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Mid Wales Stages 1998
Sponsored by Champion Spark Plugs
Newtown & District Auto Club
24th May 1998
Clerk of the Course: Richard Edwards & Graham Evans
Stages: 6
Venue: Llyn Coch & Dyfnant
Starters: 119 + 15 Historic
Winners: Glyn Jones/Huw Lewis (Subaru Impreza)
Glyn Jones/Huw Lewis took their Subaru Impreza to victory on the Mid Wales Stages. Amazingly they were the only one of the top ten starters to make it to the Finish. The North Wales crew had only been in sixth position at the halfway point but powered through to win by two and a half minutes after all their competitors fell by the wayside.
Newtown & District AC had attracted an impressive entry to their Evans Windows Welsh Clubman's Championship contender. David Higgins brought his Subaru Impreza to his local event as a warm up for the Scottish, while Marcus Dodd was testing some new features on his Escort Cosworth.
The event had 45 stage miles in just six stages. The first stage was Seat's testing ground at Llyn Coch, with the next two being in Dyfnant Forest; these three stages were then repeated in the afternoon after the rally's only service halt.
The top ten collapse started before competitors reached Llyn Coch, when local favourite and previous winner Dave Humphreys retired his Escort Cosworth with a cambelt failure on the run out from Newtown. In addition Gary Smith/Phil Clarke, in a similar car, only made it as far as the first stage when their turbo failed. Dennis Rowlands/Maurice Leach joined them in retirement on this stage after their Escort holed its sump.
Unsurprisingly it was Marcus Dodd/John Bennie who led as crews arrived at the halfway halt, they were ten seconds clear of David Higgins/Chris Wood despite having problems with their Escort's differential. These two had a comfortable margin over a gaggle of four cars, these being John Roberts/Mark Lewis (Sierra Cosworth), Richard Gough/Tony Beddoes (Mitsubishi Carisma GT), Greg Mills/Dylan Jones (Sierra Cosworth) and the eventual winners Jones/Lewis.
Unfortunately Dodd/Bennie made it no further than the end of SS4 when their Escort suffered a suspected gearbox failure. Gough/Beddoes also went out on that point, the Carisma's differential started to vibrate after they picked up a puncture and they withdrew before any serious damage was inflicted. With Greg Mills sidelined with ECU failure, this left David Higgins leading John Roberts and Glyn Jones as they entered SS5. Only the latter was to emerge to tackle SS6 as both Higgins and Roberts went off the road and out of the rally within a few hundred yards of each other.
Jones/Lewis duly completed the event to win by two and a half minutes from Charlie Lamb/Steve Lancaster, who had been using a six speed gearbox on their Escort Cosworth for the first time. Andy Miers/Emyr Jones (Escort RS2000) were challenging Lamb when they were yet another crew to crash out on SS5.
Richard Davies/Dave Williams brought their Nissan Sunny home in third place overall and the Class 3 win, having had to rebuild the car after a massive crash on the Manx. Ricky Evans/Ian Butcher put a long series of retirements behind them to take fourth in their Peugeot 306 and Simon Rogers/Eurig Evans survived a series of punctures to put their Ecort RS2000 into fifth place.
Class 4 was won by Nick Beddoes/Andrew Allen (Escort 2100); they were classified in 12 place. The early pace setters in the class were Geraint Mills/Jon Evans; they had held a 52s class lead at Service, but they lost two minutes on SS6 with a petrol feed problem on their Vauxhall Chevette. They finished in 13th place, 13s behind Beddoes/Allen.
The other class winners were Natalie Barratt/Dave Taylor, testing their Honda Civic for the Mintex series, and Arwyn Lloyd Davies/Ian Oakley in a very standard Rover.
The Mid Wales Historic Stages ran in front of the main event and was a battle of the Lotus Cortinas, with Paul Pesticcio/Lee Vincent taking victory from Paul Merryweather/Sandra Deacon. Neil White/Colin Willetts, in yet another Cortina, had led at service but retired in the second half.
OVERALL RESULTS
| Pos | Driver | Co-Driver | Car | Penalty | |
| 1 | Glyn Jones | Huw Lewis | Subaru Impreza | 46m 58s | |
| 2 | Charlie Lamb | Steve Lancaster | Ford Escort Cosworth | 49m 20s | |
| 3 | Richard Davis | Dave Williams | Nissan Sunny | 49m 59s | |
| 4 | Ricky Evans | Ian Butcher | Peugeot 306 S16 | 50m 00s | |
| 5 | Simon Rogers | Eurig Evans | Ford Escort RS | 50m 04s | |
| 6 | Derek McGinnigle | Rupert Astbury | Ford Sierra Cosworth | 50m 30s | |
| 7 | John Collins | John Smart | Ford Escort RS | 50m 42s | |
| 8 | Stephen French | Colin Booth | Ford Escort Cosworth | 51m 26s | |
| 9 | Michael Watson | Geoff Moss | Vauxhall Corsa | 51m 37s | |
| 10 | Mick Gilman | Jason Dolman | Ford Sierra Cosworth | 52m 14s | |
| 11 | Donovan Jenkins | Ian Vass | Ford Escort Cosworth | 52m 55s | |
| 12 | Nick Beddoes | Andrew Allen | Ford Escort RS | 52m 56s | |
| 13 | Geraint Mills | Jonny 'Tad' Evans | Vauxhall Chevette | 53m 09s | |
| 14 | Natalie Barratt | Dave Taylor | Honda Civic VTi | 53m 37s | |
| 15 | Will Onions | Keith Griffiths | Opel Manta | 53m 38s | |
| 16 | Richard Newman | Chris Allsopp | Ford Escort | 53m 43s | |
| 17 | Alan Collins | Robert Collins | Subaru Impreza | 53m 58s | |
| 18 | Steve Humphreys | Paul Chislett | Ford Sierra Cosworth | 54m 01s | |
| 19 | Andrew Morris | Derek Davies | Peugeot 205 GTi | 54m 30s | |
| 20 | Derek Love | Jeremy Haycock | Talbot Sunbeam | 54m 47s | |
| 21 | Andrew Buchanan | Chris Jones | Ford Escort | 55m 09s | |
| 22 | Arwel Lloyd Davies | Ian Oakley | Rover | 55m 12s | |
| 23 | Philip Atkins | Paul Atkins | Ford Escort | 55m 16s | |
| 24 | James Young | David Young | Vauxhall Astra | 55m 25s | |
| 25 | Bob Astley | Sian Beaty | Ford Escort | 55m 27s | |
| 26 | Antony Evans | Matthew Picton | Nissan Sunny GTi | 55m 33s | |
| 27 | Nick Wills | Richard Wills | Ford Escort | 56m 03s | |
| 28 | Alan Poston | Will Hunt | Ford Sierra 4x4 | 56m 19s | |
| 29 | Steve Hetherington | Tom Last | Vauxhall Nova | 56m 32s | |
| 30 | Eric Weaver | Tony Mantle | Ford Escort | 56m 36s | |
| 31 | Richard Lewis | Keith Davies | Peugeot 205 GTi | 56m 38s | |
| 32 | Richard Yorke | Trevor Pritchard | Hillman Avenger | 56m 39s | |
| 33 | Jim Thomas | Lee Hammond | Ford Escort | 56m 41s | |
| 34 | Simon Millington | Jeanette Barlow | Talbot Sunbeam | 57m 07s | |
| 35 | Ben Briant | Graham Hopewell | Ford Ka | 57m 10s | |
| 36 | Andrew Kenny | Gary Kenny | Peugeot | 57m 18s | |
| 37 | David Jones | Amanda Williams | Peugeot | 57m 20s | |
| 38 | Richard Perry | Clive Townend | Peugeot | 57m 24s | |
| 39 | Sean Edwards | Helene Mars | Ford Escort | 57m 28s | |
| 40 | Steve Hopewell | Andy Johnson | Ford Fiesta | 57m 36s | |
| 41 | Gary Matthews | Kath Rumney | Ford Escort | 57m 37s | |
| 42 | Peter Martin | Julian Cardew | Vauxhall Astra | 57m 47s | |
| 43 | Ieuan Rowlands | Sion Rhisiart | Ford Escort | 57m 47s | |
| 44 | Nigel Hathaway | Paul Waldron | Ford Sierra 4x4 | 58m 00s | |
| 45 | James Potter | Nigel Turner | Ford Escort | 58m 14s | |
| 46 | Adrian Allen | Paul Thomas | Opel Manta | 58m 35s | |
| 47 | Malcolm Walters | Bev Davies | Ford Escort | 58m 48s | |
| 48 | Dennis Parry | Huw Lewis | Ford Sierra Cosworth | 58m 51s | |
| 49 | Skip Green | Philip Hammonds | Rover | 59m 19s | |
| 50 | Peter Gerbez | Alan Jones | Ford Escort | 59m 22s | |
| 51 | Mitchel Mountford | Lwyn Manuel | Peugeot | 59m 28s | |
| 52 | Neil Chaplin | Andy Taylor | Vauxhall Astra | 59m 29s | |
| 53 | Rob Dennis | Andrew Brewer | Ford Escort | 59m 39s | |
| 54 | Martin Wyles | Sue Mee | Ford Escort | 59m 43s | |
| 55 | Martin Mansell | Andrew Inskip | Ford Escort | 59m 45s | |
| 56 | Andrew Edwards | Dewi Evans | Vauxhall Chevette | 59m 48s | |
| 57 | Steve Bayley | Iain Scott | Vauxhall Astra | 59m 59s | |
| 58 | Jamie Cook | Chris Bardley | Skoda | 60m 00s | |
| 59 | Darren Ray | Stephen Fossey | Ford Escort | 60m 36s | |
| 60 | Alan Watkins | Tim Bloxham | Peugeot | 60m 45s | |
| 61 | Paul Pritchard | Dave Evison | Ford EScort | 61m 09s | |
| 62 | Mark Dunbabin | George Flynn | Talbot Sunbeam | 61m 10s | |
| 63 | Trevor Ridge | Alan Ridge | Ford Escort | 62m 07s | |
| 64 | Tony Dickinson | Gavin Hesseltine | Ford Escort | 62m 13s | |
| 65 | Steve Deeley | Greg Cragg | Peugeot | 62m 55s | |
| 66 | Sam Pownall | Tracey Davies | Vauxhall Nova | 63m 02s | |
| 67 | Paul Jackson | Neil Selley | Ford Escort | 63m 28s | |
| 68 | Duncan Goldsmith | Andy Goldsmith | Ford Escort | 64m 09s | |
| 69 | Phil Morgan | Martin Allen | Ford Escort | 64m 50s | |
| 70 | Paul Benton | Robin Stanton | Ford Escort | 64m 53s | |
| 71 | John Edwards | Steve Roberts | Talbot Sunbeam | 64m 56s | |
| 72 | Michael Roddell | Nigel Banks | Peugeot | 65m 05s | |
| 73 | Mike Hawthorn | David Foster | Lada | 65m 20s | |
| 74 | Adrian Mayall | R Hayden | Alfa Romeo | 66m 13s | |
| 75 | Neil Prior | John Reddington | Ford Escort | 66m 20s | |
| 76 | Piers Hodge | Steve Hayward | Ford Escort | 66m 28s | |
| 77 | Stephen Belcher | Richard May | Mini | 67m 21s | |
| 78 | Ellya Gold | Ian Harden | Peugeot | 68m 20s | |
| 79 | Chris Gittins | Gary Williams | Ford Escort | 69m 18s |
MID WALES HISTORIC STAGES
| Pos | Driver | Navigator | Car | Penalty | |
| 1 | Paul Pesticcio | Lee Vincent | Lotus Cortina | 56m 57s | |
| 2 | Paul Merryweather | Sandra Deacon | Ford Cortina | 57m 11s | |
| 3 | Graham Samuel | Clare Samuel | Volvo 122S | 57m 29s | |
| 4 | Eric Davies | Rob Baldwin | Mini Clubman GT | 58m 07s | |
| 5 | Mike Cakebread | Steve Fletcher | Ford Cortina GT | 62m 55s | |
| 6 | Brian Dennis | Fran Davies | Mini Cooper S | 58m 34s | |
| 7 | Chris Green | Hilary Green | Ford Cortina GT | 61m 12s | |
| 8 | Gordon Cameron | Sheila Grimshaw | Mini Cooper S | 62m 23s | |
| 9 | Peter O'Neill | Peter White | Ford Escort | 62m 37s | |
| 10 | Martin Taylor | Mike Wright | Ford Cortina | 63m 20s | |
| 11 | Bob Hart | David Bromley | Volvo 122S | 63m 26s |