Rali Cilwendeg
Sponsored by Forge Aberaeron
Teifi Valley Motor Club
25th/26th October 2014
Clerk of the Course: Richard Evans & Mike James
Route: 120 Miles
Maps: 145
Starters: 75
Winners: Adrian Jones/Aled Richards (Subaru Impreza)
Event sponsor Adrian Jones took the second Rali Cilwendeg win of his career as navigator Aled Richards guided him to first place on the West Wales classic. For Richards it was his first Cilwendeg victory after a number of near misses.
The 2014 event returned to the excellent standard associated with the classic West Wales rally; it used an intricate route which, as ever, never strayed far from its Newcastle Emlyn base.
Jones/Richards took the lead on the third of the rally’s eight sections; it was a lead they weren’t to lose.
Andy Davies/Cadog Davies took the runner up spot, almost two minutes behind the winners, to make it an uncommon Impreza 1-2. After a long layoff – four years in the case of the navigator - Gareth Thomas/Edwin Venville finished in third and won the Expert class.
Nigel Phillips, in what may have been his last rally, had former Cilwendeg C-of-C Mark Lloyd on the maps and they came home in fourth place. They had beaten off a strong challenge from Steve Knibbs/Gerwyn Barry, who had the consolation of the Under 1600cc Award.
Tomos Lewis/Reian Jones won the combined Semi-Expert/Novices class, finishing in a highly creditable eighth place overall.
It was a bad night for most of the top crews. Dyfrig James/Emyr Jones would have taken a narrow two second win but were excluded for the use of spotlights in a neutral section. They protested the penalty but the exclusion was upheld on the grounds that a Judge of Fact’s report cannot be protested. In total six crews were excluded for various offences including give way infringements, forged signatures and having bald tyres at the final Damage Control.
Top seeds, and initial leaders, John Davies/Eurig Davies held second place at Petrol, 49 seconds off the lead, but they retired with mechanical failure in the second half. Gethin Morgan/Steve Herbert had a short event as a coil problem on their Escort brought them to a halt within the first few miles. Llyr Williams/Dafydd Evans were in fourth place at the halfway halt, however a broken gear linkage on their Peugeot put them out soon after the restart.
RESULTS
- Overall Positions
- Award Winners
- Time Penalty Details
- Fails Penalties
- Route Check Penalties
- Positions at MC2
- Class Positions
- List of Starters
- Non-Finishers