Stefan "DR" Davies and Kieran Pryce master the wet weather to claim victory on the Cambrian Road Rally (Joseph John Gilbertson)

It would be a very wet start to the 2026 Welsh road rally championship as the heavens remained open for the majority of the evening in west Wales where the Tregaron motor club organised Cambrian road rally took place on the 24th and 25th of January. An event of some 110 miles, plus a special test, on the lanes between Aberystwyth and Tregaron on OS maps 135 and 146 would greet the competitors. Pontrhydfendigaid would once again be rally HQ, with signing on, scrutineering and breakfast all taking place and the Pavillion in the middle of the village.

Naturally being a local event for many club members Lampeter and district motor club was well represented on the entry list, first of which was car 2, which would be George Williams and Cadog Davies, in George’s familiar Mk2 Ford escort, they would no doubt be ready to battle once again in this years championship. 3 went to Stefan “DR” Davies who had regular Kieran Price in Stefan’s Mk2 Ford escort, this pairing is always one to keep an eye on, both capable of pulling off big results. At 4 was Andy Davies and Owen Rowcliffe in Andy’s regular Subaru impreza, and would be another crew to keep an eye on, especially on the wet farm tracks. 

At 6 were Lewis Morgan and Marc Hughes in their Mk2 Ford escort, they would be one to watch out for with Lewis capable of blistering times in the car. Powys Lanes winners Arwyn Jones and Mathew Pryce took the number 7 slot in their Honda powered Mk2 Ford escort, they would be another crew to keep an eye on. Osian Jones and Llyr Davies were running at 12 in their Nissan Micra; they had recently finished fourth overall at the Showground stages and were looking for a similar performance here. At 19 were Phillip and Lewis Jenkins in their familiar Mk2 Ford escort, and behind them was Arfon Griffiths in his Subaru impreza, he had regular navigator Chris Hill with him. Chris Palmer would be behind them at 21 in his Mk2 Ford escort, once again he would have Deian Rees on the maps.

Rhodri Lewis would be the first off in the semi expert class at number 35 in his citroen saxo, he would be accompanied by Richard James. Gregory Harrand was once again navigating for Benjamin Jones, this time running in the semi expert class with their Peugeot 206 GTI, they would be seeded at 48. Sion Busson would also be navigating, for this event it would be for Owain Dixon, they would be first off in the novice class. Christian Coleman and Rhodri Williams would be at 66 in their Subaru impreza. At 70 were Lee Evans and Carwyn Thomas in Lee’s Peugeot 206 GTI and behind them making his debut was Liam Regan who had Jason Thomas sitting with him, they would be out in Liam’s Nissan Micra.

With everyone signed on it would be up to the Bont Doleboilon stage for a test, using the stage itself as well as the car park to make up the test. The weather conditions at the test would be dreadful, and credit should be given to the marshals who braved the monsoon-like rain showers that fell for the majority of the night. Doing best on the test would be Andy and Owen who managed a time of 5 minutes 4 seconds over the test, no doubt the Subaru's four-wheel drive helping in the wet conditions. Stefan and Kieran weren’t far behind with 5 minutes 12 seconds, and they were matched by Osian and Llyr who would be the quickest experts over it, also achieving a time of 5 minutes 12 seconds. George and Cadog would be eighth quickest with 5 minutes 17 seconds, and then there would be a tie for tenth quickest between the escorts of Arwyn and Mathew and Phillip and Lewis who both managed 5 minutes 27 seconds. Chris and Deian were seventeenth quickest with 5 minutes 35 seconds, and it would then be Lewis and Marc who were twentieth with 5 minutes 38 seconds. 

Doing best in the novice class would be Lee and Carwyn who would be twenty third overall with a time of 5 minutes 40 seconds, great going by them. Arfon and Chris would be twenty-sixth in their impreza with a time of 5 minutes 54 seconds, and then it would be Ben and Greg with 6 minutes 18 seconds which would see them in fifty-first. Owain and Sion would tie with them on 6 minutes 18. Christian and Rhodri would be fifty-fifth in their impreza on 6 minutes 20 seconds, and then it would be Liam and Jason in their micra with 7 minutes 11 seconds, they would be sixty-fourth.

With the test taken care of and the rain slowing down all crews would regather at the Pavillion to plot the night's route. There would be a six-mile runout for the first section which would take place on the lanes to the west of Pontyrfynach. It would become an eventful rally right from the word go for Ben and Greg as whilst queuing at the Time control their Peugeout’s engine began to misfire, a problem that would continue for the majority of the event, and they would be down on power for much of the time. 

This first section was easily cleaned by all but the going would soon get tough as crews would enter the Trawscoed estate. With the weather being the way it was it was no surprise that the going got tough on the tracks in and around the woodland, with the escort of Arwyn and Mathew having something of a moment as they briefly ended up going backwards down the track. Lewis and Marc’s rally came to an end here as they would get stuck in the mud and they would decide to withdraw after losing a significant amount of time. Unfortunately the tracks would then see more competitors get stuck, so a reroute would be required, crews lower down the order going straight through the farm instead of around it, this would see competitors lower down the order receive fewer penalties than the front runners at the next Time control, so the organisers decided quite fairly to awards everyone else with a notional time of 2 minutes here, where those in the front generally dropped a minute.

The section would end with a dropper off the B4340, and ending at Pantdafydd, at SF5. Due to later number rerouting the later runners would arrive at the previous Time control on their correct minute, where those at the front would not, therefore many of the lower end of the field actually recorded better times at the section finish than those running at the front, with the to ten crews dropping around 50 seconds at this clock, whilst some novice crews would drop less than 10 seconds.

The next section would begin after competitors passed through Lledrod. The section would pass through Llangwryfon, up the B4576 and then turn left towards the A487 coastal road, finishing at Glan rhos. The front runners would only drop time at one control, this being Time control 8 which was located just before the village of Llangwryfon. George and Cadog would have an excellent run through this section, and they would climb into the event lead, after dropping only 14 seconds here. Stefan and Kieran would be next best with 32 seconds dropped, and doing very well were Phillip and Lewis who had 39 seconds, Osian and Llyr would be right behind them with 40 seconds. Awryn and Mathew would manage 44 seconds and Chris and Deian would have 55 seconds. Andy and Owen 1 minute 6 seconds, and Arfon and Chris would manage 1 minute 11 seconds. Ben and Greg would manage 1 minute 19 and Lee and Carwyn managed 1 minute 24 seconds. Rhodri and Richard would have 1 minute 31 seconds and Christian and Rhodri would have 3 minutes 7 seconds. Liam and Jason would have 3 minutes 50 seconds. Sadly we would lose Owain and Sion who retired in the first half.

There would be one more section before the halfway halt, beginning by Llanddeiniol and it would go through Blaencarrog white before heading South over the infamous “wooden bridge”. It would be Andy and Owen that would do best at Wooden bridge, as they would drop 42 seconds. George and Cadog would be two seconds behind them with 44 seconds dropped, and then it would be Stefan and Kieran who would have 59 seconds, the rest of the field would have over a minute at this clock.

Time control 14 would be another dropper, doing best on it with 8 seconds dropped would be Stefan and Kieran, followed by Arwyn and Mathew who managed 10 seconds, and then it would be Andy and Owen on 11. Sadly, in the next section Andy and Owen would gain a fail as they would fail to record a code board correctly, dropping them down the order, they would withdraw at the petrol halt once they had been told. Also soon out would be George and Cadog, who had been having an excellent run up to that point, their escort would cut out near the end of the section. They would be unable to diagnose the problem, so they too would sadly be out. This would see Stefan and Kieran inherit the rally lead.

The petrol halt would be taken at Llwyncelyn, Stefan and Kieran were the current leaders, having dropped a total of 9 minutes 51 seconds. Osian Jones and Llyr Davies were in fourth overall, holding the expert class lead with 12 minutes 41 seconds. Arwyn and Mathew were in tenth overall with a penalty of 15 minutes 30 seconds. Phillip and Lewis were in fifteenth having dropped 18 minutes 33 seconds, and Rhodri and Richard would be nineteenth with 20 minutes 18 seconds dropped. Lee and Carwyn were currently twenty-third overall with 21 minutes 12 seconds, and Ben and Greg would be thirty seventh with 29 minutes 10 seconds. Liam and Jason were in fortieth with 32 minutes 37 seconds dropped. Arfon and Chris were holding forty-first overall after an eventful half, their penalty count would be 33 minutes 38 seconds. Andy and OWen had received their fail so lay in forty-second but they would be pulling out, and Chris and Deian also received a fail so they would be forty-third overall, they had dropped 16 minutes 20 seconds. Christian and Rhodri had unfortunately gone over time limit in the half so they too were out.

The second half would take place entirely on map 146, with the first section being in the lanes between Aberarth and Cilcennin, using the white at Llety Sion. The majority of the field would pass through the first couple of time controls without adding to their penalty count, although those further down the order would gain the odd minute here and there. Following a section on the B4337, the route would then use the lanes between Trefilan and Abermeurig, where the road would pass through the ford just outside of the villages. Time control 23 was the clock in this section, and it would see the top twenty or so cars pass without dropping any time, although those in the lower classes would drop at this control.

It would be the next section that passed through Dalton’s white at Gelligarneddau where everyone would drop time, this section, due to the amount of private road used, was timed to the minute, and the majority of the front runners dropped 1 minute over it, so placings at the top remained unchanged. 

The route then crossed the A485 at Olmarch before passing through Gogoyan farm where Time control 26 was located, and here again almost everyone would drop time. Lee and Carwyn would clean this clock, and Chris and Deian would drop 3 seconds over it. Stefan and Kieran would extend their lead here as they dropped 5 seconds. Osian and Llyr did very well here and once again extended their expert class lead as they dropped 8 seconds here. Arwyn and Mathew would also have a great run through it as they would drop 9 seconds. They felt they had a much better second half and what had been a bit of a rusty first half for their rally. Arfon and Chris were on a mission to make up time in the second half, and they were rewarded a time of 12 seconds for their efforts. Phillip and Lewis would manage 23 seconds, and Rhodri and Richard would have 28 seconds, Ben and Greg would have 55 seconds, and Liam and Jason would have 5 minutes and 6 seconds after overshooting the farm entrance.

From here the final section of the event would take place, on the outskirts of Cellan, where competitors would use the “impossible” hairpin bend as a give way junction, which claimed a few victims; a few three-point turns were witnessed by the spectators that were gathered there. Time control 30 was at the end of it and the very quickest cars would clean this clock, so it would be to the final clock of the night, located at the end of the Oxon hall section, just South of Llanddewi Brefi, which would give the final dropper of the night. 

Stefan and Kieran would once again do best over it, dropping 46 seconds over it. and then it would be a tie between Arwyn and Mathew, and Phillip and Lewis who both had 49 seconds here. Osian and Llyr rounded off an excellent night with a time of 55 seconds here, and they were followed by Chris and Deian who had 1 minute 10 seconds. Lee and Carwyn also did very well through it 1 minute 33 seconds, and then it would be Arfon and Chris with 1 minute 35 seconds. Rhodri and Richard ended their night with 2 minutes 4 seconds, and also ending on a high were Liam and Jason who ended their event on 2 minutes 11 seconds. Ben and Greg ended their night with 3 minutes 18 seconds after wrong slotting at Oxon hall, they were both glad to get to the end of what had been an eventful night.

Back at the Pavillion for breakfast and the results the winners were declared as Stefan “DR” Davies and Kieran Price who took a well-earned victory. They had a total time penalty of 10 minutes 46 seconds. Winning expert class and finishing in a very respectable fourth overall were Osian Jones and Llyr Davies who had a total penalty of 14 minutes 56 seconds. Arwyn and Mathew ended their night in eighth overall with a penalty of 16 minutes 45 seconds, and Phillip and Lewis would also make it into the top ten with tenth overall with 19 minutes 52 seconds. Rhodri and Lewis managed a very respectable seventeenth overall with 24 minutes 29 seconds, and Arfon and Chris would have a much better second half to finish in twenty-eighth overall with a penalty count of 39 minutes 38 seconds. Benjamin and Gregory ended their night twenty-ninth overall with 40 minutes 21 seconds, and Liam would get a finish on his very first event, with Jason on the maps they would be a very respectable thirty-first overall with 45 minutes 44 seconds. Chris and Deian would be thirty-second overall after their first half fail, they had a total time penalty of 17 minutes 51 seconds. Lee and Carwyn would manage thirty-third with the fail they had gained, they had a penalty of 26 minutes 42 seconds. 

It had been an excellent challenge to start the year’s Welsh road rally championship and everyone would leave Pontrhydfendigaid looking forward to seeing what else the year would bring.

Many thanks must go to Joseph John Gilbertson for the use of his image in this report.