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Peak Revs Rally 1996
Sponsored by PAR4 Groundcare
Ludlow Castle Motor Club
9th/10th November 1996
Clerk of the Course: Sarah Preece
Route: 140 Miles
Maps: 138 & 149
Starters: 80
Winners: Baron Glaze/Dave Pitchford (Ford Escort)
Baron Glaze/Dave Pitchford took their second successive Welsh Road Rally Championship victory when they won Ludlow Castle MC's Peak Revs Rally. This result rekindled their title hopes which two rallies previously had looked lost. Their position was improved even further when their only rivals for the Championship, Wyn Jones/Phil Clarke, lost 5 minutes after an off; they struggled home in 28th place. Glaze now needs to finish in the top four on the championship's last round, the Holrus, to have a chance of denying Jones the driver's title, while in the navigator's table Pitchford leads Clarke by three points.
The Peak Revs was unique amongst the 1996 Welsh Championship rounds in that it didn't actually enter the Principality, instead it's 140 mile route used the frosty lanes of Shropshire and Herefordshire. Under the direction for the first time of Clerk of Course Sarah Preece the rally forsook it's traditional use of the whites in the Welsh border area and instead utilised an almost 100% tarmac format. The event was split into eight sections, the first six being of a plot 'n bash format while the route cards for the last two were issued at the start of the sixth test.
By the end of the first half, which used a long loop to the south of the start venue at Ludlow, all crews had dropped time at a minimum of three controls. The leaders at that stage were Paul Holmberg/Maurice Leach, however in the second half they dropped 32 seconds after being held up on the vital sixth section by slower cars; with eight crews cleaning this part of the event this was enough to drop them to fourth at the finish. Last year's winners Colin Davies/Owen Dodd were only one second down on Holmberg/Leach at Petrol however they experienced problems with their hired Escort's lights, which failed completely at one stage, and thus dropped to sixth at the end.
Other crews who could have challenged for the lead hit problems in the first half, notably Tony Davies/Ieaun Thomas and John Evans/Eurig Evans, both of whom became stuck in a muddy farmyard on the third section. While Graham Evans/Ian Mills and Phil Harding/Paul Middleton lost large amounts of time on the fourth section when both wrong slotted while plotting.
The section after the halfway halt was extremely icy and Richard Lewis/Phil Pugh spun their Corolla on a 90 right which was covered in ice, they recovered, however Jones/Clarke, who were following immediately behind, were less lucky and slid off into the deep ditch on the outside. They managed to get a farmer to pull them out with a tractor but they picked up five minutes penalty and in such a tightly fought contest this was enough to drop them to 28th overall at the end.
Glaze/Pitchford therefore emerged as the jubilant victors, extremely pleased to take the championship battle down to the wire. Cyril Crook/Chris Ware were only one second behind in their Sunbeam, although they were lucky to have cleaned the second half having wrong slotted on the tightly timed sixth section. While in third place Des Phasey/Steve Price took their best ever rally result in their Escort 1.6.
Richard Lewis/Phil Pugh, recovering from their earlier incident, had a steady run through the remainder of the rally. They finished in fifth place, which was enough for them to clinch the Standard Production category in the Welsh Championship.
With Dennis Quinn not competing, his regular navigator, Nick Darkin, teamed up with Semi-Expert driver, Duncan Williams. They finished in 13th place, having dropped a minute and a half when they managed to pick up three punctures on the penultimate section.
The Semi-Expert class was won by the Severn Valley crew of Steven Bishop/Tim Kear, they were 29th overall, however this was bettered by the leading Novice crew, Wayne Morris/Steve Holder, who claimed 26th place almost twenty minutes clear of their nearest class rival.
OVERALL RESULTS
| Pos | Driver | Navigator | Car | Penalty | |
| 1 | Baron Glaze | Dave Pitchford | Ford Escort | 1m 45s | |
| 2 | Cyril Crook | Chris Ware | Talbot Sunbeam | 1m 46s | |
| 3 | Des Phasey | Steve Price | Ford Escort | 1m 59s | |
| 4 | Paul Holmberg | Maurice Leach | Ford Escort | 2m 10s | |
| 5 | Richard Lewis | Phil Pugh | Toyota Corolla | 2m 17s | |
| 6 | Colin Davies | Owen Dodd | Ford Escort | 2m 24s | |
| 7 | Peter Zjalic | Richard Preece | Toyota Corolla | 2m 26s | |
| 8 | Richard Evans | Gareth Price | Peugeot 205 | 2m 52s | |
| 9 | Kev Ikin | Rob Jones | Ford Escort | 2m 55s | |
| 10 | Graham Evans | Ian Mills | Opel Manta | 3m 13s | |
| 11 | John Evans | Eurig Evans | Hillman Avenger | 3m 27s | |
| 12 | Tony Davies | Ieuan Thomas | Opel Ascona | 3m 31s | |
| 13 | Duncan Williams | Nick Darkin | Peugeot 205 GTi | 4m 27s | |
| 14 | Simon Stock | Patrick Walsh | Ford Sierra | 4m 28s | |
| 15 | Simon Stock | Dave Evison | Ford Sierra Sapphire | 4m 46s | |
| 16 | Dave Price | Deggy | Ford Escort | 5m 08s | |
| 17 | Chris Wilson | Roger Fildes | Vauxhall Astra | 5m 13s | |
| 18 | Paul Webb | Mike Hart | VW Golf GTi | 5m 44s | |
| 19 | Tudor Morris | Gerallt Davies | Ford Escort | 5m 47s | |
| 20 | Gareth Morgan | Carl Williamson | Skoda 120RS | 5m 55s | |
| 21 | Andy Morris | Ralph Robson | Ford Escort | 6m 30s | |
| 22 | John Jones | Chris Rowlands | Renault 11 Turbo | 6m 34s | |
| 23 | Damian Cole | Steve Durbin | Ford Escort | 6m 44s | |
| 24 | Dave James | Colin Bowen | Ford Escort | 7m 31s | |
| 25 | Chris Painter | Steve Quine | Toyota Corolla | 7m 34s | |
| 26 | Wayne Morris | Steve Holder | Ford Escort | 7m 37s | |
| 27 | Ian Ross | Andy Oakes | Ford Escort RS2000 | 7m 41s | |
| 28 | Wyn Jones | Phil Clarke | Ford Escort | 7m 49s | |
| 29 | Steven Bishop | Tim Kear | Ford Escort | 8m 40s | |
| 30 | Steve Edwards | Paul Jones | Talbot Sunbeam | 9m 19s | |
| 31 | Paul Pritchard | Nigel Roberts | Ford Escort XR3i | 9m 23s | |
| 32 | Dave Painter | Chris Lightburn | Opel Manta | 9m 23s | |
| 33 | Bryan Davies | Jayson Brown | Ford Escort | 9m 43s | |
| 34 | Carl O'Grady | Gwyn Williams | VW Golf | 10m 33s | |
| 35 | Keith Pashley | Kevin Belcher | Toyota Corolla | 10m 53s | |
| 36 | Brian Spurr | Jim Clarke | Ford Escort | 11m 00s | |
| 37 | Darren Williams | Mat Morgan | Vauxhall Astra | 11m 08s | |
| 38 | Richard Roe | Dave Sillars | Talbot Sunbeam | 11m 12s | |
| 39 | Phil Harding | Paul Middleton | Vauxhall Chevette | 11m 16s | |
| 40 | Iain Scott | Des Harris | Ford Escort | 11m 19s | |
| 41 | Pete Cotton | Matt Barker | Ford Escort | 11m 38s | |
| 42 | Kevin Hutchins | Garry Thomas | Ford Escort | 13m 31s | |
| 43 | Steve Hilditch | Paul Hughes | Rover Metro | 15m 49s | |
| 44 | Alan Thompson | Neil Boyd | Toyota Corolla | 16m 02s | |
| 45 | Tony Watkin | Medwyn Evans | Mini 1275 GT | 16m 32s | |
| 46 | Mark Jukes | Gary Robbins | Toyota Corolla | 17m 12s | |
| 47 | Dave Talbot | Shane Gamble | Ford Escort | 20m 28s | |
| 48 | Stuart Hemming | Mark Freeman | Vauxhall Astra | 20m 48s | |
| 49 | Karl Hancocks | Tim Jones | Ford Escort XR3i | 24m 18s | |
| 50 | Cyril Jones | Chris Read | Ford Escort | 25m 24s | |
| 51 | Mark Pearce | Craig Parry | Ford Escort | 26m 07s | |
| 52 | Kath Rumney | Arfon Jones | Ford Escort | 28m 34s | |
| 53 | Malcolm Middleton | Graham Ford | Ford Fiesta XR2 | 1F 4m 41s | |
| 54 | Nick Skidmore | Ben Innes | Ford Escort | 1F 10m 35s | |
| 55 | Brian Harrison | Cliff Washbrook | Ford Escort | 1F 11m 28s | |
| 56 | Martin Cresswell | Paul Price | Ford Escort | 1F 15m 12s | |
| 57 | Nigel Lloyd | Iestyn Leyshon | Ford Escort | 1F 16m 16s | |
| 58 | Martyn Ellaway | Matthew Farr | Ford Escort | 1F 30m 56s | |
| 59 | Sean Pinches | Chris Jones | Ford Escort | 1F 33m 39s | |
| 60 | Nigel Thomas | Phil Stocking | Ford Escort | 2F 2m 54s | |
| 61 | Nick Onions | Andy Moss | Ford Escort | 3F 24m 12s | |
| 62 | Nigel Jones | Alison Stroud | Audi S2 | 5F 40m 03s | |
| 63 | Adrian Hodgson | Shaun Caddick | Renault Fuego | 6F 9m 05s | |
| 64 | John Ross | Dave Stocking | Ford Escort | 6F 9m 05s | |
| 65 | Gerwyn Evans | Peter Cooke | Ford Escort | 7F 19m 03s | |
| 66 | Robert Waterhouse | Simon Mellins | Vauxhall Astra | 7F 41m 23s | |
| 67 | Kevin Roberts | Mike Daska | Ford Capri | 21F 40m 28s |