Motor Sport Report
Melvyn Evans and Aled Davies proved dominant on last Saturdays Nick Bradbury Motorsport Photography backed Red Dragon Stage Rally in Walters Arena above GlynNeath, their Subaru Impreza WRC fastest on all but one of the five special stages, in blinding dust, after weeks of dry weather. Last years winner, Sara Williams, took her lesser powered Subaru to a strong second place, and class win, partnered this time by Patrick Walsh, in her Brecon Car Rental backed Impreza, beating the Evans WRC machine on stage two by one second, second to the winners on the remaining four. The dust was a major problem to competitors and organisers, a number of cars rolling in poor visibility, including the Imprezas of Paul Bonas and Mike Truman, plus Ansteys Proton, prompting a change to two minute gaps between cars. Number three seeds Nev Jones and Chris Davies had hopes dashed as their ACW Motorsport Impreza WRC suffered an engine failure, Richard and Sarah Ceen retired their fourth seeded Ford Focus WRC with hydraulic failure losing the gears, and the number six Hall / Rogers Impreza retired after an oil fire. Melvyn and Aled thus had an easier time, though their pace was measurably well clear of pursuers, the event something of a test for the car, and it proved effective.
Jamie Jukes in the Spencer Sport Suzuki Swift had mysterious overheating problems, the car pushed into Service as a precaution, but they recovered, to take fourth overall, a class win and team prize alongside Swansea duo Peter Jones / Graham Joseph in their snarling Triumph TR7, who also took a class victory in the Historic category. Local ace Terry Brown had been a hot tip for the Historic win, but his Ford Escort RS1800 had a few dramatic moments in the dust, reportedly put out by losing a wheel, that class win going to the immaculate ex-works Hannu Mikkola / Gunnar Palm Ford Escort of Forest of Dean crew Steve Ward and Mike Crawford, though with a crumpled front wing by the end ! Other class winners included Phil Sawer / Darren Riley in a Fiat Lupo, Thomas Lloyd / Craig Maggs in their PTMC Peugeot, Brecon MC men David Jones / Glyn Price with the big BMW E30, Huw Jefferies / Averina Connor taking the Group N win with their Natural Green Heat Subaru, Ken Davies / Alun Jones hurling their vast Volvo Amazon 122S strongly through the dust and stones to take the H1 Historic victory. Ieuan Evans of Lampeter MC collected the award for best presented car with his Ford Escort, the Novice Competitors trophies going to Dylan Lewis and Euros Evans in the Bridgend MC Peugeot 205.
ROGER GALE
