Malcolm "tar" Jones and Rhys Jones leap to their first victory on the Dixies Challenge (Aneurin James)
It's been a full weekend for members of Lampeter and district motor club with rallies taking part in the lanes and the stages. First event up was the Killarney and district motor clubs Assess International Ireland International rally of the Lakes taking place over the 29th and 30th of April. This two leg event would be the fourth round of the Irish tarmac rally championship and in the historic event Gareth Bevan and Dafydd Evans would once again pair up in Gareth’s Mk2 Ford escort. Although they were number 15 in the historics they would be running eleventh. The historic rally would tackle twelve of the sixteen stages, beginning with stage 5, Healy pass. Gareth and Dafydd took a cautious start to the event, having entered the rally purely to gain more experience of the Irish roads. Even so their time of 7 minutes and 33.5 seconds was good enough for them to be in third overall. They continued to settle into a rhythm over the next two stages, which were Cod’s head and Ardgroom where they held onto their third overall position. They ended their first day with a fastest overall stage time on the Kilmackillogue stage, to hold third overall at the end of the opening leg of the rally.
The second day of the event consisted of a further eight stages and would include two runs over the incredibly famous Molls gap stages, which would in fact be the opening stage of the day. Following this they would then tackle the Ballaghbeama stage, before repeating them for the next two stages. They would once again set a fastest overall time with their performance on the opening stage over “the gap”.
Over the course of the day they continued to set excellent times among local and far more experienced competitors, with this rally being only the second time that Gareth had competed out in Ireland, it was an excellent achievement for them to finish in second overall in the historic field. An excellent result for them indeed.
The second rally of the weekend took place closer to home, with the Aberystwyth and district motor club’s Night owl road rally taking place, also on the 29th and 30th of April. This 100 miles event, starting in Aberystwyth would use the lanes of OS map 135 and make up the third round of the welsh road rally championship. Naturally being a round of the welsh as well as fairly close to home the rally attracted a handful of club members, with the first being Bro Caron winner Andy Davies in his ever faithful Subaru impreza “IDZ”, once again he would have Michael Gilbey on map duties, they were seeded at number 2. Navigating in car 6 was Cadog Davies who was with regular driver George Williams in George’s Mk2 Ford escort, they set some incredible times on last year's event and were hoping for a repeat performance this year. At number 9 was Arwel Evans in his Mk2 Ford escort, he would have Nick Bloxham on map duties. Another escort followed at 19 , this one belonging to Alan Gaunt. He had Richard Morris with him for this event. At 21 was Arfon Griffiths who was navigating for Mathew Davies in another Mk2 Ford escort. Jonathan Davies and Owen Rowcliffe were next at 24 in Jonathan’s Peugeot 206 and at 28 were Steffan Daniels and Wayne Jones in a Renault clio.
Navigating in car 30, a Peugeot 106 was Owen Rose, he would be reading the map for Dafydd Jones. At 49 were Osian Jones and LLyr Davies in a Nissan micra, and they were followed by Owain Evans at 50, who had Andrew Davies navigating for him in his Peugeot 206. At 55 were Rhodri Lewis and Conor Wilson in a Citroen saxo, and at 61 were Sam Woodcock and Lewis Jenkins in Sam’s Subaru impreza, its engine now repaired since the Bro Caron. Maurice Leach was navigating at 62 for Gareth “penuwch” Richards, they were using a Mk2 Ford escort, and although running with the semi expert class they were in fact competing in the novice class. Arthur Jones and Debbie Evans were once again paired up together for another go in the lanes, they were seeded at number 70 in Arthur’s usual Ford fiesta. Carwyn Jones and Steffan Thomas were at 80 in a Proton Satria. Richard Williams was navigating in car 83, a Vauxhall corsa belonging to Jamie Haynes. Rounding off the entry list as well as club entrants was Sion Busson at 90, he had Ryan Dabner navigating for him in a Ford fiesta.
Signing on duties taken care of, it was off into the lanes for the action, and it wasn't long before the first tight section of the night appeared, which was at TC1S. Best among club members here were Arwel and Nick, who gained 20 seconds of penalties in their escort, just behind them on 26 seconds were George and Cadog in their escort, they were matched by Sam and Lewis who also had 26 seconds, closely following them were Steffan and Wayne on 27 seconds. Also doing well were Jonathan and Owen who managed 29 seconds.
SF1S was the next tight section that saw everyone gain penalties, and here it was George and Cadog that did best among club members with 44 seconds of penalties gained. They were followed by Alan and Richard on 51 seconds. It was Arwel and Nick that rounded off an escort trio with 54 seconds. Jonathan and Owen achieved a very respectable 55 seconds, and they were followed by Arthur and Debbie with 1 minute and 17 seconds. A few more tight sections followed with the second section of the rally, and once again only a handful of seconds separated club members. Unfortunately Andy and Michaels rally came to a premature end as they put the car off the road near Passage control 16. For everyone else the rally then travelled over the Nant-y-Moch road, heading in a southerly direction. This section involved many 3 metre controls making accurate navigation essential for a good time. Once again George and Cadog were setting the pace among club members, with 1 minute and 1 seconds of penalties gained, Arwel and Nick were hot on their heels with 1 minute and 10 seconds gained here. Next were Jonathan and Owen with 1 minute and 13 seconds in their peugeot, and behind them were Steffan and Wayne with their Renault on 1 minute and 34. Alan and Richard were next with 1 minute and 41 seconds, and Dafydd and Owen followed on 1 minute and 52. Arthur and Debbie managed 2 minutes and 22 seconds, Carwyn and Steffan achieved 2 minutes and 35 seconds, and Gareth and Maurice managed 2 minutes and 49 seconds. Unfortunately the retirements list gained a couple of members with Sam and Lewis retiring as did Jamie and Richard’s Vauxhall with fueling problems.
From here the route dropped towards the village of Ponterwyd, where SF3S was located. Everyone gathered penalties here with George and Cadog again doing best among club members with 4 seconds gained. From here the route then looped around the village of Ystumtuen before heading back up towards the A44. SF4S was located here, and again was a tight section that saw penalties gained. Here it was Arwel and Nick that did best among club members with 1 minute and 5 seconds, after them it was Jonathan and Owen with 1 minute and 31 seconds, followed by Steffan and Wayne with 1 minute and 34 seconds.
It was back to Ponterwyd for the petrol halt, and here it was Arwel and Nick that were doing best among club members as they held eighth overall with a penalty count of 5 minutes and 45 seconds. Right behind them were George and Cadog in ninth with 5 minutes and 5 minutes and 49 seconds. In twenty-third were Steffan and Wayne with 9 minutes and 10 seconds. Dafydd and Owen were next on 12 minutes and 20 seconds so they held thirty-second overall. Gareth and Maurice were next with 12 minutes and 33 seconds so they held thirty-third place. Carwyn and Steffan were next with 21 minutes and 36 seconds in forty-second place. Arthur and Debbie were in forty-fifth with 27 minutes and 32 seconds. Jonathan and Owen were forty-seventh having picked up a fail for missing a code board. Alan and Richard were forty-eighth, also with a fail for a code board signature.
Unfortunately the retirement sheet gained some more names with Mathew and Arfon retiring in the first half, as did Osian and LLyr, Owain and Andrew. Rhodri and Conor’s saxo snapped a drive shaft so they also joined the list of retirements. Sion and Ryan went OTL (Over Time Limit) at MC2 (Main control 2) so their rally was also over.
The second half began just outside of Ponterwyd and used the lanes just to the north of Goginan. This is where the fifth section of the rally took place, and included passing through four Time controls as well as the section finish. The first tight section was at Time control 9 which was located near Pendam lake. Here George and Cadog were once again the pace setters, with 37 seconds or penalties being picked up. After them it was Arwel and Nick with 1 minute and 16 seconds. Following them was Carwyn and Steffan with 2 minutes and 52 seconds. Dafydd and Owen were next on 3 minutes and 5 seconds. From here the route then ran south of Capel Bangor for the sixth section. Here George and Cadog had problems so they missed this section, which unfortunately dropped them down the leaderboard as they incurred fails. There were still a few tight sections to pass through, including Time control 14, where George and Cadog achieved a penalty count of 38 seconds, Arwel and Nick went even better and managed 29 seconds. Alan and Richard managed 1 minute exactly and Dafydd and Owen managed 1 minute 10. Gareth and Maurice also achieved 1 minute exactly. Arthur and Debbie were on 4 minutes and 1 second, plus Carwyn and Steffan were on 2 minutes and 12 seconds.
The next tight section was at Time control 16 and was times to the minute, here everyone gathered a couple of minutes or more in penalties before the final tight section timed to the second took place, at SF7S. At this time control it was once again Arwel and Nick that did best among club members, stopping the clocks on 15 seconds. Dafydd and Owen managed 29 seconds, and Arthur and Debbie did very well here on 42 seconds, and they were followed by George and Cadog on 47 seconds.
Following this everyone went back to Aberystwyth for the results. After a tough but enjoyable night it was Arwel Evans and Nick BLoxham that did best among club members as they finished a very respectable sixth overall with 12 minutes and 19 seconds. Dafydd Jones and Owen Rose managed a very respectable twenty-second overall with 25 minutes and 44 seconds. Gareth “Penuwch” Richards and Maurice Leach finished in thirtieth, winning the novice class in the process with their penalty count of 39 minutes and 57 seconds. Carwyn Jones and Steffan Thomas managed thirty-third overall with 46 minutes and 17 seconds. Alan GAunt and Richard Morris finished in thirty-fifth having picked up a fail in the first half, they had a penalty count of 21 minutes and 2 seconds. George and Cadog finished in forty-fourth having gained 15 fails for missing the sixth section, they had a penalty count of 10 minutes and 55 seconds. Unfortunately both Jonathan Davies and Owen Rowcliffe plus Steffan Daniles and Wayne Jones retired in the second half, Arthur Jones and Debbie Evans went OTL at Main Control 4 so unfortunately also featured on the retirements sheet. The next round of the welsh road rally championship is the PK memorial that takes place on the 24th and 25th of June.
The final rally of the weekend was the Forresters car club organised Dixies Challenge that took place on the Epynt military ranges on the 30th or April. This rally would consist of ten stages on the ranges giving some 40 competitive miles. The rally attracted a couple of entries from Lampeter and district motor club with the first being Malcolm “tar” Jones and Rhys Jones who would be out in Malcolms recently purchased 2.5 litre Darrian T90 GTR. This would be the second event for this pair in the car having recently had an excellent second overall result down in Caerwent, this would be the first time they would take on the ranges with the car. At 14 was Emyr Morgan who was in his familiar Mitsubishi Lancer evo 10. He would have Paul Jones reading the notes to him.
Despite challenging conditions with rain falling over the ranges it would be a very successful outing for Malcolm and Rhys, as they took the Darrian by the scruff of the neck and set some astonishing times, on all of the day's stages, featuring on the top of the leaderboard on every one! Stage 3 was cancelled due to an accident but they set the fastest time on all of the rest, not surprisingly this saw them end the day in first overall. They had a total time of 33 minutes and 3 seconds. They in fact had a winning margin of over a minute, excellent going for their first time on the ranges in a new car. Sadly Emyr Morgan and Paul Jones retired on the final stage of the day, a great shame as they were setting some very good times and were lying in the top thirty with their times. After nine years of trying Malcolm and Rhys had finally achieved their first outright win on a rally, and to do so in the challenging conditions that faced the crews made the victory even more impressive, as they managed to keep out of trouble and adapt to the ever changing weather conditions. Rhys is confident there is a lot more to come!
Many thanks must go to Aneurin James for the use of his image in this report.