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Suzanne Crowley Memorial Rally 1996

Sponsored by Williams & Sons (Haulage)

Barcud Motor Club

3rd/4th August 1996

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Elgan Jones/Deian Rees took an impressive victory in their Astra on Barcud MC's Suzanne Crowley Memorial Rally; this was the second year in succession that Rees had taken first place after navigating Hefin Lewis to the winner's spot in 1995. The only real challenge came from the Welsh Border CC Sunbeam of Richard Roe/Chris Ware, who might have run the winner's close if they hadn't retraced their route at one point to try and find a non-existent code board.

The event, a round of the North Western Championship, attracted an entry of 73 cars. It was based in Tregaron and took in the familiar maze of lanes in central Ceredigion. The 140 mile route was split into ten sections.

The first five sections circled Llanafan Forest before heading back towards Tregaron and the first petrol halt. However the fifty competitive miles wasn't enough to catch out nine crews who managed to remain penalty free. However the pace was sufficient to cause Roe/Ware to have a minor off early on, which they survived with only superficial damage. Also in trouble were Clive Greves/John Hands, they also suffered a slight moment on a freshly tarmaced triangle which rearranged the lights on their Chevette, they were to eventually finish 8th overall.

The most striking feature of this segment was the fact that fifteen crews were excluded for giveway infringements on the very first section. These include three of the leading challengers in the North Western Championship, Nigel Thomas/Phil Stocking, Stephen Edwards/Paul Jones and Ian Lloyd/Chris Read. The main beneficiary of this was Paul Holmberg, seeded with Maurice Leech at No.3. They completed the event in sixth place, which substantially increased Holmberg's championship lead. However it had been a fraught rally as they struggled with a throttle cable that seemed stuck at full open for most of the night.

The second segment of the rally started with two comparatively straight forward tests, however these led crews to the tie breaker section, this was a 25 mile sector split by three intermediate time controls, the first of which was timed to the second. The route took in the complex series of lanes around Trefenter, and was defined not only by controls but by blackspots as well. This may have been enough to force all crews to drop time, however the organisers had repeated a device they had used last year, namely a route card which had a list of map references and then a separate list of controls.

Jones/Rees arrived at the first ITC having dropped only one minute, this was six minutes faster than any other crew. Roe/Ware would have been closer but dropped three minutes as they retraced their steps attempting to find a non-existent code board, the seven minutes dropped to the ITC were their only penalties of the night. Jones/Rees dropped a further three minutes later in the same section, but that was their final total, giving them an impressive victory margin.

Third was taken by David James/Sarah Preece, this was despite a problematic night. The throttle cable had broken on their 1300 Escort just prior to the second petrol halt and they had to complete the event using a emergency hand controlled throttle. In addition James did the whole rally unaware that he had a broken hand! He had hurt it in an incident on the previous week's Classic Lanes Rally and thought it was only sprained.

The rally proved a tough test for the Semi-Expert crews, the class was won by Gethin Lewis/Aled Jones with a total of three fails, however this was two fails less than their nearest rival. The novices were aided by a shorter route and a straight forward route card on the tie breaker section and their award went to Gwynfor and Rob Jones, the fastest of only three finishers.

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OVERALL RESULTS

	Pos	Driver	Navigator	Car	Penalty
	1	Elgan Jones	Deian Rees	Vauxhall Astra	4m 00s
	2	Richard Row	Chris Ware	Talbot Sunbeam	7m 00s
	3	Dave James	Sarah Preece	Ford Escort	15m 14s
	4	Simon Stock	Patrick Walsh	Ford Sierra	15m 47s
	5	Nigel Lloyd	Iestyn Leyshon	Ford Escort	19m 00s
	6	Paul Holmberg	Maurice Leach	Ford Escort	22m 00s
	7	Kevin Morgan	Andy Bowen	Ford Escort	26m 00s
	8	Clive Greeves	John Hands	Vauxhall Chevette	34m 00s
	9	Iain Scott	Jez Harris	Ford Escort	37m 00s
	10	Pete Cotton	Matt Berker	Ford Escort	1F 16m 00s
	11	Carwyn Jones	Mike Roach	Ford Escort	1F 20m 00s
	12	Phil Stroud	Steve Durbin	Toyota Corolla	1F 28m 00s
	13	Meredith Roberts	Gareth Thomas	Ford Escort	2F 19m 00s
	14	Aled Evans	J E Jones	Ford Sierra	2F 26m 00s
	15	Gethin Lewis	Aled Jones	Ford Escort	3F 24m 00s
	16	Jon Ross	Dave Stocking	Ford Escort	3F 36m 00s
	17	Colin Thomas	Rob Richardson	Vauxhall cavalier	4F 29m 00s
	18	Neil Morgan	Jason Dolman	Ford Escort	5F 21m 00s
	19	Dave Painter	Peter Lewis	Opel Manta	6F 30m 00s
	20	Gareth Evans	Dylan Evans	Ford EScort	6F 33m 00s
	21	Mike Cartwright	Paul Griffin	Ford Escort	7F 32m 00s
	22	Wyn Owens	Hefin Owens	Ford Escort	8F 29m 00s
	23	Will Whitehurst	Phil Ralphs	Ford Escort	9F 39m 00s
	24	D Evans	A Davies	Audi	11F 40m 00s
	25	Hefin George	Dilwyn John	Mazda 323 Turbo	11F 40m 00s
	26	Mark Daniel	Lorraine Thomas	Ford Escort	12F 41m 00s
	27	Dalis Evans	Hywel Evans	Ford Capri	12F 48m 00s
	28	Kath Rumney	Arfon Jones	Ford Escort	14F 34m 00s
	29	Nick Evans	Allan Hands	Ford Escort	14F 44m 00s
	30	Llion Rhys	Mark Lloyd	Ford Escort	19F 31m 00s
	31	Roger Harris	Jane Harris	Opel Manta	21F 44m 00s
	32	Mark Skellern	Steve Turner	Ford Escort	24F 39m 00s
	33	Alwyn Jones	R W Roberts	Ford Escort	26F 33m 00s
	34	Gareth Morgan	Carl Williamson	Skoda 120RS	34F 17m 00s
	35	Paul Jenkins	Richard Owen	Ford Escort	39F 37m 00s

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