rally results service
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Eagle Road Rally 1997
Newtown & District Automobile Club
12th/13th July 1997
Clerk of the Course: Graham Evans
Route: 98 Miles
Maps: 136
Starters: 60
Winners: Tony Davies/Ieuan Thomas (VW Golf GTi)
Tony Davies/Ieaun Thomas held on for victory on the Eagle Road Rally in Mid Wales despite an engine that was going sick and a late charge from pre-event favourites Cyril Crook/Chris Ware. The event was 100% pre-plot, the first time that the Eagle had used the format since the Targa Timing era, it compensated for this by having a large number of time controls in its 98 mile route. With so many controls crews had to be on their toes as any error would quickly be penalised with time penalties.
The first half took crews south and used some of the forest tracks in the Sarnau area. A number of fancied crews were soon out. First to go were Nick Broadway/Any Oakes, they put their Sierra off the road near Red Lion Hill, then Phil Turner/Nigel Roberts withdrew their Corolla after breaking the exhaust and Alan Gaunt/Maurice Leach had their Peugeot 205 succumb to an alternator failure.
By the petrol halt the eventual winners had dropped 4 minutes, which gave them a share of the lead with Rali Bro Dyfi winners Clive Williams/Patrick Walsh. The latter pairing performing miracles in a road standard 1000cc Nissan Micra. They continued at a similar pace in the second half, and may well have won the event, if they hadn't picked up a fail at the penultimate passage control, which dropped them to 24th overall.
Cyril Crook/Chris Ware had started strongly, but then dropped four minutes after wrong slotting after TC10. They increased their pace in the second half, but failed to catch the flying Golf GTi of Davies/Thomas. This was despite a scare for Davies/Thomas as a suspected headgasket failure caused the Golf's engine to sound decidedly rough towards the end. The two crews were separated by only 38 seconds at the finish.
The 1996 winners Alun Bound/Shaun O'Gorman came home third, four minutes behind. While Dai John/Paul Bevan took fourth and the final Expert Class award in their Toyota Corolla.
The Semi-Expert award went to the Escort 1.6 of Kevin Hesketh/Andy Moss, they had had a night long duel with the Escort 2.0 of Simon Rigby/Steve Quine. The class win was only decided on the last tie breaker section.
Local crew Chris Bolver/Denny Harris won the Novice class by a margin of 15 minutes, they were also 11th overall in their Anglia. Second novices Stuart Thomas/Adrian Belcher did well, managing to be among the 23 runners to remain fail free at the Finish. There 45 finishers from the 60 starters.
OVERALL RESULTS
| Pos | Driver | Navigator | Car | Penalty | |
| 1 | Tony Davies | Ieuan Thomas | VW Golf GTi | 10m 03s | |
| 2 | Cyril Crook | Chris ware | Talbot Sunbeam | 10m 42s | |
| 3 | Alun Bound | Shaun O'Gorman | Ford Escort | 14m 05s | |
| 4 | Dai John | Paul Bevan | Toyota Corolla | 14m 53s | |
| 5 | Wayne Morris | Paul Middleton | Ford EScort | 16m 04s | |
| 6 | Tim Breakwell | Phil Clarke | Ford EScort | 18m 08s | |
| 7 | Adrian Hodgson | Sean Caddick | Renault Fuego | 18m 14s | |
| 8 | Jon Ross | Dave Stocking | Ford Escort | 20m 03s | |
| 9 | Kevin Hesketh | Andy Moss | Ford Escort | 20m 05s | |
| 10 | Simon Rigby | Steve Quine | Ford Escort | 22m 40s | |
| 11 | Chris Bolver | Denny Harris | Ford Anglia | 23m 00s | |
| 12 | Nick Onions | Chris Lightburn | Talbot Sunbeam | 26m 35s | |
| 13 | Dave Painter | Peter Lewis | Opel Manta | 27m 01s | |
| 14 | Rob Williams | Dave Howell | Vauxhall Chevette | 27m 46s | |
| 15 | Roger Harris | Gary Robbins | Vauxhall Astra GTE | 30m 15s | |
| 16 | Neil Griffiths | Dai Bevan | Ford Escort | 31m 12s | |
| 17 | Dave Evison | Neil Spiers | Ford Sierra | 31m 49s | |
| 18 | Brian Spurr | Jim Clarke | Ford Escort | 34m 09s | |
| 19 | Simon Price | Alan Lovett | Ford Escort | 34m 20s | |
| 20 | Stuart Thomas | Adrian Belcher | Peugeot 309 GTi | 38m 00s | |
| 21 | Iwan Pritchard | Paul Owen | Ford Escort | 42m 11s | |
| 22 | Alyson Acreman | Byron Jones | Vauxhall Astra | 42m 42s | |
| 23 | John Evans | Jane Powell | Talbot Avenger | 46m 00s | |
| 24 | Clive Williams | Patrick Walsh | Nissan Micra | 1F 10m 13s | |
| 25 | Pete Cotton | Dave Pitchford | Ford Escort | 1F 15m 18s | |
| 26 | Carwyn Evans | Stephen Roberts | Ford EScort | 1F 19m 30s | |
| 27 | Nigel Thomas | Phil Stocking | Ford Escort | 1F 20m 09s | |
| 28 | Graham Evans | Matt Morgan | Ford Escort | 1F 25m 03s | |
| 29 | Glyn Price | Ian Furniss | Ford Escort | 1F 27m 30s | |
| 30 | Paul Jenkins | Stephanie Lomax | Ford Escort | 1F 31m 02s | |
| 31 | Meredith Roberts | Mark Lloyd | Vauxhall Cavalier | 1F 32m 32s | |
| 32 | Neal Arden | Giles Corbett | Ford Escort | 1F 34m 20s | |
| 33 | Chris Hughes | John Gilbey | Ford Escort | 1F 35m 08s | |
| 34 | Arwel Phillips | Jonathan Hands | Ford Escort | 1F 37m 12s | |
| 35 | Matthew Warner | Aneurin James | Opel Manta | 1F 38m 05s | |
| 36 | Adrian Higman | Brian Jones | Talbot Sunbeam | 2F 26m 36s | |
| 37 | Tim Mannings | Paul Matthewman | Ford Fiesta | 2F 48m 50s | |
| 38 | Darren Williams | Stuart Williams | Opel Kadett | 2F 55m 02s | |
| 39 | Tony Watkins | Medwyn Evans | Mini 1275GT | 2F 58m 00s | |
| 40 | Richard Roberts | Paul Roberts | Ford Escort | 5F 44m 28s | |
| 41 | Philip Evans | Mick Davies | Ford Escort | 5F 68m 30s | |
| 42 | Sean Rowlands | Jayne Townend | Peugeot 205 | 6F 64m 56s | |
| 43 | Paul Gane | Meriadoc Lawes | Ford Escort | 14F 68m 30s | |
| 44 | Donna Andrew | Keith Williams | BL Mini | 18F 79m 51s | |
| 45 | Selwyn Jones | Sean Crowley | Ford Escort | 20F 54m 27s |