Unless otherwise clearly indicated, results on this site have been declared final and are therefore not subject to query or protest
Clerk of the Course: Peter Jones
Route: 135 Miles
Maps: 116 124 & 125
Starters: 70
Winners: Richie Lewis/Phil Pugh (Toyota Corolla)
The Machynlleth crew of Richard Lewis/Philip Pugh regained their early season form when they repeated their 1995 victory on Bala MC's Polyproof PK Memorial Rally. As in the 2005 event the runners up were Ewen Davies/Owen Dodd. However unlike twelve months previously, when both cleaned the whole route and the result was decided on engine capacity, in 1996 both crews dropped time.
The event was the sixth round of the Welsh Road Rally Championship, as well as being in both the West Midlands and North Western Championships. It had attracted a capacity entry of 70 cars, the entry list having been filled some weeks before the event. The organisers had decided to start the event with a 17 mile regularity section. The section opened the event and took crews from the start at Bala south to Lake Vyrnwy and then back northwards to Llanuwchllyn. It followed the format devised by John Brown for the Le Jog whereby all times were based on a 30 mph average and the site of all controls were given to the competitors but only three controls were actually manned.
At the end Paul Holmberg/Lee Ellis were in the lead as the dropped only 25 seconds, while no other crew survived with less than a minute's penalty. Holmberg/Ellis went on to finish 8th after dropping a further six minutes on the Standard Sections.
The rest of the event was made up of just three Standard Sections all with Time Controls every two to three miles. The first began at the Dogellau Maze, before running via Coed-y-Brenin and Trawsfynydd, back to Llanuwchllyn. The second, which took crews to petrol, started beside Bala Lake and ran north to Cerrigydrudion. The second half consisted of just one 45 mile section, taking in the twisting lanes to the south of Clocaenog Forest.
At petrol the eventual winners, Lewis/Pugh, were found to be the only crew to have cleaned the opening two Standard Sections, but lay only third as they had dropped 2.25 on the Regularity. The lead was shared by Cyril Crook/Chris Ware and Wyn Jones/Phil Clarke, both on 2m 05s. Dennis Quinn/Nick Darkin should have found themselves in the lead with time penalties of just 1m 41s, however they'd picked up a fail for a wrong approach, an uncharacteristic error partly attributed to the fact that Darkin was suffering from a torn ligament in his back.
The route around TC55 only ten miles into the second half was to affect the final result as both Crook/Ware and Jones/Clarke reported wrong slotting and dropping time. Lewis/Pugh once again cleaned the section and therefore found themselves victors by a margin of over a minute. Davies/Dodd were the only other crew to clean the section and moved from seventh at petrol to the runner up spot. Jones/Clarke survived to take third place, but Crook/Ware dropped to seventh.
The Semi-Expert class was once again won by Dez Phasey/Steve Price, they ended up 45 minutes ahead of their nearest class rival. The Novice Award went to local crew Iwan Williams/Gwion Pryderi in their Escort 1.6.
As a result of the event the drivers' division of the Welsh Championship is still led by Baron Glaze, who has a five point lead over Paul Holmberg, they're the only two drivers to have scored on all six rounds. Glaze's navigator, Dave Pitchford, now lies third in his championship, three point behind Phil Pugh, who in turn is eight points behind Phil Clarke. Six rounds remain in the Championship but competitors can only count their eight top scores.
OVERALL RESULTS
Pos | Driver | Navigator | Car | Penalty | |
1 | Richie Lewis | Phil Pugh | Toyota Corolla | 2m 25s | |
2 | Ewen Davies | Owen Dodd | Opel Manta GTE | 3m 34s | |
3 | Wyn Jones | Phil Clark | Ford Escort | 4m 05s | |
4 | Michael Pedley | David Pedley | Hillman Avenger | 4m 28s | |
5 | Rob Roberts | Paul Burns | Ford Escort | 4m 50s | |
6 | Kevin Ikin | Rob Jones | Ford Escort | 5m 59s | |
7 | Cyril Crook | Chris Ware | Talbot Sunbeam | 6m 05s | |
8 | Paul Holmberg | Lee Ellis | Ford Escort | 6m 25s | |
9 | Tony Davies | Ieuan Thomas | VW Golf GTi | 7m 16s | |
10 | Baron Glaze | Dave Pitchford | Ford Escort | 8m 28s | |
11 | Mark Jukes | Shaun O'Gorman | Toyota Corolla | 9m 46s | |
12 | Peter Zjalic | Gerallt Davies | Toyota Corolla | 12m 33s | |
13 | Gareth Morgan | Carl Williamson | Skoda 120 | 13m 52s | |
14 | John Evans | Aneurin James | Hillman Avenger | 14m 27s | |
15 | Alyson Acreman | Byron Jones | Vauxhall Astra | 15m 59s | |
16 | Nigel Lloyd | Iestyn Leyshon | Ford Escort | 16m 42s | |
17 | Chris Wilson | Roger Fildes | Vauxhall Astra GTE | 16m 54s | |
18 | Iain Scott | Jez Harris | Ford Escort | 17m 21s | |
19 | Chris Painter | Steve Quine | Toyota Corolla | 17m 27s | |
20 | Gwynfor Jones | Alan Jones | Ford Escort | 17m 42s | |
21 | Dave James | Sarah Preece | Ford Escort | 18m 24s | |
22 | Des Phasey | Steve Price | Ford Escort | 19m 12s | |
23 | John Jones | Dave Stocking | Renault 11 Turbo | 22m 57s | |
24 | Kevin Nunns | Nigel Roberts | Toyota Corolla | 23m 08s | |
25 | Stephen Edwards | Paul Jones | Talbot Sunbeam | 23m 31s | |
26 | Darren Williams | Mat Morgan | Vauxhall Astra | 26m 41s | |
27 | Duncan Williams | Paul Price | Peugeot 205 GTi | 33m 29s | |
28 | Simon Price | Alan Lovett | Ford Escort | 39m 53s | |
29 | Stephen Roberts | Geoff Williams | Ford Escort | 64m 20s | |
30 | Dennis Quinn | Nick Darkin | Ford Escort | 1F 3m 41s | |
31 | Sarah Harmer | Pat Gadsby | MG Maestro | 1F 7m 23s | |
32 | Simon Stock | Patrick Walsh | Ford Sierra | 1F 19m 39s | |
33 | Kevin Roberts | Keith Davies | Ford Capri | 1F 36m 15s | |
34 | Carl O'Grady | Gwyn Williams | VW Golf | 1F 40m 41s | |
35 | Iwan Williams | Gwion Pryderi | Ford Escort | 1F 42m 39s | |
36 | Mike Cartwright | Steve Warrington | Ford Escort | 3F 47m 32s | |
37 | Brian Spurr | Jim Clarke | Ford Escort | 3F 54m 56s | |
38 | Adrian Evans | Wayne Evans | Ford Escort | 6F 1h 26m 12s | |
39 | Malcolm Middleton | Richard Preece | Ford Fiesta | 9F 1h 27m 12s | |
40 | Tim Elvins | James Quinn | Ford Escort | 10F 1h 17m 58s | |
41 | Tony Watkin | Medwyn Evans | Mini 1275GT | 13F 1h 33m 34s |