Results: Gwyn Jones Memorial Rally 23

Gwyn Jones Memorial Trophy winners – Chris Pratt and Glyn Hayward
Novice class winners – Rhys Williams and Faye Williams
Beginners class winners – David Ley and Sam Wright

Results in pdf format: click here.

If Friday proved anything, it is that it is time for younger competitors to take on the organisation of 12-cars! One of us spent the whole day in hospital, whilst the other felt ever more dreadful through the day, but valiantly kept on going to make sure that the event took place. Revised plans needed to be made for the results, so yet again step into the breach, Pash, who volunteered to do the results after marshalling earlier.

Our thanks for that, Pash, and also providing expert guidance on the navigation, although it should be stressed that whilst he gave truly valued input, the final decision was ours alone. So, if you did not like it (and we hope that is not the case), blame it on us and not Pash.

Unusually we will start the report with the beginners, the future of our sport. David Ley and Sam Wright performed superbly, missing the first two boards of the event (possibly not knowing what they were looking for), but then missing only one further board all night and keeping within maximum lateness all the way, to win the Beginners class.

Also in that class were Chris and Jude Penney, who had zero experience of 12-cars, and on an event such as this it made it desperately difficult as a result, even with marked maps. It was so easy to go off route and get lost and, with the lack of experience, so difficult to get back on route. After an initial excellent effort, this was their fate. We hope to see you again soon, and will all be happy to pass on the (benefit?) of our experience.

Meanwhile there was a great battle at the head of the field, with last year’s winners, Roy Cuthbert and Paul Vaughn leading from the front, and they and would have been leading at halfway with only 4 minutes lost, were it not for a missed board on the last section. That left Chris Pratt and Glynn Hayward, having a very steady but no doubt busy might, to be ahead at halfway with just 7 minutes dropped.

The other experts were having a bit of a night to forget. Graham Brunton and Duncan Brown started off as though in a bit of a daze, missing a plethora of boards, going OTL at one control, and WDA at the next. Still, they reached halfway, and showed their class and perseverance by missing no boards on the second half, and being equal 2nd best performers through the next 4 controls to the finish; well done.

Derek Arnold and Simon Fuidge lost some time at TC3, but had even more misfortune at TC4, as witnessed by an experienced marshal. They had to stop for a considerable time to refettle the car, and did well to reach halfway within time. However, the lost time caught up with them in the second half, and they ended up OTL.

In the Novices class, there was a titanic battle going on. Dave and Mark Browell had gone OTL at a couple of controls, but fought back to be within time for the final two controls of the half. As for the other three crews, Colin Woodhouse and John Upham had a comfortable lead at TC5, but missing a board and losing eleven minutes at TC6 cost them dearly, with their lead cut to five points. That next crew were Mike and Henry East, who had missed a single board, on the very first section, but otherwise been very steady. That left them just a single point ahead of Rhys and Faye Williams, who had only dropped 14minutes, but had missed a couple of boards.

Back at the front the battle continued between Roy and Paul, and Chris and Glynn, with Graham and Duncan having left themselves too much to do. There was only one point difference between the performances of those two top crews in the second half, with Chris and Glynn eking out just that one point to emerge as very worthy winners on what was no doubt a very tough night; congratulations.

The novices were having a very similar battle. Mike and Henry were continuing to do really well, and with only the odd board missed were clearly following the right route, and hopefully enjoying the roads. However, a trickle of lost time caught up with them in the end, and they were OTL at TC9, and crucially at MTC10.
The other two crews were nip and tuck, with both missing a passage check on section 9, but Faye performed magnificently by navigating with such precision that they only lost 2 minutes on the entire second half. That enabled them to sneak past Colin and John, who lost 10 minutes on the second half.

Congratulations to Rhys and Faye, and apologies to both crews for missing Colin and John’s lost time at TC6 on the night, showing them to be winners on a provisional basis, and meaning that Rhys and Faye could not take the plaudits on the night for a superb performance.

We hope that you had a fun night out (just think, it must have been better than sitting in a corridor in A &E for 11 hours!) and enjoyed the route that we had such pleasure putting together. Graham warned at the start of the poor (but enjoyable?) road conditions, and the standing water. That no doubt contributed to the difficulty of making up time when needed, so we appreciate that it was a real challenge to both crew members, which we have to say is always our aim.

Graham Skeggs and John Murdoch

Posted by Geoff Wade, FDMC Media