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: Dafydd 'Budgie' Williams & Carwyn Jones
Route: 117 Miles
Maps: 146
Starters: 60
Winners: Aled Evans/Eryl Evans (Ford Sierra XR4x4)
Aled Evans/Eryl Evans took a fortunate victory on the Dafydd Richards Memorial Rally after Nigel Davies/Karen Davies, who seemed assured of the win, were forced out with clutch failure on their Escort.
The Lampeter Motor Club road rally used a 117 mile route, with all the deciding sections being in the first half.
Davies/Davies, relishing the extra power of the newly installed 1600cc unit in their Escort, arrived at the petrol halt having dropped just seven seconds. At that point Evans/Evans were on 34 seconds, Wyn Thomas/Patrick Walsh were 15 seconds further back, while Martyn O'Connor/Peter Collins were the only other crew under one minute.
Therefore, with only cleanable sections remaining, Davies/Davies looked odds on favourites to take the win, unfortunately for them the clutch failed a short way into the second half.
Evans/Evans therefore found themselves winners, their cause being further helped as other fast crews encountered problems.
Toby Adam/Aneurin James could easily have won but for the fact that, running as first car on the road, they encountered a half closed gate and dropped thirty seconds as a result. Sportingly they didn't pursue the point at the finish and were classified fourth.
Clive Greves/Rob Duke and Kevin Morgan/Deian Rees were consigned to the lower reaches of the top ten after they were delayed on the first section when a police chase of a stolen car, unrelated to the event, happened across the rally route.
Martyn O'Connor/Peter Collins continued their good run of results by coming in second, just fifteen seconds behind the winners, while Ceri Richards/Aled Jones had a trouble free run to third.
The 1999 winners, Gareth Jones/Owen Dodd, had a problematic night as they struggled to sixth place. They lost over a minute when they drowned out in a ford and had to contend with a slipping clutch for the remainder of the event. They did have the consoliation of taking away the Standard Production Award.
Other than the Davies Escort the other major retirements were John 'Mark One' Thomas/Eurig Evans who had the altenator fail on their Escort, while Wyn Thomas/Patrick Walsh totalled the ex-John Evans Avenger when they hit a tree.
The Semi-Expert class was won by Huw Jones/Mathew Warner, they'd built up a class lead of 25 seconds at the halfway point and extended this to almost three minutes by the Finish.
Gareth Harries/Dorian Davies were equally dominant in the Novice class, turning in an assured performance despite their limited experience. Second in the class went to Paul Jones/Dorian Rees, who also took the U1300 award
As ever the rally proved very popular with the 60 car entry being filled within five days of the regs being issued. Based at the Felinfach Creamery the rally used high quality photocopied maps for route definition. Radio Ceredigion once again provided full coverage of the rally throughout the night.
TOP TEN RESULTS
Pos | Driver | Navigator | Car | Penalty | |
1 | Aled 'Cacen' Evans | Eyrl Evans | Ford Sierra XR4x4 | 0m 41s | |
2 | Martyn O'Connor | Peter Collins | Vauxhall Astra GTE | 0m 56s | |
3 | Ceri Richards | Aled Jones | Ford Escort | 1m 02s | |
4 | Toby Adam | Aneurin James | Ford Escort | 1m 04s | |
5 | Gareth 'Factory' Evans | Gwynfor Jones | Ford Escort | 1m 19s | |
6 | Gareth 'Gog' Jones | Owen Dodd | Ford Escort XR3i | 2m 27s | |
7 | Gary Jones | Andy Oakes | Toyota Corolla | 2m 45s | |
8 | Clive Greves | Rob Duke | Vauxhall Chevette | 4m 02s | |
9 | Arwyn Thomas | Dylan Evans | Ford Escort | 4m 13s | |
10 | Kevin Morgan | Deian Rees | Ford Escort | 4m 23s |