Rally Archive
Autumn Road Rally
Sponsored by John Morgan Autoparts + Cath Williams Catering
Carmarthen Motor Club
14th/15th September 2024
Winners: George Williams/Cadog Davies (Ford Escort)
Photograph: © Adrian Convery Photography
Organiser: Carmarthen Motor Club
Date: 14th/15th September 2024
Clerk of the Course: Alan James & Owain Davies
Route: 120 Miles (Map 146 & 159)
Base: Carmarthen Livestock Market
Starters: 86
The Autumn Road Rally, Round Seven of the Welsh Championship, proved to be a tough test for competitors. A rain free night meant that most of the roads were dry, but there were wet and, in places, slimy patches to catch out the unwary. The route also used a number of farm tracks, which created a challenging trial.
Based, as usual, at the Carmarthen Livestock Market, 86 cars lined up for the start of the 120 mile event. They were led away by the 2023 winners, George Williams/Cadog Davies (Ford Escort), who were immediately in trouble on the opening section.
The intricate segment started near Nantgaredig and included three farm track sectors, before finishing at Cwm-coch. It was on the first of these tracks that the top seeds ground to a halt. With the first car on the road stuck, those behind them also became bogged down, the result was that following cars were diverted around the track. This shortening of the route led to the section being cancelled from the results.
These problems were immaterial to Bev Blacker/Niall Frost (Ford Escort), they had made the long journey from Yorkshire, but had to withdraw due to lighting problems, including the loss of their spotlights, before TC2. Daniel Jones, making a rare return to road rallying from his stage exploits, also had a brief outing; he and Marc Hughes retired their Escort with steering problems.
With the loss of the opening section, competition started in the lanes to the south of the Brechfa Forest, a six mile challenge with four timing points. The leading crews dropped time at the final TC near Rhydargaeau. Rob Stephens/Kieran Price (Ford Escort) were quickest by one second from Ieuan Evans/Dafydd-Sion Lloyd (Ford Escort), with Williams/Davies two seconds further back.
Evans/Lloyd took the lead on the next section, a short two miler that ran from Peniel to Glan Gwilis. They were clean here, while Stephens/Price dropped four seconds. Richard Jerman/Shaun Richards (Ford Escort) and Gethin Dafis/Dion Lewis (Ford Escort) were also on time at TC9 and moved themselves into contention.
Sadly, Stephens/Price left the fight for first place when a steering arm broke on the following section. Chris Richmond Hand/Dylan John Williams had hoped to break the Escort monopoly in their Toyota Starlet, but their rally came to an end here when they became the victim of a Carmarthenshire ditch, damaging their car severely enough to halt their rally.
Welsh Championship leader Kevin Kerr, with Daniel Jones on the maps, didn't add to his series total as he went out at this early point; his Escort suffering a failed clutch.
The following section, which started at Bronwydd, was lost due to a number of issues along its ten miles length, but another tight two miler to TC14 got most to drop time. Williams/Davies and Jerman/Richards managed to clean it, but Evans/Lloyd were nine second late at the Bancyfelin control. This left Evans/Lloyd tied for the lead with Williams/Davies, while Jerman/Richards were four seconds further back.
The final section of the first half was a further four minute challenge; it started near Ffynnonseirl and used the twisty lanes to finish just over the railway line from Nantyrhebog. Evans/Lloyd were quickest, three seconds ahead of Williams/Davies and five in front of Jerman/Richards.
Andy Davies/Eurig Davies (Subaru Impreza), who had been going well, went out on this section as a gear linkage broke. Other crews who failed to make the halfway point were Arwel Evans/Richard Williams (Ford Escort) and Dan Morris/Jamie Mills (Ford Focus), the latter had a fuel pump fail, while the former got stuck.
At Petrol, Evans/Lloyd held a lead of three seconds over Williams/Davies, with Jerman/Richards six seconds further back. Matthews Davies/Arfon Griffiths (Ford Escort Mexico) had been second quickest over the final section and were now in fourth place, 23 seconds off the lead.
The second half of the rally moved to the lanes to the south-west of Carmarthen, with the start being near the shores of the Teifi Estuary. All crews dropped time at the final three TCs on the section, which finished at Bancffosfelen.
It was a significant sector; the leaders, Evans/Lloyd, retired after hitting a bank. And, in what was now the lead battle, Jerman/Richards closed the gap to Williams/Davies by three seconds, putting the two crews just six seconds apart.
Yet another crew chasing Welsh Championship points, Gareth Edwards/Andrew Lowe (Ford Escort), went out on the section, they hit a bank on the Wem Farm track.
A number of other competitors who had been in the top twenty at Petrol retired in the second half; Mike Roberts/Nick Bloxham (Ford Escort) had a propshaft fail, while Jason Davies/Aled Richards (Ford Escort) withdrew with bent steering with two sections left to run. A misfire caused the demise of Tomos Evans/Emyr Jones (Ford Escort).
The contest for the win was decided at TC29, which was at the top of a track running up through the forest at Paxton's Tower. Williams/Davies were fastest of all and, critically, 47 seconds in front of Jerman/Richards. This gave the leaders an advantage of 50 seconds, which they held until the Finish.
The only three survivors from the top ten seeds at the Start, filled the top three places at the Finish, with Williams/Davies taking their first Championship win of the year.
Second place put Richard Jerman at the top of the Welsh Championship table, while George Williams was still in contention, but had to score well on all of the remaining four rounds.
Iwan 'Bont' Roberts Jnr/Moi Williams (Toyota Corolla) moved up from sixth at Petrol to take third place at the Finish. The navigator also took the Jaffa Roberts Memorial Trophy for the highest placed navigator aged under 21. Encouragingly, there were three navigators who were eligible for this award in the top ten finishing places. Moi Williams also moved to the top of the Navigators' table in the Welsh Championship.
Emyr Morgan/Tjay Lewis (Ford Sierra) had been in third place in the Semi-Expert Class at Petrol, but stormed through the second half to win the class and take ninth place overall. Thomas Jones/George Eadon (Peugeot 206) had led the class at the halfway point, but booked in a minute early on the final section, with a double penalty for early arrivals, this lost them a class award at the Finish.
The leading novices, Arfon Jones/Matthew Pryce (Subaru Impreza), had led the class all night and finished in twelfth place overall, almost five minutes ahead of their nearest category rivals.
On a tough event, there were 44 finishers and 42 non-finishers.
RESULTS
- Overall Positions
- Award Winners
- Class Positions
- Time Penalty Details
- Fail Penalties
- Overall Positions at MC2
- Non-Finishers
- List of Starters
- Unofficial WAMC Points