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Moonbeam Rally

Sponsored by Telford Motor Auctions

Telford Auto Club

12th/13th March 2005

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Sixty-five crews took the start of the Moonbeam, based as usual at the premises of the event's sponsors, Telford Motor Auctions. The competitors faced a 120 mile route in traditional Moonbeam territory in the Shropshire Hills, with Petrol at Craven Arms.

After a run around the base of the Wrekin, which most crews cleaned, the first tight section was to TC6 near Berrington Hall, which was timed to the second. Top seeds, and winners of the previous three Moonbeams, Wayne Morris/Paul Middleton (Ford Escort) stopped the clock two seconds ahead of Kevin Ikin/Martin Saunders (Ford Escort) and five in front of Ian 'Dude' Roberts/Steve Herbert (VW Golf GTi).

Head gasket failures accounted for two cars early on in proceedings, these were the Escort RS2000 of Simon Harrison/Paul Holmberg and the Vauxhall Corsa of Neal Arden/Giles Corbett.

The next critical section was the lead up to TC12, which was timed to the minute, and was located north of All Stretton. Half a dozen crew cleaned it, but some who had hoped for a top finishing place dropped a minute, most notable of these were Glyn Price/Iwan Jones (Ford Escort).

Everyone was late at TC14; the section that led up to it used the twisty lanes through Smethcott Common, Coppice Farm and Pease Lane. To add to the demanding nature of the sector, this part of the route also was on the border of two maps.

Morris/Middleton blitzed the section; they were 43 seconds late at the control, but the next best were Mark 'GT' Roberts/Roger Evans (VW Golf GTi), who dropped 1m 23s, just ahead of a gaggle of others.

The next critical section was that leading up to TC16, this was north-west of Bridges. It was Roberts/Herbert who were fastest here; they were just a second late, while Morris/Middleton dropped 35 seconds. The VW Golf crew were now 31 seconds off first place; however, the battle came to an abrupt end when the leading Escort broke a driveshaft; the dream of four straight wins for Morris/Middleton was over.

Second best to TC16 had been Jamie Turner/Mick Valentine (Rover Metro GTi), despite this success their run was spoilt by the fact that they had missed PC12, the resultant fail dropping them from fourth place at the Finish to 34th.

The leaders' retirement left Roberts/Herbert with a 35 second lead over Kevin Ikin/Martin Saunders (Ford Escort), while Stephen Edwards/Ian Vale (Peugeot 205 GTi) were in third 15 seconds further back.

The Golf pairing extended their lead at TC18, which was north of Wentnor; Edwards/Vale were next best and closed to within two seconds of Ikin/Saunders.

At the final TC of the first half, Roberts/Herbert and Edwards/Vale, again took the two fastest times, separated by six seconds this time. This was enough for the Peugeot pair to pass Ikin/Saunders for second place. At Petrol, Roberts/Herbert held a lead of just over a minute.

On the retirement list by this point was the Vauxhall Astra GSi of Derwyn Evans/Dave Evison, which had suffered a broken gear linkage. A broken gearstick had led to the demise of Des Phasey/Martin Phasey's Escort.

Under car protection was causing problems for a number of crews; Matthew Maidment/Byron Jones (Peugeot 205 GTi) lost their tank guard, while Martyn Manuel/Phil Stocking were struggling with a loose sump guard on their Nova. Both these crews did make the Finish.

Petrol was taken at the two-third distance and there were only three controls at which the leading runners dropped time in the second 'half'. Roberts/Herbert were fastest at two of these, and were the only crew to clean TC27, which was timed to the minute. This gave them a victory margin of 2m 37s at the Finish.

Edwards/Vale pulled away from Ikin/Saunders, as the latter pairing struggle with a lack of main beam and a broken throttle cable over the final sections. They did survive to finish in third place, 20 seconds ahead of Glyn Price/Iwan Jones.

Ian Furniss/Dale Furniss (Peugeot 205 GTi) were leading the Semi-Expert Class at Petrol, but by the Finish they had fallen behind both Andy Groom/Carl Darby (Peugeot 205 GTi), who won the category, and Roger Titley/Steve Bishop (Ford Sierra 4x4).

The Novice Class was dominated throughout by the Ford Escort of Kevin Bolver/Richard Jerman; they finished the event nine minutes ahead of their nearest class rivals.

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OVERALL RESULTS

	Pos	Driver	Navigator	Car	Penalty
	1	Ian 'Dude' Roberts	Steve Herbert	VW Golf GTi	5m 00s
	2	Stephen Edwards	Ian Vale	Peugeot 309 GTi	7m 37s
	3	Kevin Ikin	Martin Saunders	Ford Escort RS2000	8m 11s
	4	Glyn Price	Iwan Jones	Ford Escort	8m 31s
	5	Mal Acott	Gareth Price	Ford Escort	9m 15s
	6	Andy Groom	Carl Darby	Peugeot 205 GTi	10m 37s
	7	Anthony Gluyas	Owen Dodd	Opel Manta GSi	11m 03s
	8	Ben Innes	Richard Preece	Peugeot 205	11m 06s
	9	Owen Turner	Andrew Dadswell	Rover Metro GTi	11m 14s
	10	Nick Tolpis	Mick Fern	Vauxhall Nova GTE	11m 55s
	11	Roger Titley	Steve Bishop	Ford Sierra 4x4	12m 53s
	12	Delwyn Price	Steve Price	Ford Escort	13m 39s
	13	Ian Furniss	Dale Furniss	Peugeot 205 GTi	13m 50s
	14	Trevor Pritchard	Paul Hughes	MG Maestro	13m 54s
	15	Kevin Bolver	Richard Jerman	Ford Escort	14m 27s
	16	Chris Green	Ian Jarman	Ford Escort	15m 08s
	17	Mark 'GT' Roberts	Roger Evans	VW Golf GTi	16m 49s
	18	Peter Roberts	Wyn Roberts	Peugeot 205 GTi	18m 12s
	19	Matthew Maidment	Byron Jones	Peugeot 205 GTi	18m 51s
	20	Martin Ridge	Chris Ridge	VW Golf GTi	20m 58s
	21	Edryd Evans	Richard Briddon	VW Golf GTi	21m 08s
	22	Martyn Manuel	Phil Stocking	Vauxhall Nova GTE	22m 02s
	23	Simon Summers	Leighton Williams	Ford Sierra	22m 51s
	24	Tim Daltry	Paul Fillis	Peugeot 205	22m 55s
	25	Simon Greenway	Rob Thomson	Ford Escort	23m 37s
	26	Neal Nicholas	Chris Oakes	MG Maestro	25m 20s
	27	Daniel Williams	John Tomley	Vauxhall Nova	26m 25s
	28	Nigel Hall	Andy Oakes	Ford Escort RS2000	28m 25s
	29	Simon Naughton	Gareth Thomas	Ford Escort	30m 35s
	30	Roger Powley	Leigh Powley	Hillman Imp	33m 06s
	31	Derek Tracey	Chris Hughes	Vauxhall Nova	33m 10s
	32	Nigel Graham	Matt McLean	Talbot Sunbeam	39m 28s
	33	Matthew Jones	Richard Morris	Vauxhall Cavalier SRi	41m 46s
	34	Jamie Turner	Michael Valentine	Rover Metro GTi	1F 8m 26s
	35	Nic Morris	Matthew Caine	Vauxhall Nova	1F 30m 40s
	36	Paul Morris	Merfyn Williams	Vauxhall Astra GTE	2F 18m 40s
	37	Mark Jones	Warren Cardwell	Peugeot 205	2F 22m 18s
	38	Alan Green	Richard Jones	Vauxhall Astra	2F 25m 10s
	39	Jonathan Harrison	Jonathan Jones	Ford Sierra XR4x4	2F 42m 34s
	40	Ian Mason	Dave Webley	Ford Escort RS2000	2F 61m 36s
	41	Frank Burton	Richard Askew	Vauxhall Astra	4F 38m 08s
	42	Dale Owen	Adam Jeffs	Peugeot 205 Rallye	4F 50m 55s
	43	Nigel Ikin	Andy Moore	Peugeot 309 GTi	4F 53m 44s

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