just prior to the Eagle the Government had introduced new strictures regarding the Single Farm Payment to farmers, this presented a rule that for land to be eligible for the scheme it could not be used for any non-agricultural purpose. A tight interpretation of this meant that rallies passing through land would exclude that land from any payments. Naturally this rule affected many activities, not just rallying, such as village shows, and the regulation was relaxed to allow for other uses of the land within a broader time limit. However, this relaxation came too late for the Eagle and the event lost the use of several tracks.

There were also a flood of PR problems which affected a number of sections. Most significantly, the opening regularity, which was due to run over the hill from Penstrowed to Caersws, had to be canned after an objection just 24 hours before the event.

With the loss of this opener, the 75 starters therefore started the competition at Caersws, with a four and a half mile run to the outskirts of Llanidloes, taking in a couple of triangle controls on the way. The first timing point was on one of these, at the entrance to Gwastadcoed Farm. A dozen crews made this exactly on time, while another 16 dropped just one second.

The story was the same at TC4, which ended the section. Six crews were still clear of penalties at this point. However, Glyn Price/Iwan Jones (Ford Escort) were over five minutes late here, having had to stop to fix a brake problem.

The Peugeot 205 of Trefor Roberts/Nigel Stephenson showed evidence of heavy contact with the scenery, but they still managed to book in over a minute early at both time controls. Meanwhile, both Mark Hatton/Robin Moses (Peugeot 205 GTi) and Gareth Reed/David Bradley (Toyota Corolla) missed the PC at the Cefn Bach triangle.

After a Neutral through Trefeglwys, TC5 to TC6 took the route over the Waen to finish at Clatter. There was an ITC after three miles.

By TC6 only two crews remained clear of penalties, these were Martyn O'Connor/Eurig Davies (Vauxhall Astra) and, from a start number of 41, Roger Harries/Andrew Edwards (Vauxhall Astra GTE), although, eighteen cars still had totals of fewer than six seconds.

The route then moved across to the valley for a section that started north of Caersws and wound its way passed Bwlch-y-Ffridd and Adfa to finish to the west of Cefn Coch. There were two ITCs as well as the finish control.

Everyone had dropped time by the end of the section, but most penalties were the odd second here and there; in most cases this was where the crew had passed, what the marshal took to be the board, just outside the car's target time. A total penalty of ten seconds would put a crew in 20th position.

Harries/Edwards now had a clear lead; they had dropped a second at ITC7B, while O'Connor/Davies were one second late at both ITCs. Out by this stage was the Vauxhall Astra GSi of Derwyn Evans/Dave Evison; gearbox maladies had stopped the car.

After a Neutral that took the route through Cefn Coch, there was a short six minute section that ran past Pencraig to finish on the outskirts of Llanfair Caereinion, where Petrol was taken.

Once again, Harries/Edwards were clean at TC10 and arrived at the halfway halt with a lead of two seconds over Wayne Morris/Paul Middleton (Ford Escort). O'Connor/Davies had been three seconds late at TC10 and this was enough to plunge them to fifth place. Tied with Morris/Middleton on a total of three seconds was Car 31, Neil Roberts/Dale Furniss (Peugeot 205).

The second half opened with a seven mile section, which had one ITC. It started on the New Mills road, but then moved east running along the border of Maps 136 and 125, before finishing at Pant-y-fridd.

Most crews cleaned both controls, although Jason Jones/Graham Dance (Ford Escort) collected a wrong approach at the last Passage Control on the section. Ian 'Dude' Roberts/Steve Herbert (VW Golf GTi) skidded past the control board at the ITC, they had been five minutes early - they withdrew from the event.

The organisers still had high hopes for the following section, which started at The Green and, after a brief visit to Map 137, finished east of Abermule; it included the notorious Brookes white. It was to be a dramatic sector.

Unfortunately, the hopes of a clear results was lost when O'Connor/Davies hit a ditch on the Brookes white, the impact broke a wheel and they blocked the route for the following fifteen cars. Further back other cars got stuck and, towards the end of the field, Keith Morgan/Richard Schofield rolled their Citroen AX GT. These incidents led to the time penalties at the following ITC being cancelled.

Like many others, Harries/Edwards were delayed by cars on the Brooks white, but then had a drive shaft break and they were out. Also, Glyn Price/Iwan Jones holed the sump on their Escort and retired.

Howard Price/Dorian Evans lost over 14 minutes later on in the section when they encountered a no entry sign; there was no instruction to pass it, so they searched for an alternative route - the correct route was to ignore the sign.

Despite the loss of the critical ITC13B, by the end of the section there were only three crews with total penalties under ten seconds. Morris/Middleton now led and were two seconds ahead of John Davies/Neil Bevan (Vauxhall Astra), while top seeds Roger Hicks/Peter Collins (Ford Escort) were two seconds further back in third.

Just one 22 mile section remained, it contained three ITCs. It started south of Abermule, looped down to Ceri Forest and onto Map 137, before heading back via the Anchor Inn, to finish at Glanmule.

Morris/Middleton were a second late at ITC15B and then a second early at ITC5C, meanwhile Davies/Bevan cleaned the entire section, this left the two crews tied on six seconds. The overall went to the Escort crew as they hadn't dropped any time until ITC5A, while Davies/Bevan had been a second late at ITC3A. For the third event in a row the Astra pairing finished in the runner up spot. Hicks/Collins also cleaned the final section and secured third place at the Finish.

Peter Roberts/Wyn Roberts (Peugeot 205 GTi) finished in seventh place and were the leading Semi-Expert crew, while Mark Summer/Paul Willetts (Ford Escort) were clear winners in the Novice Class.

Only six crews finished with penalties of under a minute, so it was evident that if it had been possible for the organisers' original plan to be executed, there would have been a contest worthy of championship status.

---

OVERALL RESULTS

	Pos	Driver	Navigator	Car	Penalty
	1	Wayne Morris	Paul Middleton	Ford Escort	0m 06s
	2	John Davies	Neil Bevan	Vauxhall Astra GTE	0m 06s
	3	Roger Hicks	Peter Collins	Ford Escort	0m 08s
	4	Geoff Williams	Dilwyn John	Vauxhall Nova	0m 14s
	5	Kevin Hesketh	Shaun O'Gorman	Ford Escort	0m 18s
	6	Mark 'GT' Roberts	Neil Spiers	VW Golf GTi	0m 27s
	7	Peter Roberts	Wyn Roberts	Peugeot 205 GTi	1m 29s
	8	Paul Edwards	Michael Hughes	Peugeot 205 GTi	2m 21s
	9	Des Phasey	Martin Phasey	Ford Escort	2m 23s
	10	Delwyn Price	Steve Price	Ford Escort	3m 37s
	11	Neil Roberts	Dale Furniss	Peugeot 205	3m 47s
	12	Robert Brown	Alex Gill	Peugeot 309 GTi	4m 29s
	13	Martin Leonard	Phil Jones	VW Golf GTi	4m 40s
	14	Gavin Rogers	Carrie Rogers	Ford Escort	5m 14s
	15	Dai Roberts	Ceri Hughes	Honda Civic	5m 21s
	16	Mike Jones	Phill Harrison	BMW 318iS	5m 34s
	17	Darren Williams	Llinos Jones	Vauxhall Astra	5m 37s
	18	Ben Owen	Steve Davies	Suzuki Swift	7m 03s
	19	Mark Summer	Paul Willetts	Ford Escort	11m 29s
	20	Howard Price	Dorian Evans	Ford Escort	14m 59s
	21	Geraint Jones	Katie Bridden	Vauxhall Nova	15m 00s
	22	David Jones	Glyn Price	Peugeot 205 GTi	16m 52s
	23	Roger Powley	Leigh Powley	Hillman Imp	17m 38s
	24	Phil Bennett	Rebecca Baldock	Peugeot 205	19m 23s
	25	Jason Jones	Graham Dance	Ford Escort	23m 41s
	26	Nick Skidmore	Chris Jones	Peugeot 309 GTi	26m 16s
	27	Edryd Evans	Richard Briddon	VW Golf GTi	27m 16s
	28	Frank Evans	Dave Wilkinson	Proton Satria	86mm 31s
	29	Alan Green	Richard Jones	Proton Satria	1F 22m 31s
	30	Sion Dillon	Simon Rogers	Ford Escort	1F 29m 54s
	31	Huw Morris	Laura Morris	Proton Compact	1F 30m 42s
	32	Keith Ashley	Clive 'Selwyn' Jones	Suzuki Swift	1F 47m 27s
	33	Michael Pedley	David Pedley	Ford Escort	2F 0m 38s
	34	Gareth Reed	David Bradley	Toyota Corolla	2F 21m 05s
	35	Steve Gittins	Richard Evans	Peugeot 205 GTi	2F 21m 59s
	36	Jonathan Bossen	Stephen Prince	Subaru Impreza	2F 33m 16s
	37	Paul Edwards	Phil Crisp	Peugeot 205 GTi	2F 48m 27s
	38	Roger Titley	Steve Bishop	Ford Sierra 4x4	3F 21m 32s
	39	Nic Morris	Matthew Caine	Vauxhall Nova	3F 29m 31s
	40	Matthew Jones	Richard 'Tyson' Morris	Vauxhall Cavalier SRi	3F 36m 06s
	41	David Hillidge	Phil Jones	Peugeot 205 GTi	3F 74m 11s
	42	Mark Hatton	Robin Moses	Peugeot 205 GTi	3F 86m 57s
	43	Rob Williams	Aled Jones	Peugeot 205 GTi	4F 47m 29s
	44	Trefor Roberts	Nigel Stephenson	Peugeot 205 GTi	4F 58m 44s
	45	Ian Furniss	John Furniss	Peugeot 205	6F 108m 09s
	46	David Rollins	Ed Collins	Peugeot 205 GTi	6F 110m 19s
	47	Michael Jones	Kevin Tweedy	Peugeot 205 GTi	9F 145m 39s
	48	Dave Watkins	Tim James	Peugeot 205 GTi	10F 43m 43s
	49	Simon Naughton	Gareth Thomas	Ford Escort	10F 152m 58s
	50	Neal Nicholas	Delyth Brown	MG Maestro	12F 200m 37s
	51	Keith Morgan	Richard Schofield	Citroen AX GT	49F 156m 26s

---

Copyright © 2024 rallyroots.com