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: Matt Fowle
Route: 185 Miles
Maps: 186 187 & 197
Starters: 38
Winners: Mike East/Roger Davidson (Peugeot 205 GTi)
Mike East/Roger Davidson took their Peugeot 205 to victory on Central Sussex MC’s Nightwatchman Rally. They emerged with a three minute winning margin after completing a 185 mile route in the lanes of Surrey, West Sussex and Hampshire.
Despite the length of the route, the final results were largely determined by two incidents. Firstly, a number of wrong approaches at TC6 and, secondly the impact of a large pot hole just prior to TC41. TC6 accounted for, amongst others, the two top seeds.
Terry Martin/Simon Bentley lost out on sixth place after picking up a fail at TC6 and later in the event were slowed after suffering steering damage - a visit to the ditch being caused by an attempt to avoid hitting an errant fox.
Mike Biss/Kath Woodman also received a fail at TC6, however this became immaterial as soon afterwards a drive shaft failed on their Astra.
Mick Monaghan/Iain Tullie were the pace setters for most of the night. Still being clear of penalties at the event’s three quarter mark, they looked as if the win was in the bag when they hit the infamous pothole. The impact punctured two tyres on their Sierra Estate and with only one spare they were out of the rally.
Monaghan's demise should have given the lead to Ian Mepham/Sue Speller, who had only dropped two minutes up to that point, however they also suffered a puncture as a result of the pot hole, the delay meant that they finished fourth one minute off third.
The eventual winners also picked up a puncture after hitting the hole but they were more fortunate and managed to finish the section before having to stop to change the wheel.
East/Davidson had a steady run, maintaining enough pace to be comfortably ahead of the Toyota Corolla of Martin Smith/PRAR, who finished second. Jamie Turner/Graham Raeburn were eight minutes further back in third.
The Semi-Expert Class was won by Phil Collings/Mark Collings (Ford Mondeo), who finished eleventh overall, seven minutes ahead of Karen Gardener/Paul Hollingham, who were second in class.
The event was also the Inter-Association event of the year. Ten associations each entered a three car team, this included teams from Northern Ireland and Eastern Scotland, who made the long journey to Guildford. At the Finish it was the South Eastern Association team - Martin Smith/PRAR, Doug Kingsley/Ben Greenfield, Chin/Andy Coshan - who took the cup.
The West Midlands team had a generally unsuccessful event - Gary Jones/Dave Pitchford retired with a suspect axle, Mike Hart/Dave Cooper finished 21st and Andy Oakes/Carl Williamson 23rd. For the Welsh team the rally was a disaster - Bernard Elliott/Iestyn ap Daffydd crashed on the first section, Grant Parker/Mark Robinson were excluded after being reported by the Police and Wayne Elliott/Paul Edwards failed to make the Start.
OVERALL RESULTS
Pos | Driver | Navigator | Car | Penalty | |
1 | Mike East | Roger Davidson | Peugeot 205 GTi | 6m 00s | |
2 | Martin Smith | PRAR | Toyota Corolla | 9m 00s | |
3 | Jamie Turner | Graham Raeburn | MG Maestro | 17m 00s | |
4 | Ian Mepham | Sue Speller | VW Golf GTi | 18m 00s | |
5 | Doug Kingsley | Ben Greenfield | Vauxhall Nova GTE | 24m 00s | |
6 | Paul Wright | Malcolm Barber | Ford Escort | 30m 00s | |
7 | Chin | Andy Coshan | Opel Manta | 36m 00s | |
8 | Allan Sayers | Bob Stokoe | Ford Fiesta | 61m 00s | |
9 | Jeremy Rodgers | Mark Fearon | MG Maestro EFi | 73m 00s | |
10 | Derek McLean | Lockhart Horsburgh | MG Maestro | 90m 00s | |
11 | Phil Collings | Mark Collings | Ford Mendeo | 92m 00s | |
12 | Karen Gardener | Paul Hollingham | VW Golf | 99m 00s | |
13 | Andrew Dadswell | Owen Turner | Rover Metro | 197m 00s | |
14 | Van-Roy Barber | Ollie McCollum | Ford Escort RS2000 | 216m 00s | |
15 | Ken Pape | John Stringer | Ford Escort | 1F 36m 00s | |
16 | Terry Martin | Simon Bentley | Peugeot 205 GTi | 1F 47m 00s | |
17 | John Henderson | Lloyd Cochrane | Talbot Sunbeam | 1F 118m 00s | |
18 | Sandie Taylor | Paul Taylor | Peugeot 205 | 1F 142m 00s | |
19 | Douglas Smith | Euan Brodie | Vauxhall Cavalier | 1F 155m 00s | |
20 | Roger Ashmead | Tim Warburton | Peugeot 205 GTi | 2F 82m 00s | |
21 | Mike Hart | Dave Cooper | Vauxhall Astra GTE | 2F 146m 00s | |
22 | Dominic Worsfield | Mike Beeson | Peugeot 205 GTi | 2F 169m 00s | |
23 | Andy Oakes | Dean George | Toyota Corolla | 3F 31m 00s | |
24 | Nick Powter | Glyn Williams | Vauxhall Astra | 3F 203m 00s | |
25 | John Lindsey | Patrick McCollum | Peugeot 205 GTi | 3F 222m 00s | |
26 | Andrew Tiller | Mark Lewis | Toyota MR2 | 3F 321m 00s | |
27 | Gary Sueridan | Richard Hicks | Peugeot 205 | 4F 250m 00s | |
28 | Paul McCulla | Andy Gilmore | TVR 3000M | 4F 479m 00s | |
29 | Clive Anstey | Verity Anstey | Vauxhall Nova | 9F 334m 00s |