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Pacemaker Road Rally 2005
Sponsored by Castle Cars
Knighton Motor Club
22nd/23rd October 2005
Clerk of the Course: Des Phasey
Route: 120 Miles
Maps: 136 & 137
Starters: 68
Winners: John Davies/Neil Bevan (Vauxhall Astra)
The Pacemaker had originally been planned to run in mid-July, but due to the start location having double booked their venue, Knighton Motor Club postponed the event and moved to a mid-October date.
Winners: John Davies/Neil Bevan (Vauxhall Astra)
Photograph: © Brian Gilbert
Sixty-eight cars lined up for the start of Round 8 of the Welsh Championship. Not amongst them was Rali Dyffryn Aeron winner Alan Gaunt, who withdrew a few days before the event.
Competitors faced a demanding 120 miles in traditional Pacemaker territory, with 30 three metre controls included. The route ran in a clockwise loop starting just outside Knighton at Skyborry and ran through the Clun Forest region before stopping for Petrol at Cravern Arms.
By that point top seeds Phil Turner/Steve Herbert (Ford Escort) had built up a very healthy two minute lead. Steve Wood/Aled Richards (Vauxhall Astra) led the chase, but had John Davies/Neil Bevan (Vauxhall Astra) and Glyn Price/Iwan Jones (Ford Escort) close behind.
Already on the retirement list by this point was the VW Golf of Trevor Pritchard/Paul Middleton; they had lost their headlights and, with spotlights being banned in the West Midlands area, they were left in the dark. Also out in the first half was the similar car of Mark 'GT' Roberts/Owen Dodd; their Golf breaking a driveshaft.
The second half used the lanes south of Cravern Arms and around Ludlow before finishing just outside Presteign, which hosted the Finish.
Initially it appeared that Turner/Herbert had maintained their two minute advantage to claim a clear win, but then a DSO report was received, this reported that the crew had failed to stop at a give way junction and the pair were excluded from the results.
This development allowed Davies/Bevan, who had planned a steady run to simply gain Championship points, to take victory, finishing 20 seconds ahead of Price/Jones. The win secured the Welsh Championship for the second successive year for the Astra pairing; this was achieved with two rounds still renmaining in the series. Ian 'Dude' Roberts/Neil Spiers (VW Golf) completed the top three, finishing 34 seconds behind the winners.
Edryd Evans/Richard Briddon (VW Golf) won the Semi-Expert Class win, finishing in ninth place overall and repeating their Class win from the Barcud. They finished 21 seconds and one place ahead of their nearest category rivals, Neil Roberts/Dale Furniss (Peugeot 205). Coming in just outside the top ten were the leading Novices, Matthew Jones/Richard Morris (Vauxhall Astra); they finished 12 minutes ahead of the second in class, John Rossiter/Darrel Smith (Ford Sierra).
OVERALL RESULTS
| Pos | Driver | Navigator | Car | Penalty | |
| 1 | John Davies | Neil Bevan | Vauxhall Astra | 7m 11s | |
| 2 | Glyn Price | Iwan Jones | Ford Escort | 7m 31s | |
| 3 | Ian 'Dude' Roberts | Neil Spiers | VW Golf | 7m 45s | |
| 4 | Andy Sheppard | Patrick Walsh | Ford Escort | 8m 07s | |
| 5 | Steve Wood | Aled Richards | Vauxhall Astra | 8m 20s | |
| 6 | Owen Turner | Graham Dance | Rover Metro | 9m 55s | |
| 7 | Gerwyn Jones | Ceri Davies | Ford Escort | 10m 24s | |
| 8 | Anthony Gluyas | Richard Preece | Opel Manta | 10m 36s | |
| 9 | Edryd Evans | Richard Briddon | VW Golf | 11m 15s | |
| 10 | Neil Roberts | Dale Funiss | Peugeot 205 | 11m 36s | |
| 11 | Matthew Jones | Richard Morris | Vauxhall Astra | 12m 23s | |
| 12 | Gareth Edwards | Andrew Edwards | Suzuki Swift | 12m 23s | |
| 13 | Kevin Bolver | Richard Jarman | Ford Escort | 12m 40s | |
| 14 | Alyson Acreman | Byron Jones | Honda Civic | 13m 15s | |
| 15 | Garyl Evans | Dilwyn John | Vauxhall Astra | 15m 36s | |
| 16 | Mei Jones | Llinos Jones | Vauxhall Astra | 15m 47s | |
| 17 | Neil Nicholas | Dylan Jenkins | MG Maestro | 16m 05s | |
| 18 | Andy Groom | Carl Darby | Peugeot 205 | 16m 38s | |
| 19 | Matthew Maidment | David Powell | Peugeot 205 | 17m 59s | |
| 20 | Tim Evans | Alun Probert | Nissan Micra | 18m 19s | |
| 21 | Baron Glaze | Pete Davies | Ford Escort | 18m 34s | |
| 22 | Mike Hart | Nic Cadwallader | Vauxhall Corsa | 20m 06s | |
| 23 | Richard James | Eric Tong | Vauxhall Astra | 20m 53s | |
| 24 | Rob Chell | Dylan Evans | Peugeot 205 | 20m 59s | |
| 25 | Roger Powley | Leigh Powley | Hillman Imp | 22m 03s | |
| 26 | Nigel Phillips | James Morgan | Peugeot 309 | 23m 09s | |
| 27 | John Rossiter | Darrel Smith | Ford Sierra | 24m 32s | |
| 28 | Daniel Williams | John Tomley | Vauxhall Nova | 25m 02s | |
| 29 | Rob Price | Mark Coleman | Vauxhall Astra | 26m 00s | |
| 30 | Geraint Jones | Katie Briddon | Ford Puma | 26m 57s | |
| 31 | Rob Thomas | Jenny James | Ford Sierra | 28m 19s | |
| 32 | Paul Gwalchmai | Ian Gwalchmai | Peugeot 205 | 30m 06s | |
| 33 | Robert Brown | Alex Gill | Peugeot 205 | 32m 12s | |
| 34 | Abigail Summerfield | Thomas Henderson | Peugeot 205 | 34m 32s | |
| 35 | John Jones | Steve Davies | Renault 11 Turbo | 34m 40s | |
| 36 | Huw Morris | Laura Morris | Proton Compact | 34m 58s | |
| 37 | Chris Hodson | Andrew Faulkner | Ford Escort | 36m 59s | |
| 38 | Steve Gittins | Richard Evans | Peugeot 205 | 38m 30s | |
| 39 | Nichalas Nicolou | Dave Millard | Vauxhall Nova | 39m 59s | |
| 40 | Keith Morgan | Richard Schofield | Citroen AX GT | 48m 49s | |
| 41 | Kevin Brown | Martin Dudley | Mini | 69m 47s | |
| 42 | Cliff Jones | Jason Reynolds | Vauxhall Nova | 1F 39m 37s | |
| 43 | Frank Burton | Steve Ball | Ford Escort | 1F 42m 01s | |
| 44 | Lee Monks | Dave Thomas | Peugeot 205 | 1F 63m 26s | |
| 45 | Ian Phillips | Richard Furniss | Peugeot 205 | 2F 30m 27s | |
| 46 | Keith Ashley | Clive Jones | Suzuki Swift | 4F 45m 09s | |
| 47 | Derek Tracy | Chris Hughes | Vauxhall Astra | 4F 52m 31s | |
| 48 | Mark Butler | Peter Barnard | Peugeot 205 | 6F 19m 47s | |
| 49 | Tony Watkin | Medwyn Evans | Peugeot 205 GTi | 7F 41m 29s | |
| 50 | Michael Jones | Robin Moses | Peugeot 205 | 19F 45m 05s | |
| 51 | Peter Roberts | Wyn Roberts | Peugeot 205 | 20F 41m 56s | |
| 52 | Alan Green | Richard Jones | Vauxhall Astra | 22F 25m 46s | |
| 53 | Simon Naughton | Gareth Thomas | Ford Escort | 28F 8m 09s | |
| 54 | Dave Bennett | David Cox | Ford Escort | 28F 30m 20s |