Wayne "tar" Jones and Owen Rowcliffe pose with their winners trophies (Owen Rowcliffe)

The Pembrokeshire motor club organised JD Competition tyres Bob Shaw Memorial stages took place on the Sunday the 2nd of July. This six stage event gave competitors over 50 miles of competition at the Brawdy military airfield and would be the fourth round of the Welsh tarmac rally championship. 

This rally would see a handful of club members taking part, with the first being Malcolm “Tar” Jones and Rhys Jones who were once again having a go in their Darrian T90 GTR. Behind them at 3 was brother Wayne “Tar” in his example, he had Owen Rowcliffe reading the notes. At 11 was John Lewis in his Darrian, his being a T9 model, and he would have Merfyn Williams alongside him. Navigating in car 18 was Dafydd Evans, he would be guiding Ieuan Evans around in his Mk2 Ford escort. Also navigating was James Davies who sat in the Vauxhall nova belonging to Marc Mayes. They were seeded at 21. Keith Daniels was at 46 in his Vauxhall corsa, he had Rhys Williams sat with him. 52 went to Kevin Davies and Jonathan Davies in their Peugeot 207. 

It would be a very successful event for club entrants, with a tight battle for top honours taking place between the “Tar” brothers who swapped times all day with their respective navigators. On the opening pair of stages it was Wayne and Owen that got the better of everyone as they set 10 minutes and 28 seconds over the first stage and 10 minutes and 2 seconds on the second compared with 10 minutes and 32 seconds and ten minutes and 9 seconds that Malcolm and Rhys achieved. 

Malcolm and Rhys would reverse things on stage 3 though, putting in a time one second better than Wayne and Owen with 10 minutes and 23 seconds. They again swapped on stage 4, with Wayne and Owen managing the best time of 10 minutes and 11, while Malcolm and Rhys managed 10 minutes and 18 seconds. For the final pair of stages it was Malcolm and Rhys that did best with 9 minutes and 59 seconds and 9 minutes and 49 seconds against Wayne and Owen’s 10 minutes and 2 seconds and 9 minutes and 55 seconds. Overall though it was Wayne and Owen that secured the victory, with a winning margin of 8 seconds over Malcolm and Rhys. They were over 2 minutes ahead of every other competitor and were part of an all Darrian podium. It was the first time Wayne had used the car in eight months and his first time driving at Brawdy. It was also the first stage rally win for Owen too. It had also been a successful outing for Malcolm and Rhys as they secured a maximum score each in their Welsh tarmac rally championship campaign even though they had lost a little time on stages 2 and 4 as they caught slower cars.

The third club member out in a Darrian was John Lewis who took his smaller engined example to an impressive fifteenth overall. He and Merfyn would at one point be as high as thirteenth overall but would settle for fifteenth. A great result for them considering the power difference of these cars.

It was an interesting day out for Ieuan and Dafydd, as they opened their day with an excellent fifth fastest time on the opening stage. However they would suffer a touch of brake fade on the second stage, which resulted in a minor off and a damaged wheel and punctured tyre. This saw them drop down the leaderboard to fifty-seventh overall. Knowing that they were now somewhat out of the running they used the remaining stages as an opportunity to experiment with the cars setup and tyre choices ready for the up and coming Rali Ceredigion. In doing so they found some great combinations which saw them climb back up the leaderboard to finish the day in a very respectable fourteenth overall. A great result considering their stage 2 troubles and they were another crew getting caught behind other competing cars.

Marc and James would have an excellent rally in the giant killing Vauxhall nova. James for this rally had swapped seats to take on navigating duties. It proved to be a successful outing for them too as though their goal was to hope for a top twenty placing on what was a very strong entry, they would in fact finish in an excellent eleventh overall and taking the under 1600cc class in the process. A great result for them as they also scored a good handful of points in the Welsh tarmac championship.

Keith Daniels and Rhys Williams also had a successful outing in their Vauxhall corsa, as they achieved a class win with the best under 1400cc. They achieved some excellent times which saw them finish in an impressive thirty-third overall. A great achievement for a venue that is better suited to powerful cars. 

Kevin and Jonathan would finish their rally in a very respectable thirty-fifth overall and sixth in class after setting some very respectable times all day, they had a trouble free run and would be another crew achieving a good haul of points in the Welsh tarmac rally championship.

Thanks must go to Owen Rowcliffe for the use of his image