Second overall and 1st Masters class for George and Cadog (Joseph John Gilbertson)

The 12th and 13th of September would see the running of the ever popular Carmarthen and District motor club organised Autumn road rally once again take its spot in the rallying calendar, this year making up the seventh round of the Welsh championship. Rally HQ would once again be the cattlemart ground just outside of the rally’s hometown, and this year a route of some 100 miles was laid out for competitors, over OS maps 145, 146, 158 and 159. The organisers provided map cuts in the finals so all navigators could cut and paste one map together before the night. 

Being a fairly local event and a round of the clubs own championship it would come of no surprise to see a handful of club members scattered among the entry list. Car 1 was due to be last year’s winning navigator Marc Hughes who for this year was going to be sat with Meirion Evans., but sadly the car failed scrutineering with new stricter advertising rules coming into place, At 3 would be George Williams and Cadog Davies in their Mk2 Ford escort, they have two previous wins on this event and were hoping for a third this year. Behind them at number 4 would be Andy Davies who would again have Kieran Price at his side, in Andy’s Subaru impreza IDZ, Andy making his way over after competing on the Woodpecker stages earlier that day. At number 7 would be Arwyn Jones and Mathew Pryce in their Mk2 Ford escort fresh after its class winning performance on the Rali Ceredigion. 

Osian Jones would take the number 9 slot in his Nissan Micra, he would have Jamie Mills alongside him for this event. Phillip and Lewis Jenkins would start at 15 in their familiar Mk2 Ford escort. At 18 would be Afron Jones who had regular Chris Hill on the map in his Subaru impreza. Llyr Davies would be navigating for Hefin Jones in Hefin’s Mk2 Ford escort. They would be seeded at 24. Richard Hughes would also be navigating, he would be sat with Euros Williams in Euros’ Toyota corolla.

Chris Palmer would be at 37 with his Mk1 Ford escort, now with some fresh upgrades to its engine and suspension, he would have Callum James on the map. Rhdri Lewis would be at 41 in his Citroen saxo, he would have Richard James with him on the maps. Dafydd Hughes would start at 55 in his Mk2 Ford escort; he had Andrew Davies on the map for this event. At 60 was Gregory Harrand who would once again be set with Benjamin Jones in Benjamin’s Peugeot 206 GTI. At 63 would be Lee Evans and Carwyn Thomas, who would also be using a Peugeot 206 GTI. At 68 would be Liam Regan and Jason Thomas in Liam’s Nissan micra, the would be a crew to look out for in the class battle. Morgan Bending would once again be navigating, he would be sat with Craig Owens for this event, and they would be seeded at 83. Arthur Jones and Ollie Jones would be a late entry, once again in Arthur’s fiesta, they would be seeded at 85.

As with what is becoming something of a tradition for the Autumn rally the heavens well and truly opened for large parts of the night, as well as this there would be patches of heavy fog present, especially in the opening sections, making it a real challenge for everyone entered, as well for the poor marshals stood out in the lanes.

The first section would take place in the lanes to the east of Peniel, and would feature three time controls, and everyone would drop at time controls 2 and 4. George and Cadog would do best among club entrants, dropping 40 seconds at time control 2 and a minute at time control 4. They would be involved in a battle for the lead the whole night. Andy and Kieran also got off to a strong start, but it would be an eventful night for them as they would have difficulty with their vision, having a heater that wasn't functioning correctly which caused the windscreen to mist up, costing them time. This would also be an issue for Ben and Greg in the Peugeot who would spend a lot of their first half trying to keep their windscreen clear. Andy and Kieran managed 50 seconds at the first time control and 1 minute 35 at time control 4. Osian and Jamie would match their time at time control 2 and only drop 50 seconds, however they would go no further and retire from the event with a blown engine. 

Arwyn and Mathew would manage 52 seconds and 1 minute 15 seconds in their escort, and Phillip and Lewis would have 1 minute 11 seconds, and 1 minute 23 seconds at these opening clocks. Arfon and Chris would do very well, with 1 minute and 1 minute 16 dropped. Hefin and Llyr would manage a very respectable 1 minute 11 and 1 minute 53 seconds. Chris and Callum would manage 1 minute 5 seconds and 1 minute 52 seconds. Rhodri and Richard would manage 1 minute 12 and 1 minute 16. Dafydd and Andrew would have 1 minute 25 seconds and 1 minute 12 seconds. Ben and Greg would have 1 minute 49 and 2 minutes 20 seconds. Lee and Carwyn would do well with 1 minute 26 and 1 minute 36 seconds on these opening clocks. Liam and Jason would be on a mission all night and their times at these two controls showed they were on target right from the word go, managing 1 minute 38 and 1 minute 48 seconds, great times for a novice crew. Craig and Morgan would have 2 minutes 14 and 1 minute 50, and rounding off club members would be Arhur and Ollie who would manage 1 minute 40 and 2 minutes 18. Whilst the front runners would go clean at time control 3 located in the middle of the section, those running down the order would have a minute here and there, the fog really hampering progress for many.

The second section would begin to the North of Alltwalis and would go South towards Cynwyl Elfed. George and Cadog would drop down the order in this section, as they would once suffer with a misfiring engine, costing them a couple of minutes at time control 8, although thankfully it would clear and they were able to continue. Also losing time were Ben and Greg after going the wrong way out of the white on the approach to time control 7, the mistake costing a couple of minutes. Sadly we would lose another member with the Nissan micra of Euros and Richard would retire during the first half with vRIchard suffering the dreaded navigator sickness. 

A short but tight section west of Cynwyl Elfed would follow, with three time controls located in this section, with the final one, time control 12, seeing everyone drop. George and Cadog had a storming run through it, dropping only 43 seconds through it, lifting themselves a couple of positions up the leaderboard. Andy and Kieran, and Hefin and Llyr were the nearest ones to them with 1 minute 2 seconds dropped. Afron and Chris were on another good run with 1 minute 11 dropped here, and then it would be Ben and Greg who would have 1 minute 18 seconds. Liam and Jason continued to set the standard in novice class with 1 minute 21 seconds dropped, and behind them would be Chris and Callum who had 1 minute 30. Arwyn and Mathew would have 1 minute 33, and Phillip and Lewis would have 1 minute 37. Dafydd and Andrew would manage 1 minute 54, Rhodri and Richard would have 1 minute 56, and both Lee and Carwyn and Arthur and Ollie would have 2 minutes 27. Craig and Morgan would have 3 minutes.

Semi Expert class would go to Dafydd Hughes with Andrew Davies on the maps (Joseph John Gilbertson)

There would be one short section to end the first half, Andy and Kieran doing best over it with 9 seconds dropped. Arthur and Ollie would unfortunately gain a few fails as they would have to skip this section due to the road being blocked. It had been an eventful first half with many crews struggling in the conditions.

The petrol halt at St. Clears followed, and as things stood the times would read as follows:

George Williams / Cadog Davies 4 minutes 58, 2nd overall, 1st in class

Arfon Jones / Chris Hill 7 minutes 8, 6th overall, 2nd in class

Arwyn Jones / Mathew Pryce 7 minutes 10, 7th overall, 4th in class

Andy Davies / Kieran Pryce 7 minutes 38, 9th overall, 5th in class

Hefin Jones / Llyr Davies 7 minutes 47, 11th overall, 4th in class

Phillip Jenkins / Lewis Jenkins 8 minutes 12, 14th overall, 7th in class

Rhodri Lewis / Richard James 9 minutes 7, 22nd overall, 13th in class

Chris Palmer / Callum James 9 minutes 21, 23rd overall, 14th in class

Dafydd Hughes / Andrew Davies 11 minutes 27, 34th overall, 5th in class

Lee Evans / Carwyn Thomas 11 minutes 42, 37th overall, 6th in class

Liam Regan / Jason Thomas 11 minutes 48, 38th overall, 1st in class

Benjamin Jones / Gregory Harrand 15 minutes 13, 46th overall, 9th in class

Craig Owens / Morgan Bending 17 minutes 22, 51st overall, 5th in class

Arthur Jones / Ollie Jones 15 minutes 38 seconds, 6 fails, 64th overall, 15th in class

The second half would begin in the maze of lanes to the north of St Clears, and end up at Whitland. Time controls 17 and 19 would be located in these sections which would see the quickest crews clean but those outside of the top twenty would drop a handful of seconds here and there. Sadly Ben and Greg’s rally would come to a halt in the first section of the half as their clutch would give in, leaving them stranded on a section of uphill lane. They would retire on the spot.

The route would then cross the A40 and the A477 for a section in the lanes to the south of Red Roses, and would finish on the outskirts of Laugharne. There would be a couple of whites in this section, and time control 29 would be located between them. George and Cadog would be the only pair to clean this clock, closing in on the event leaders as they did so. Time control 30 located at Laugharne would see everyone drop, Geroge and Cadog 29 seconds. Arwyn and Mathew would manage 39 seconds, Hefin and Llyr would manage 46 seconds. Phillip and Lewis would come next with 49 seconds dropped, then it would be Hefin and Llyr with 58 seconds. Dafydd and Andrew would have 1 minute 18 seconds, and Liam and Jason would have 1 minute 25 seconds. Arthur and Ollie would have 2 minutes 42 seconds, and Craig and Morgan would have 2 minutes 45 seconds.Sadly there would be more joining the retirements list with Andy’s Subaru retiring after picking up punctures, Chris and Callum would also retire. Also out were Lee and Carwyn with Carwyn suffering navigator sickness.

A dominant performance by Liam Regan and Jason Thomas saw them take the novice class (Joseph John Gilbertson)

The final section would be to the North of Llangynog, this would be another section with a dropper, at the end of it which would be time control 32. It would be Arfon and Chris that would do best among club members as they set an excellent time of 36 seconds here, a great run by them. Next up would be Dafydd and Andrew in their escort with 53 seconds dropped. Phillip and Lewis would be close behind on 55 seconds, and then it would be Arwyn and Mathew with 58 seconds. George and Cadog would manage 1 minute 13 seconds, and they would be followed by Liam and Jason with 1 minute 16 seconds. Hefin and LLyr would have 1 minute 34 seconds, and Craig and Morgan would manage 2 minutes 48 seconds. Arthur and Ollie would round things off with 3 minutes 13 seconds. 

Back at the cattle mart for breakfast and the results which would read as follows:

George Williams / Cadog Davies 6 minutes 40, 2nd overall, 1st in class

Arwyn Jones / Mathew Pryce 10 minutes 12, 5th overall, 4th in class

Arfon Jones / Chris Hill 10 minutes 42, 8th overall, 3rd in class

Hefin Jones / Llyr Davies 11 minutes 20, 10th overall, 4th in class

Phillip Jenkins / Lewis Jenkins 11 minutes 34, 11th overall, 5th in class

Rhodri Lewis / Richard James 14 minutes 37, 19th overall, 10th in class

Dafydd Hughes / Andrew Davies 17 minutes 43, 26th overall, 1st in class

Liam Regan / Jason Thomas 19 minutes 55, 32nd overall, 1st in class

Craig Oens / Morgan Bending 31 minutes 3, 47th overall, 7th in class

Arthur Jones / Ollie Jones 32 minutes 2 seconds, 7 fails, 56th overall, 13th in class.

George and Cadog narrowly missed out in the overall victory but still managed an excellent result. There would be other success stories with Dafydd and Andrew having a great second half which would see them climb up the ranks to take the semi expert class win in their escort. The mighty micra of Liam and Jason continued its excellent finishing record and would see another class win after Kevin managed one on the Barcud, excellent going by them. It had been a very challenging but enjoyable event and everyone praised the organisers for holding an excellent rally in the most demanding conditions

With thanks to Joseph John Gilbertson for the use of his images in this report.