Arwyn Jones and Mathew Pryce taking their second win of the year on the Powys Lanes (Joseph John Gilbertson)
The weekend of the 8th and 9th of November would see the final round of the 2025 Welsh road rally championship take place with the running of the Epynt motor club organised Powys Lanes road rally. The event would consist of 110 miles of competition, spread over OS maps 146, 159 and 160. Once again rally HQ would be down in Llandovery and a handful of club members would feature on the entry list. At number 1 was Cadog Davies, who was out with regular driver George Williams in George’s Mk2 Ford escort, they had secured second overall in this year's Welsh road rally championship and were looking to end their year on a high. At 9 were Arwyn Jones and Mathew Pryce in Arwyn’s Mk2 Ford escort, they had an excellent first event with the new car on the Autumn and were hoping for more of the same here. At 11 were Osian Jones and Llyr Davies in Osian’s regular Nissan Micra, whilst Osian hasn’t done as many events this year they would still be a crew to watch, capable of mixing with far more powerful machinery. At 14 were Phillip and Lewis Jenkins in their regular Mk2 Ford escort, and they would be another crew capable of a strong result. At 19 was Arfon Jones in his Subaru Impreza, he would again have Chris Hill sitting with him.
Griffin Tweedale was once again navigating, he would be in the Mk2 Ford escort of Aled Jenkins, they would be seeded at 28. At 32 were Lee Evans and Steffan Thomas in Lee’s Peugeot 206 GTI. Navigating in the Vauxhall chevette of Lucas Adam was Llion Williams, they would start from 57. Arthur Jones and Gregory Harrand were due to start at 62 but sadly would non start due to mechanical issues. Ryan Dabner and Sion Busson would be at 64 in Ryan’s Peugeot 306 GTI and navigating in car 65 was Sion Evans, who was again sitting with Ben Birch, and they would be using a Subaru Impreza.
The first section of the night would be a stone throw’s way from Llandovery, with a loop around Myrtle Hill before skirting Myddfai and then finishing at Halfway by the A40. There would be a number of Time controls in this section, with the first being TC1B, which was cleaned by both George and Cadog, and Arwyn and Mathew. Arfon and Chris would drop 8 seconds, Phillip and Lewis would drop 17 seconds, and Aled and Griffin would drop 25 seconds. Lee and Steffan would drop 29 seconds. TC1D would be the next dropper, and crews would negotiate a number of 3 Meter not as map controls on its approach. Doing best over it were George and Cadog, who would drop 27 seconds at this clock. They would be followed by Arwyn and Mathew who would drop 41 seconds. Behind them on 1 minute 3 seconds were Aled and Griffin, and then it would be Phillip and Lewis with 1 minute 9 seconds. Lee and Steffan would drop 1 minute 18 seconds, and then it would be Afron and Chris with 1 minute 48 seconds.
Sadly it would be a short night for a few of our members, with the Micra of Osian and LLyr, the Chevette of Lucas and Llion, the Peugeot of Ryan and Sion, and the Subaru of Ben and Sion, all retiring in the first half.
The second section of the night would use the dual carriageway at the edge of the Epynt ranges, and most competitors would clean it, so it was off to the third section of the event which would contain the next pair of droppers, at TC3B and TC3D. The section would begin just outside of Trecastle, and would see competitors head South before passing through Glasfynnydd forest, from here they would head North to finish the section, located at Pont ar Hydfer.
TC3B would be at the entrance of the forest, and it would be cleaned by Arwyn and Mathew who were really on it. George and Cadog came next, dropping 4 seconds, and then it would be Phillip and Lewis with 18 seconds. Arfon and Chris would drop 23 seconds, and Aled and Griffin would have 42 seconds. Lee and Steffan would have 54 seconds. TC3D came at the section finish and here George and Cadog would be the quickest crew with 27 seconds dropped, Arwyn and Mathew would be close behind with 37 seconds dropped, and following them would be Phillip and Lewis with 55 seconds. Arfon and Chris would be going well with 1 minute 17 seconds, and Aled and Griffin managed 1 minute 31 seconds, Lee and Steffan managing 2 minutes 53 seconds.
The fourth section of the event would be a long section, and would be a very tight and twisty affair with three droppers and would include the double triangle at the red kite feeding station as well as the challenging lanes by Twynllanan. From here competitors would head North, snaking their way towards Llangadog. The first dropper of the section was located before Twynllanan, at TC4B. Here it would be George and Cadog that would do best as they began to open up a lead, dropping only 20 seconds here. Arwyn and Mathew were in hot pursuit with 29 seconds dropped, and then it would be very close between the escort of Phillip and Lewis and the impreza of Arfon and Chris, with the escort pair dropping 47 seconds to the impreza pair’s time of 48 seconds. Aled and Griffin managed 1 minute 8 seconds, and Lee and Steffan would have 1 minute 31 seconds.
TC4D would be the next dropper, located to the West of Twynllanan. Here again it would be George and Cadog doing best with 23 seconds dropped. Arwyn and Mathew continued to do well with 40 seconds dropped, and following them were Arfon and Chris with 47 seconds. Aled and Griffin did well here with 52 seconds, and then it would be Phillip and Lewis with 54 seconds, and then Lee and Steffan who had 1 minute 20 seconds. The final dropper of the section would come near the end with TC4E, again there wouldn’t be much in it with George and Cadog once again a small handful of seconds ahead of Arwyn and Mathew.
The fifth section of the night would be another long one and would include a map change onto map 159 for a brief spell. There would be one dropper in this section at TC5C where almost everyone would drop time, although George and Cadog would clean it. This left one two mile section to finish the half off at Dyffryn Ceidrych where everyone would drop time, George and Cadog adding 4 seconds to their total penalty. Arwyn and Mathew would have 12 seconds, and Phillip and Lewis would have 29 seconds. Arfon and Chris would still be going very well with 36 seconds dropped, and then it would be Aled and Griffin with 43 seconds dropped, and they were followed by Lee and Steffan with 47 seconds.
The petrol halt at Manordeilo garage followed, and as things stood, it was George and Cadog that held a 36 seconds lead. They had dropped 2 minutes 19 seconds. Arwyn and Mathew were holding fourth overall with a total penalty of 3 minutes 57 seconds. Phillip and Lewis Jenkins were in ninth overall and leading the expert class with 6 minutes 19 seconds, and Arfon and Chris were in twelfth overall with 7 minutes 38 seconds. Aled and Griffin were holding seventeenth overall with 9 minutes 4 seconds, and Lee and Steffan were in twenty ninth overall with 14 minutes 11 seconds dropped.
The second half began with three sections on OS map 146, with the first being a short one just South of Waunclunda. There would be just 5 seconds separating our front runners as George and Cadog would drop 23 seconds at this clock, and Arwyn and Mathew would drop 28. Phillip and Lewis would continue to do well and extend their expert class lead as they would drop 37 seconds. Arfon and Chris were also going well and would drop 47 seconds here. Aled and Griffin would drop 1 minute 58 seconds. Sadly we would lose another one of our runners in the second half as the Peugeot of Lee and Steffan would retire with broken caliper mounting bolts.
The eighth section of the event would go from Maerdy farm and would run a clockwise loop up to Cwmdu, passing through the white by Cefn-hendre. Everyone would clean this section so it would be over to the ninth section which would begin at Waunclunda, from here competitors would slot a harpin left at the five roads junction. Then competitors would join the B4302 briefly before slotting right just in front of Crugybar. TC9E would be located after this and would be another dropper for almost everyone, the escorts of George and Cadog, and Arwyn and Mathew cleaning this section, Phillip and Lewis doing well through it managed 13 seconds, and Arfon and Chris would pick up 19 seconds. Aled and Griffin would achieve 24 seconds.
The final section of the night would be fifteen miles long, and include a number of time controls. The section would begin to the West of Porthyrhyd before heading East. From here there would be a brief loop south past Cefn-trenfa before continuing East past Clynmawr and Lletyrhaflaeth, where TC10F would be located. This would be the final dropper of the event, and here George and Cadog would drop 1 minute 25 seconds. Aled and Griffin would finish strong with 1 minute 38 seconds, and then it would be Arwyn and Mathew with 1 minute 40 seconds. Phillip and Lewis would have 1 minute 55 seconds and Arfon and Chris would have 2 minutes 42 seconds.
Back at Llandovery at the event finish and unfortunately George and Cadog would be excluded from the results as it was claimed that they may have received outside assistance, costing what would have been a victory.
It would be Arwyn and Mathew that would claim a well earnt victory in their Honda powered escort. They would have a winning margin of 15 seconds with a total time penalty of 6 minutes 5 seconds. They would be very popular winners taking their second win of the year, and now having victories in two wheel drive and four wheel driven vehicles they would no doubt be a pair to keep an eye on next year. It had only been a short couple of years ago that Mathew started the Powys lanes navigating in car 89, an excellent achievement in such a short space of time.
Phillip and Lewis Jenkins would take the expert class crown with a very respectable sixth overall, they had a penalty count of 9 minutes 37 seconds. Arfon and Chris would have another great result as they finished in fourteenth overall with 11 minutes 54 seconds, and Aled and Griffin would end their event in fifteenth overall with 13 minutes 59 seconds.
Many thanks must go to Joseph John Gilbertson for the use of his image in this report.