Osian Jones and Llyr Davies sliding their way to a class win on the ME Rallysport Showground stages (JMS Photographic)

Saturday the 17th of January would see the first tarmac rally of the year for Lampeter and district motor club’s members with the running of the ME Rallysport showground stages, organised by Newtown and district automobile club. The event would consist of ten stages using the roads at the Builth wells showground, giving 27 miles of competition. The event is only open to two wheel drive vehicles, which enable it to remain a true clubmans event. As well as the main rally there would be a separate event run open to cross cars which are single seater vehicles with no navigator present, they would contest over five of the days stages.

A handful of club members would be present on the entry list, with the first going to Dylan Davies and Llion Williams who were seeded at car 4 in a Mk2 Ford escort. Right behind them at 5 were Daniel Jones and Debbie Evans in their road rally specification Mk2 ford escort, both club entrants putting in excellent performances in last year's event they would no doubt do well this year too. Navigating in car 26, another road rally specification Mk2 Ford escort, was Trystan Bryn Evans, who was making his debut on the stages, he would be sitting with Bleddyn Thomas. At 34 were Osian Jones and Llyr Davies in Osian’s Nissan micra, this pair have been getting some excellent results on road rallies and would no doubt do well here. There would be once club entry in the cross car entry with Osian’s father Gareth entered in a Mygale Xc04, he would be seeded at 76.

The stages would be very slippery with both tarmac and gravel surfaces being used which made tyre choice interesting. Many competitors became the victim of the conditions with Dylan and LLion having a spin on the opening stages in the slippery mud that was present on the edge of the stage. Thankfully time loss would be minimal and they would be seventh quickest. Also having a moment early on were Daniel and Debbie who damaged the rear panel of their escort and lost some time as they tried to rejoin the stage. This would see them forty sixth after the opening stage but they would soon climb up the order. Osian and LLyr got off to a great start in their micra, putting the agility of the car to good use with the tenth quickest time, beating many more powerful cars in the process. Sadly Bleddyn and Trystan would be plagued with transmission issues a couple of days before the event so they would not compete.

Everyone would have a clean run over the next stage, Dylan and Llion would manage a time of 5 minutes 8.5 seconds so would hold sixth place overall. Osian and Llyr would end up behind them in seventh with a time of 5 minutes 10.1 seconds, they were already well on course for a strong result. Daniel and Debbie recovered to thirty first after setting a time of 5 minutes 10.5 seconds here. The cross cars competed on their first stage and Gareth would be the fourth quickest with a time of 5 minutes 11.3 seconds.

Over the next couple of stages Dylan and Llion would hold onto their sixth place overall. Osian and Llyr would continue to set blistering times in their micra, which would see them climb up to fourth overall. Daniel and Debbie would break into the top twenty after setting another couple of excellent stages, they were quickly recovering from their early mishap. Gareth would drop to sixth in the cross cars after the second stage, but the gap between him and the cars in front would only be a handful of seconds. 

Both Dylan and LLion and Osian and Llyr would continue to climb over the next couple of stages, with Osian and Llyr now holding a podium placing in their micra, Dylan and Llion were right behind them in fourth, with only 0.9 seconds separating the two, a real battle was developing. Daniel and Debbie would unfortunately drop to twenty third after another eventful stage, but there would still be plenty of miles to come for them to recover. In the cross cars Gareth still held sixth overall, again with little separating himself and the competitors.

Over the next couple of stages Dylan and Llion would really push hard which would see them climb up to second place overall, Osian and Llyr would be behind them, still holding third. Daniel and Debbie were back up to twentieth and in the cross cars Gareth would climb back into fifth place.

On the final pair of stages Dylan would keep hold of their second place overall, ending their day there after setting great times all day. Osian and Llyr would finish their day in fourth overall, narrowly missing out on a podium finish, they did however win their class in the process. Daniel and Debbie ended their event in seventeenth place overall after an eventful rally. In the cross cars Gareth would finish in fifth overall, a great result for him.

It had been a very enjoyable day for everyone, and a great way to begin the 2026 season.

Thanks must go to JMS Photographic for the use of their image in this report.