reian cad win autumn

Reian and Cadog on their way to winning the Autumn

It has been a busy couple of weeks of rallying activity for club members with action taking part all over the country over the past couple of weeks with the Mon road rally taking part on the isle of Anglesey on the 17th/18th of September, then a couple of weeks later saw the Autumn rally taking place in the lanes of Carmarthenshire on the 1st and 2nd of October, as well as the final round of the BTRDA forestry rally championship, the Trackrod, taking place in the Yorkshire forests on the 1st of October which all saw club members taking part.

 

                First up was the Caernarvonshire and Anglesey motor club organised Elim Rali Mon, an event of approximately 120 miles that took place on the isle of Anglesey, and amongst the 61 starters representing Lampeter and District motor club once again Cadog Davies who again was navigating for Reian Jones in the little red Seat Ibiza, and in with Chris Young was Dafydd Evans at 8, out in a Vauxhall Nova. Both crews looking to add some points to their welsh championship bids.

                The first half was made up of some 55 miles of lanes around the island and both club members set some very respectable on the rally’s opening sections, with Chris and Dafydd holding fifth overall at the half way halt with 16 seconds of penalties and Reian and Cadog held tenth overall with 36 seconds. It was a very tight rally with very little to separate crews so all was to play for in the second half where crews could not afford to back off.

                The second half was longer than the first, and with many crews only dropping a handful of seconds at the time controls maximum concentration and effort was required to guarantee a good result.

                At the end of the rally it was Chris and Dafydd who were the best Lampeter representatives as they managed to climb up to third overall in the little Nova with 31 seconds of penalties, beating many more powerful cars in the process with their nova’s little engine showing that having a large engine car isn’t necessarily and advantage on a road rally. Reian and Cadog also managed to climb in the second half, which saw them finish seventh overall with 1minute 2 seconds of penalties. These results giving both members a good amount of points for their welsh championship bids, with the Autumn rally which followed being the next round.

                Two weeks after the Mon saw more action in the lanes, this time at virtually the opposite end of the country as Carmarthen motor club hosted their John Morgan Auto parts and Falcon Hotel Autumn rally, which made a return for its third year after being reintroduced to the road rallying calendar after a twenty-seven-year break, and saw entrants compete on some 130 miles of lanes on OS maps 159 and 146.

                The rally saw more club members out this time, no doubt to the fact it was closer to home for them, with the first members from club once again was Cadog Davies navigating for Reian in the Seat, who once again happened to be seeded car 4. Right behind at 5 driving a Ford Escort was Ystwyth winning driver Rhodri Evans, who was partnered by Emyr Jones. Another Lampeter crew followed and in another Ford Escort as 6 was given to Steffan Davies who would have Iwan Jones navigating. Number 8 went to the all Lampeter pair of Justin Jones and Dafydd Evans in yet another Ford Escort, and another Justin, this time Davies was at 14, in a Peugeot 206 GTI, who had Dafydd Sion Lloyd navigating. At 17 and making a return to road rallies for both crews having competed on stage events in the summer were Wayne “Tar” Jones and Rhys Jones, who were also out in Peugeot 206 GTI. Navigating in car 31 was Richard Hughes, who was navigating for Dafydd Evans in a Ford Escort. In car 34 were Gareth Hughes and Andrew Gaunt in another Escort and also at 35 was another escort, with Carwyn Davies and Iwan Griffiths being its occupants. Navigating in car 42 was Tomos Evans who was navigating for Huw Evans in a BMW compact. Also navigating in car 60 was Ben Duke in a Vauxhall corsa who was navigating for Chris Blemish. In car 88 were Simon and Daryl Bailey, who were out in a Peugeot 205 and in car 90, a Vauxhall corsa were Huw and Owen Rowcliffe, so it was an excellent representation for the club with potential for excellent results in classes as well as potential overall positions.

                As soon as competitors had the left the start venue and entered the lanes it became clear that the organisers had put on a tough but enjoyable route which had the odd white thrown in for good measure, but most crews remained clean until TC5 where everyone dropped time.

                All club members showed excellent form as soon as the droppers arrived with Reian and Cadog doing best as they picked up 2 minutes and 15 seconds in penalties on the events opening dropper. It was a real tough first half that included many difficult sections timed to the second and some timed to the minute. By the petrol halt it was Reian and Cadog who held a lead of thirty-eight seconds with a penalty count of 3 minutes and 57 seconds. Wayne Tar and Rhys Jones had been going very well in the first half and at petrol found themselves in seventh overall. Rhodri Evans was at thirteenth in their escort. It had proved to be a very difficult first half as already there had been many retirements and already some twenty-four cars had picked up fails, unfortunately on the retirements list were Steffan Davies and Iwan jones, Justin Jones and Dafydd Evans and Carwyn Davies and Iwan Griffiths, and with half the rally still to run there was a lot still to play for.

                The second half was very much the same with many tight difficult sections to test crews to the maximum, and Reian and Cadog continued the second hald as they did the first, setting excellent times and in the end, pulling off a victory of four minutes and fourteen seconds. An excellent result for a crew that had great potential. Wayne “Tar” Jones and Rhys Jones had an excellent second half and finished a very respectful fourth overall and first in expert class. Rhodri Evans and Emyr Jones picked up a fail so they dropped down to fourteenth, Gareth Hughes and Andrew Gaunt also had a fail so finished eighteenth, Dafydd Evans and Richard Hughes finished thirty seventh and Huw Evans and Tomos Evans were a couple of places behind in thirty ninth.

                All in all, it had been a very tough rally, with only eleven cars managing to finish without a fail and only fifty cars finishing the rally altogether, which showed it was a very difficult but enjoyable event that everyone seemed to enjoy.

                The Autumn wasn’t the only rally of the weekend, as Trackrod Motor club organised the Trackrod rally of Yorkshire where Andy Davies together with his navigator Max Freeman were out to try and take the Group N title in BTRDA rally championship, as after a full year of competition the group N winner had yet to be decided and it would go down the wire on this, the final round of the championship, which would see competitors take on what was meant to be six stages but stage one had to be cancelled so the championship would come down to just five stages. With everything to play for Andy was sure to push hard!

                The rally couldn’t have had a better start as by the end of the first stage Andy had secured the lead in group N and held joint seventh overall, so one stage down, with four stages remaining it was looking good.

                Unfortunately, Andy and Max were not to go much further, as they had decided not to play it safe and instead go for glory, where unfortunately it all went wrong on the following stage, where Andy put the car off the road with a fifth gear roll, both of the crew were completely fine and the car was damaged but not beyond repair meaning their rally came to a premature end and saw the end to their Group N championship bid. Andy and Max have both promised to come back stronger than ever, even though the seventh overall and second in Group N that they achieved in the BTRDA rally series is an incredible achievement and surely makes Andy one to watch for next year!

                Many thanks go to Power Shot Photography for the use of their image.