dylan red kite

Dylan and LLion on their way to victory, AutoAvia Photographic

The weekend of the 23rd and 24th of June was another busy one in the rallying calendar, with two events taking place, the first of which being the PK memorial road rally, organised by Bala and District motor club. Amongst the 70 starters were Andy Davies who was once again out in his Subaru impreza IDZ with Michael Gilbey on map duties, they were seeded at car 2. Dafydd Evans was also out on the event, navigating for Kevin “Penclaw” Jones in Kevin’s Toyota corolla, they were seeded at 11.

                Time control 5 was the first tight section of the night, although both club members managed to pass through it without picking up penalties, so kept their time sheets clean, until they got to Time control 7, where everyone picked up penalties, Andy and Michael receiving 11 seconds here, Kevin and Dafydd only two seconds behind on 13. Just before arriving at SS13F (section finish time control) Kevin and Dafydd had two punctures on a white road so picked up four and a half minutes of penalties, dropping down the order a little but the rally was still far from over.

                At the half way petrol halt Andy and Michael held third overall with their 11 seconds of penalties, Kevin and Dafydd were at forty sixth with 4 minutes and 46 seconds of penalties due to their punctures earlier on.

                The second half of the event included three tight sections where everyone gained penalties, being section finish 20, Time control 22 and section finish 26. Andy and Michael were pushing hard as always in the impreza and managed 1 minute and 8 seconds at section finish 20, 6 seconds at time control 22 and 12 seconds at section finish 26. Kevin and Dafydd were really pushing hard to make up the time they dropped earlier and were rewarded with forty-seven seconds at section finish 20. They also had 8 seconds at time control 22 and rounded off their night with 11 seconds at section finish 26.

                At the end of another enjoyable night in the lanes Andy Davies and Michael Gilbey finished in an excellent third overall with 1 minute and 37 seconds of penalties. Kevin “Penclaw” Jones and Dafydd Evans recovered well in the second half to finish in nineteenth overall with 5 minutes and 52 seconds of penalties. Andy gained a very useful 98 points for his welsh road rally championship bid and Dafydd 91 points. The next round of the welsh road rally championship is the Pacemaker rally which takes place on the 21st and 22nd of July.

                The second event of the weekend was the all new Red kite stages, organised by Amman and district motor club. Representing Lampeter and district motor club were Dylan Davies and LLion “tractor” Williams in Dylan’s Subaru impreza in the national B event (for modern cars) and in the national A event, for historic specification cars was Rhys Jones who was navigating for Chris Lloyd in a Mk2 Ford escort. The rally was made up of 5 stages in the forests of South West Wales.

                In the national A rally Chris and Rhys had a very good rally setting very respectful times over the days stages, with a time of 9 minutes and 59 seconds on the days opening 14.48km stage. On the second stage they achieved a time of 10 minutes and 30 seconds, which going in to the first service halt of the day they lay in twenty-sixth overall. The third stage then followed before another service halt and on this 14.37km one they set a very respectful time of 10 minutes and 25 seconds, which meant they lay in twenty-seventh overall going into the second service halt.

                On the final two stages of the day, with both being 14.48km in length, they set an excellent time of 9 minutes and 47 seconds on the fourth stage, and 10 minutes and 27 seconds on final stage, giving them a total time of 51 minutes and 8 seconds, this saw them climb into twenty-third overall in the national A event, a great result for them.

In the national B event it was a dominant performance by Dylan Davies and LLion “tractor” Williams who were unstoppable in their Subaru impreza, setting fastest time on all of the days 5 stages, giving them a winning margin of 1 minute and 10 seconds with their total time being 44 minutes and 18 seconds. This meant that Dylan and Llion retain their lead in the welsh forest rally championship.

                Many thanks to Mark Little of AutoAvia photographic for the use of his image.