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: Keith Morgan & Haydn Williams
Route: 130 Miles
Maps: 135
Starters: 70
Winners: Graham Evans/Ian Mills (Opel Manta)
Graham Evans/Ian Mills took their Manta to a close fought victory on Aberyswyth MC's Packaging Plus Night Owl Rally. They emerged at the front after what had been a four way battle for the lead for most of the event. For the navigator it was a maiden win, however for Evans it was his second road rally victory as a driver - his previous success being on the 1978 Gemini Rally.
The organiser's had laid out a compact 140 mile route never venturing more than ten miles from its base at Aberyswyth. After taking in the extreme south west corner of Map 135, the route moved, after the petrol halt, back east to Ponterwyd, before heading back to the coast via the Pendam area. It was split into nine sections, all timed to the second and just for good measure three in the first half also had Intermediate Controls. A straight forward plot 'n bash format was used, with route hand outs at the start of each section. Unusually for Welsh rallying two route cards had letter codes disguising the references.
A number of crews were soon in trouble as they ran into a blackspot in Trebenter village. Those affected included 'Steaky'/Andy Bowen (Escort 2.0) and Kevin Nunns/Dave Evison (Corolla 1.6), but most notably top seeds, Gary Davies/Neil Spiers (Escort 2.0). With three fails for the first offence Davies/Spiers continued, however early in the second half they picked up a further fail for a wrong approach and decided to retire. Despite this they, very sportingly, continued as course opening car after the two official cars hit problems.
With all crews dropping time on the second section, Arwyn Thomas/Shaun O'Gorman (Escort) found themselves leading by 14 seconds from the eventual winners, with the Peugeot 205 of Alan Guant/Dorian Evans over a minute behind. However by the petrol halt Guant/Evans had taken the lead with a 3 second advantage over Thomas/O'Gorman; Evans/Mills were now a minute down, with the Sierra of Hefin Lewis/Deinan Rees only 11 seconds behind.
These positions remained the same, with the margins varying only fractionally, over the next four tests. The result was that by the start of the penultimate selective the top four were covered by less than a minute. It was to prove a decisive section; it took in thirteen miles over Pendam. At the first Passage Control there was a route amendment referring to the segment immediately following the control - this caused some problems for a number of crews. It was Evans/Mills who emerged fastest dropping 3m 02s, enough to give them a fifty second lead over Lewis/Rees' Sierra. Gaunt/Evans were two and a half minutes back and dropped to fourth behind Cyril Crook/Chris Ware (Sunbeam 2.1) who were second fastest. Worse affected however were Thomas/O'Gorman who lost over twenty minutes and plummeted to eighth. With only a short, easily cleanable, final section to complete the rally, these were to be the positions at the finish.
A number of crews missed out on possible good results with minor slip ups. Former West Midland Champions, Nigel Hall/Dave Pitchford (Escort 2.0), teamed up for the first time in the season, and would have finished second but missed a passage control on the second section. While Nigel Thomas/Phil Stocking (Escort 2.0), Nigel Lloyd/Iestyn Leyshon (Escort 2.0) and Mark Robinson/Steve Durbin (Cavalier SRi) all picked up wrong approaches at the triangle control at TC8.
The Semi-Expert Class and 10th overall was taken by Richard Roe/Dave Sillars (Sunbeam), who were two minutes ahead of Gethin Lewis/Aled Jones (Escort). The Novice award went to the South Wales crew of Geraint Davies/Hywel Ifans (Sunbeam). The Production Class was won by Lampeter's Martin Whiteland/Aneurin James, who brought their huge Volvo 740T home in sixth place.
OVERALL RESULTS
Pos | Driver | Navigator | Car | Penalty | |
1 | Graham Evans | Ian Mills | Opel Manta | 10m 08s | |
2 | Hefin Lewis | Deian Rees | Ford Sierra | 10m 53s | |
3 | Cyril Crook | Chris Ware | Talbot Sunbeam | 11m 37s | |
4 | Alan Gaunt | Dorian Evans | Peugeot 205 | 11m 40s | |
5 | Simon Maczack | Dai Richards | Ford Escort | 15m 03s | |
6 | Martin Whiteland | Aneurin James | Volvo 740T | 23m 04s | |
7 | Gary Robbins | Eurig Evans | Vauxhall Astra GTE | 25m 20s | |
8 | Arwyn Thomas | Shaun O'Gorman | Ford Escort | 27m 42s | |
9 | Gareth Jenkins | Carl Williamson | Opel Ascona | 35m 31s | |
10 | Richard Roe | Dave Sillars | Talbot Sunbeam | 37m 38s | |
11 | Gethin Lewis | Aled Jones | Ford Escort RS | 39m 48s | |
12 | Hefin George | Dilwyn John | Mazda 323 Turbo | 48m 36s | |
13 | Llion Rees | Mark Lloyd | Ford Escort | 53m 55s | |
14 | Glan Habard | TBA | Ford Escort | 54m 30s | |
15 | Nigel Hall | Dave Pitchford | Ford Escort | 1F 10m 38s | |
16 | Nigel Lloyd | Iestyn Leyshon | Ford Escort | 1F 19m 10s | |
17 | Nigel Thomas | Phil Stocking | Ford Escort | 1F 22m 32s | |
18 | Richard 'Tyson' Morris | Owen Dodd | Toyota Corolla | 1F 24m 46s | |
19 | Brian Davies | Jason Brown | Ford Escort | 1F 27m 32s | |
20 | Gary Tabias | Jon Stobbs | Hyundai Pony | 1F 28m 17s | |
21 | Simon Stock | Patrick Walsh | Ford Escort XR3i | 1F 34m 35s | |
22 | Gareth Evans | Dylan Evans | Ford Escort | 1F 40m 44s | |
23 | Graham Evans | Mark Hill | Ford Escort | 1F 46m 26s | |
24 | Nick Evans | Alan Hands | Ford Escort | 1F 52m 22s | |
25 | Dave Boucher | Stephanie Lomax | BL Mini | 1F 88m 56s | |
26 | Gareth Jones | Andrew Perry | Ford Escort | 2F 30m 50s | |
27 | M D Williams | M J Morgan | Opel Manta | 2F 30m 56s | |
28 | Simon Price | Alan Lovett | Ford Escort | 2F 39m 18s | |
29 | Mark Robinson | Steve Durbin | Vauxhall Cavalier SRi | 2F 40m 49s | |
30 | John Evans | Gary James | Opel Ascona | 2F 54m 33s | |
31 | Mark Daniel | Lorian Thomas | Ford Escort | 3F 44m 20s | |
32 | Jon Ross | Steve Quine | Ford Escort | 3F 48m 17s | |
33 | Gareth Lloyd | TBA | Ford Escort | 4F 13m 48s | |
34 | Kevin 'Steaky' Morgan | Andy Bowen | Ford Escort Van | 4F 15m 26s | |
35 | John Jones | Chris Rowlands | Renault 11 Turbo | 5F 45m 47s | |
36 | David Manning | Peter Manning | Ford Escort | 7F 50m 54s | |
37 | David Wilmer | Darren Morris | Ford Escort | 7F 53m 14s | |
38 | Cyril Jones | Mike Daska | Ford Escort | 9F 38m 47s | |
39 | Stuart Martin | Michael Roach | Austin Mini | 11F 68m 51s |
CLASS 3 RESULTS - Not eligible for overall positions due to a shorter route
Pos | Driver | Navigator | Car | Penalty | |
1 | Geraint Davies | Hywel Ifans | Talbot Sunbeam | 3F 82m 38s | |
2 | Gareth Liles | Rhian Liles | Ford Fiesta | 3F 105m 06s | |
3 | Dylan Parry | Meirion Williams | Ford Escort | 4F 59m 48s | |
4 | Peter Cook | Adrian Bachelor | Opel Ascona | 13F 95m 40s | |
5 | Huw Evans | Paul Yates | Ford Escort XR3 | 23F 66m 22s |