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: Des Phasey
Route: 110 Miles
Maps: 136 & 137
Starters: 39
Winners: Anthony Gluyas/Richard Preece (Ford Escort)
Knighton MC's Pacemaker Rally returned for the first time since 1999. It was a non-championship round and was based at the Shropshire town of Bishop's Castle.
The 110 mile route took in all the classic lanes in the vicinity of the town, heading as far West as the Ceri Forest and finishing with the infamous roads around Linley. Thirty-nine crews took the start, of whom twenty-four made the Finish.
Anthony Gluyas/Richard Preece had a U bolt on their Escort's rear axle work loose during the second section of the rally, this made the car's handling a liitle odd for the rest of the event. Despite this handicap, they came home as the winners, over a minute in front of the similar car of Mal Acott/Nigel Roberts. For Preece it was his second victory on the Pacemaker, having navigated Peter Zjalic to first place in 1997; for Gluyas it was his first ever rally win.
Acott/Roberts had matched the winners' times all bar the fourth section, a slow time on that test settled the result. The Telford AC crew of Simon Rigby/Maurice Leach finished third to make it an Escort 1-2-3.
PK Memorial winners Glyn Price/Huw Jones were the quickest crew of the night and would have taken their third win of the year had they not missed a Passage Control, the resulting fail dropped them to tenth. Adrian Higman/Cyril Jones also lost out on a top place after a similar error.
There were a number of significant retirements. Top seeds Malcolm Davies/Dave Pitchford were forced out with fuel feed problems on their Escort before the halfway halt. Paul Hughes/Paul Middleton only managed two miles before the gear linkage on their Citreon AX failed and Ian 'Dude' Roberts/Andy Moss had the gearbox break on their Golf.
Mike Cooper/Chris Wilson had the misfortune of having the exhaust system on their Escort ripped off on the Ceri Ridgeway. Derek Tracy/Chris Hughes had a major off, rolling their Capri into retirement.
There was a close battle for the top Semi-Expert award with Gareth Jones/Iwan Jones maintaining their excellent performance from the Eagle Rally to take the class win. However they were just thirty-three second ahead of Steve Wynn/Chris Wynn, who survived a puncture on their Escort to claim the runner up spot.
The newly married Wayne Jones/Joanne Jones were another crew to suffer a puncture during the night but still managed to take third in the Semi-Expert class. Fellow Class 2 crew Ashley Morris/Sharon Clark finished one place behind and took the Under 1400cc Award.
The Novice Class saw a dominant performance from Richard Jerman/Kev Bolver, who finished in front of all the Semi-Experts to claim ninth place overall, nine places in front of their nearest class rivals, who were Alun Probert/Ray Davies.
OVERALL RESULTS
Pos | Driver | Navigator | Car | Penalty | |
1 | Anthony Gluyas | Richard Preece | Ford Escort | 5m 31s | |
2 | Mal Acott | Nigel Roberts | Ford Escort | 6m 39s | |
3 | Simon Rigby | Maurice Leach | Ford Escort | 7m 27s | |
4 | Adrian Hodgson | Chris Lightburn | Renault 18 | 8m 45s | |
5 | Alyson Acreman | Byron Jones | Honda Civic | 9m 13s | |
6 | Ceri Richards | Aled Jones | Ford Escort | 10m 09s | |
7 | Paul Tod | Iestyn ap Dafydd | Peugeot 205 GTi | 12m 12s | |
8 | Baron Glaze | Pete Davies | Ford Escort | 19m 40s | |
9 | Richard Jerman | Kev Bolver | Ford Escort | 29m 36s | |
10 | Glyn Price | Huw Jones | Ford Escort | 1F 4m 55s | |
11 | Gareth Jones | Iwan Jones | Vauxhall Astra | 1F 10m 11s | |
12 | Adrian Higman | Paul Middleton | VW Golf | 1F 22m 23s | |
13 | Steve Wynn | Chris Wynn | Ford Escort | 1F 22m 56s | |
14 | Wayne Jones | Joanne Jones | Ford Escort | 2F 22m 46s | |
15 | Ashley Morris | Sharon Clark | Peugeot 205 | 2F 22m 52s | |
16 | Gary Jenkins | Eric Tong | Peugeot 205 GTi | 2F 29m 51s | |
17 | Simon Rodgers | Tristan Mottram | Mini | 3F 27m 37s | |
18 | Alun Probert | Ray Davies | Ford Sierra | 3F 42m 17s | |
19 | Steve Bishop | Robert Titley | Ford Escort | 6F 24m 31s | |
20 | Ian Stevens | Nick Morris | Opel Manta | 6F 49m 59s | |
21 | Neil Nicholas | Shan Greenwood | MG Maestro | 10F 26m 00s | |
22 | Andy Oakes | Chris Oakes | Toyota Corolla | 17F 46m 00s | |
23 | David Watts | James Courtney | Vauxhall Astra | 22F 30m 51s | |
24 | Brian Miller | Jason McTear | Ford Fiesta | 25F 61m 00s |