Unless otherwise clearly indicated, results on this site have been declared final and are therefore not subject to query or protest
Clerk of the Course: Aneurin James
Route: 80 Miles
Maps: 146
Starters: 75
Winners: Neil Griffiths/Carl Williamson (Ford Escort)
Neil Griffiths/Carl Williamson underlined their growing stature within Welsh road rallying when they took victory on a hard fought Rali Bro Caron. This was their third outright win within twelve months and pushed them into second place in the Welsh Road Rally Championship.
The organising team had changed the format of the rally for the 1999 event, restricting the route to only 80 miles; with no petrol halt, the whole rally was just one competitive section, being split by a mixture of regularity and standard controls. The route, which included several miles in the Brechfa Forest, used a single anti-clockwise loop starting and finishing in Lampeter
Pre-event expectation was that the battle for victory would be between three very quick local crews. The first of these were Rali Bro Dyfi winners Alan Gaunt/Marc Jones, with Gaunt looking for his third successive win on the Caron. The other two fancied runners were Gareth Lloyd/Gary Davies and Melvyn Evans/Dorian Evans - none were to feature in the results. Gaunt/Jones and Lloyd/Davies picked up fails for missed controls, while Evans/Evans led initially before dropping down the field and losing further time when they put their Escort off the road.
The leaders at the halfway point were Gethin Lewis/Aled Jones, however they were among a number of crews who wrong slotted in Brechfa; they eventually finished eighth. This left Dennis Quinn/Andrew Thomson in the lead. With only the cleanable last section left, it looked as if the Welsh Champions were going to take their first win in almost a year, however with only a few miles to go the gear linkage broke on their Escort and they joined the retirement list.
Griffiths/Williamson, having stormed through Brechfa, took the win by the deceptively comfortable margin of two minutes; this masked the fact that they had picked up a puncture on the final section but managed to change it and get to the last control on their due time.
Huw Evans/Patrick Walsh ended up second, with Toby Adam/Pat Gadsby third; the two crews finished on the same penalty, they had to be separated by the furthest clean tie breaker. This meant that Evans/Walsh now led the Welsh Championship by one point from Griffiths/Williamson, with Adam/Gadsby just one point further back. These three crews were now ten points clear of the field after just two rounds of the series.
Martyn O'Connor/Peter Collins were fourth in their Astra, while Keith Daniels/Carwyn Lloyd brought their Nova into fifth and scooped the under 1300 award. Tony Davies/Ieuan Thomas had a last minute swap of cars; the gearbox on their regular Golf failed on day of the rally. They therefore borrowed a Toyota Corolla. They finished in sixth place and won the Standard Production Award.
Less fortunate were Wynne Pickersgill/Shaun O'Gorman who were heading for second place when the clutch on their Escort failed on the last section. Also on the retirement list were Nigel Davies/Karen Davies, Dai John/Paul Bevan and Nick Evans/Alan Hands, all of whom withdrew with various engine maladies.
Gary Jones/Richard Preece (Toyota Corolla) finished seventh after a two minute wrong slot on the Brechfa section.
Michael Pedley/David Pedley, winners of the Bro Caron in 1995, lost five minutes after their Escort suffered a broken clutch cable. They finished in tenth. Aled 'Cacen' Evans/Eyrl Evans lost four minutes with a wrong slot in Brechfa and came in 11th. Geraint Davies/Sarah Gluyas managed to put their Corolla off the road on the first bend. They then had clutch problems for the remainder of the event, but managed to get home in 15th place.
Having taken the road rally class on the previous weekend's Wye Valley Charity Stages, Selwyn Jones, navigated by Wyn Lewis, won the Semi-Expert class on the Bro Caron, bringing his Escort into 14th overall. The local crew of Mark Daniel/Mark Howell had led the class at the halfway point but fell back in the second half and eventually finished third in class behind Jones/Lewis and another Lampeter crew, Nick Abbot/Mark Andrew.
The leading novice award fell to the Astra of Alan Jones/Barry Davies. At the Finish they were over three minutes ahead of the Renault of Eirwyn Davies/Gareth Davies. The latter pairing had led initially but backed off as they found the forestry tracks extremely slippery. Darren Williams/Dylan Jones took the third Novice award in their Peugeot 205.
OVERALL RESULTS
Pos | Driver | Navigator | Car | Penalty | |
1 | Neil Griffiths | Carl Williamson | Ford Escort | 5m 07s | |
2 | Huw Evans | Patrick Walsh | Ford Escort | 7m 15s | |
3 | Toby Adam | Pat Gadsby | Ford Escort | 7m 15s | |
4 | Martyn O'Connor | Peter Collins | Vauxhall Astra GTE | 7m 46s | |
5 | Keith Daniels | Carwyn Lloyd | Vauxhall Nova | 7m 52s | |
6 | Tony Davies | Ieuan Thomas | Toyota Corolla | 8m 04s | |
7 | Gary Jones | Richard Preece | Toyota Corolla | 8m 06s | |
8 | Gethin Lewis | Aled Jones | Ford Escort | 8m 22s | |
9 | Paul Holmberg | Dave Pitchford | Ford Escort | 8m 29s | |
10 | Michael Pedley | David Pedley | Ford Escort G4 | 9m 02s | |
11 | Aled 'Cacen' Evans | Eyrl Evans | Ford Sierra | 9m 50s | |
12 | Eirwyn Davies | Jon Hands | Ford Escort | 9m 51s | |
13 | Steve Griffiths | Ian Cooke | Ford Escort | 11m 02s | |
14 | Selwyn Jones | Wyn Lewis | Ford Escort | 11m 09s | |
15 | Geraint Davies | Sarah Gluyas | Toyota Corolla | 13m 13s | |
16 | Nick Abbott | Mark Andrew | Ford Escort | 15m 05s | |
17 | Mark Daniel | Mark Howell | Ford Escort | 15m 57s | |
18 | Wayne Morris | Maurice Leach | Ford Escort | 16m 16s | |
19 | John Edwards | Iestyn Leyshon | Ford Escort | 16m 27s | |
20 | Richard Briddon | Edryd Evans | Toyota Starlet | 16m 44s | |
21 | Alan Jones | Barry Davies | Vauxhall Astra | 17m 44s | |
22 | Stuart Thomas | Mark Kehrein | Peugeot 309 GTi | 18m 12s | |
23 | Dai Hands | Jonathan Hands | Ford Escort | 18m 58s | |
24 | Richard 'Tyson' Morris | Owen Dodd | Talbot Samba | 20m 16s | |
25 | Eirwyn Davies | Gareth Davies | Renault 2.0 | 21m 10s | |
26 | Will Whitehurst | Phil Ralphs | Ford Escort | 26m 04s | |
27 | Alun Davies | Richard Davies | Opel Manta | 27m 13s | |
28 | Richard Kruegar | Nigel Griffiths | Opel Manta | 29m 51s | |
29 | Nick Broadway | Andy Oakes | Ford Sierra | 30m 33s | |
30 | Darren Williams | Dylan Jones | Peugeot 205 GTi | 30m 58s | |
31 | Wyn Owens | Kathryn Jones | Ford Escort XR3i | 31m 59s | |
32 | Matthew Warner | John Gilbey | Vauxhall Astra | 33m 04s | |
33 | Chris Williams | Dave Williams | BL Mini | 37m 13s | |
34 | David Martin | Andrew Davies | Ford Sierra | 46m 16s | |
35 | Nicholas Yates | Simon Yates | Ford Escort | 1F 23m 46s | |
36 | Owen Edwards | Dorian Davies | Ford Sierra | 1F 39m 37s | |
37 | Alan Gaunt | Mark Jones | Peugeot 205 GTi | 2F 8m 06s | |
38 | Melvyn Evans | Dorian Evans | Ford Escort | 2F 8m 12s | |
39 | David Evans | Carwyn Jones | Ford Escort | 2F 13m 49s | |
40 | Geraint Davies | Elgan Davies | Talbot Sunbeam | 2F 15m 09s | |
41 | Geraint Jones | Simon Chandler | Ford Escort | 2F 22m 45s | |
42 | Jerry Jones | Phil Lewis | BL Mini | 2F 25m 10s | |
43 | Andrew Rawstron | A Jones | Ford Escort | 2F 34m 19s | |
44 | Neil Reid | Barry Davies | Ford Escort | 2F 38m 23s | |
45 | Gavin Lloyd | Garry Jones | Ford Escort | 2F 39m 03s | |
46 | Clive Greves | Rob Duke | Vauxhall Chevette | 3F 7m 47s | |
47 | Rob Jeffries | Kevin Taylor | Subaru | 3F 33m 10s | |
48 | Paul Benton | Meredith Davies | Peugeot 205 GTi | 3F 34m 46s | |
49 | Wayne James | Nick Stedman | Peugeot 205 GTi | 3F 34m 46s | |
50 | Steve Rogers | Paul Jones | BL Mini | 5F 17m 32s | |
51 | Wayne Polle | Matthew Dearden | Ford Escort | 5F 55m 15s | |
52 | Dylan Davies | Richard Jones | Vauxhall Astra | 7F 54m 13s |