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: Andrew Thomson
Route: 135 Miles
Maps: 145 & 146
Starters: 90
Winners: Geraint Davies/Emyr Jones (Toyota Corolla)
Geraint Davies/Emyr Jones emerged as winners of Llandysul MC's Valley Services Rally, the seventh round of the WAMC Road Rally championship. Their victory came after a steady run which saw them finish three minutes clear of their nearest rivals, Elgan Jones/Byron Jones. However for most crews it was a difficult night as the tough nature of the event took it's toll, of the 90 starters only 37 made it to the finish.
The popularity of road rallying in West Wales was demonstrated by the fact that the 90 car entry was filled within a week of opening and this was over two months before the rally actually took place.
There was controversy before the start when championship hopefuls and the winners of three previous rounds, Richard Lewis/Phil Pugh, found that their Corolla, along with that of Peter Zjalic, failed scrutineering. An appeal to the Stewards was rejected and so the matter was passed to an MSA Tribunal which found in favour of Lewis and Zjalic. This finding meant that the Valley Services was excluded from the Welsh Championship [See Side Bar].
Clerk of the Course, Andrew Thomson, had laid out a demanding test for the competitors, the 122 mile route used a large proportion of whites many of them very difficult to locate, most crews reported difficulties finding the entrance to least one track. The only comfort for the entrants was that the whole route card was given out at the first control and, after a initial three mile section, they were given a generous amount of time to plot the rest before the start of the second test.
Significantly fifteen crews failed to make it that far. Most notably the Pedley brothers whose Avenger had a half shaft fail only half a mile into the event, similarly Sarah Harmer/Pat Gadsby had a drive shaft fail on their MG Maestro. Those that survived had four standard sections to face in the area to the north of Newcastle Emlyn before returning for petrol at Llandysul. At the halfway halt it was found that Cefin Evans/Dyfan Davies, seeded at 22 in their Corolla, had a 40 second lead. They had this lead cut to only two seconds on the section after the halt, however on the seventh test they wrong sloted dropped six minutes after investigating an incorrect white; they eventually finished eighth.
Immediately after petrol crews were faced with a six mile regularity section; there was a secret intermediate check but crews were allowed to stop in sight of it and were only timed on their entry to it. This control saw many crews clean, with most others losing only a few seconds. Despite an average speed of 28 mph most competitors lost time from the ITC to the end of the section as it used one of the difficult to find whites.
Most of this was irrelevant for Dennis Quinn/Nick Darkin as they booked in early at the section start, the resultant fail dropping them way down the order, they eventually finished in 22nd place.
Interestingly an attempt was made to get the control scrubbed due to the fact that the time allowed from MC3 at the petrol halt to the start TC was only three minutes, thus meaning that the two controls must have been less than two miles apart - this contravenes RAC Regulations. However the protest was thrown out because the control was on private land and wasn't therefore covered by that rule.
The rest of the second half took crews south to the Brechfa area and then back to the lanes and tracks surrounding Newcastle Emlyn. It was over these sections that Davies/Jones steered their Corolla to a comfortable win. Elgan Jones/Byron Jones were second, although they had originally been given a fail for a wrong approach at one control - they were not alone in this. It was then was discovered that the offending control had in fact been 400 yards off plot, all penalties for it were therefore ignored.
Third, after a clear run, were Mark Jukes/Jon Stubbs, while fourth were Baron Glaze/Dave Pitchford. They had a survived an early scare when their battery seemed to be ready to fail. The result appeared to be a major boost to their Welsh Championship hopes; Glaze had now finished all seven rounds and has a commanding lead in the driver's table, while Pitchford moved into second place in the navigator's league. Of course, this became irrelevant when the Valley Services was later dropped from the series because of the exclusions at Scrutineering.
Wyn Jones/Phil Clarke (Ford Escort) finished in 13th place, their lowly result was due to clutch problems which cost them ten minutes near the end. Paul Holmberg, partnered by Maurice Leach, failed to finish his first rally in 40 starts, as he was among eleven crews excluded for give way offences on the penultimate section. Welsh Border Car Club members seemed to be particularly affected by these exclusions, as Cyril Crook/Chris Ware (Talbot Sunbeam), John Jones/Chris Rowlands (Renault 11)and Richard Roe/Dave Sillars (Talbot Sunbeam) also fell foul of the DSOs.
Fifth overall went to the winners of the Semi-Expert class Wyn Owens/Hefin Owens. While the first novices appearred at sixth overall, these were the Teify Valley crew of Anthony Reynolds/Alan Davies.
OVERALL RESULTS
Pos | Driver | Navigator | Car | Penalty | |
1 | Geraint Davies | Emyr Jones | Toyota Corolla | 2m 04s | |
2 | Elgan Jones | Byron Jones | Vauxhall Astra GTE | 5m 12s | |
3 | Mark Jukes | Jon Stobbs | Toyota Corolla | 5m 25s | |
4 | Baron Glaze | Dave Pitchford | Ford Escort | 6m 50s | |
5 | Wyn Owens | Hefin Owens | Ford Escort | 8m 09s | |
6 | Jonathan Hands | Rob Duke | Vauxhall Chevette | 8m 21s | |
7 | Anthony Reynolds | Alan Davies | Toyota Corolla | 8m 28s | |
8 | Cefin Evans | Dyfan Davies | Ford Escort | 8m 43s | |
9 | Arwyn Thomas | Andy Bowen | Ford Escort | 9m 34s | |
10 | Alan Gaunt | Dorian Evans | Peugeot 205 | 12m 02s | |
11 | Dave Davies | Owen Dodd | Vauxhall Cavalier SRi | 12m 57s | |
12 | Mario Mangano | Steve Weston | Fiat Strada | 18m 20s | |
13 | Wyn Jones | Phil Clarke | Ford Escort | 18m 47s | |
14 | Llion Rhys | Mark Lloyd | Ford Escort | 20m 13s | |
15 | Carwyn Jones | Dalis Ifans | Ford Escort RS2000 | 30m 27s | |
16 | Roger Harris | Jane Harris | Opel Manta | 35m 10s | |
17 | Stephen Williams | Ian Taylor | Talbot Sunbeam Ti | 36m 51s | |
18 | Gareth Morgan | Carl Williamson | Skoda 120RS | 41m 04s | |
19 | Geraint Jones | Hywel Ifans | Talbot Sunbeam | 73m 47s | |
20 | Andrew Lewis | Dave Howells | Ford EScort RS2000 | 102m 04s | |
21 | Robert Fearn | Brian Jenkins | Ford Escort RS2000 | 109m 13s | |
22 | Dennis Quinn | Nick Darkin | Ford Escort | 1F 8m 39s | |
23 | Nigel Lloyd | Iestyn Leyshon | Ford Escort RS2000 | 1F 31m 32s | |
24 | Gareth Evans | Dylan Evans | Ford Escort RS2000 | 1F 90m 06s | |
25 | Glan Harbud | Deian Rees | Ford Escort | 2F 21m 01s | |
26 | Jim Pritchard | Garyl Evans | Ford Escort | 3F 19m 12s | |
27 | Huw Davies | Gary Hazelby | Mitsubishi Colt | 3F 21m 05s | |
28 | Kath Rumney | Arfon Jones | Ford Escort | 3F 177m 19s | |
29 | Hefin Evans | Howell Davies | Ford Escort RS2100 | 4F 62m 44s | |
30 | Tony Watkins | Medwyn Evans | Mini 1275GT | 4F 77m 28s | |
31 | Vince Davies | Aled Jones | Vauxhall Astra | 5F 134m 20s | |
32 | Neil Griffiths | Darren Miles | Ford Escort RS2100 | 7F 112m 57s | |
33 | John Evans | Eurig Evans | Hillman Avenger | 9F 107m 00s | |
34 | Dai Wilmer | Darren Morris | Ford Escort | 11F 334m 40s | |
35 | Matthew Waner | Dylan Hughes | Opel Manta | 16F 145m 18s | |
36 | Martin Ellaway | Matthew Farr | Ford Escort | 19F 335m 32s | |
37 | Kim Turk | Beth Evans | Ford Escort RS2000 | 21F 230m 11s |