Caernarfon & Anglesey Pentraeth Automotive Mazda Stages
Report by Paul Adams Countdown Magazine

I'd never been to Bala Motor Club's Ranges Motorsport Centre before, and I came away impressed. Not necessarily with what's there at the moment, but the potential of the place. Imagine, if you can, a letter "T", with, at it's base, a large tarmac/loose area big enough for a tight and tricky start/finish to a stage and a Service Area. The rest of the 'T' is made up of narrow, reasonably-surfaced, single-track roads. If you still understand what I'm going on about, you will have a very rough idea of what the 'Ranges' look like.

What is desperately needed are a couple of roads to link the ends of the cross section of that 'T' and you would have the ability to link and even lap stages. I'm told that plans are under consideration for Bala MC to do some thing like this but, as with all such plans, it takes cash and time. Meanwhile they will make do with what is available.

To make full use of the available roads, the different organising Clubs tend to run their events to a similar format. That is, to start at the bottom of the 'T' and run out to the end of either the right or left hand tip. Stop, wait for all competitors to finish and run across the top of the 'T'. Stop and again re-group and run back to the start/ finish area. Run like this, in batches of three stages at a time, the existing venue can be used to it's fullest.

Caernarfon & Anglesey Motor Club Ltd, official organisers of the Pentraeth Automotive Mazda Stages, ran exactly to this formula. A good event that was, too. It's just disappointing that so many of Bala Motor Club's officials had to be seconded to the organising 'team', at the last moment, for the event to be able to run.

Leading away a full 60 car entry were John Hardman/Andy Davies in the PEC Tyres-supported 2.4 Escort II Cosworth. John knew that he would have a battle on his hands, with Steve Raines/Steve Gregg, at 2, in their Williams of Market Drayton 2300 Chevette. At 3 were another crew sure to be in the hunt for outright honours, Pete Hallows with local co-driver David Roberts alongside in the RWD Escort III. Although only running a Pinto lump, Peter's knowledge of the venue would stand him in good stead for the event. Just behind Pete Hallows was the Richard Evans Fabrications Escort of John Lay/Tim Hobbs. At 5 were the Potteries and Newcastle crew of Dave Nixon/Roger Gray in their Sunbeam 2.2. Down from Liverpool were Karl Jones/Baz Green in the first of the 1600's. At 7 was the First Lady of club rallying, Pat Jeffs, with Carol Pearl reading the notes. This pair were hoping for a good result in their RWD Escort III.

On SS1, an interesting 'flooded' area was to sort out the men from the drowned rats as the route round the start area took competitors through this photogenic water splash. It was interesting to watch the differing approaches some crews were taking to this obstacle. In fact, the Service Area could have been used as a giant advertisement for WD 40! John Hardman lifted off slightly, Steve Raines 'pussy-footed' his way through, and lost some seven seconds in the process, and Pete Hallows just blasted his way through it, the spray sending spectators running.

One could say that the competition ended here, as Peter took a three second lead over John Hardman and the rest of the field, but as these two swopped times over the next two stages, the event was far from decided. So, at the end of the first three stages, Pete Hallows held a two-second lead over John Hardman, with Steve Raines some five seconds further adrift. In class 'B', Gareth Lloyd Jones/Llyr Wyn Jones, in their 1600 Sunbeam, were holding a two-second lead over Wild Wil Roberts' similar car, with John Woodward/Jim Symms equal with the 'Wild' one. The up to 1300's were having a fine battle with the John Goff Escort of Stephen Kemish/Martin Jones holding a seven-second advantage over the Escort of Kevin Peacock.

The water-splash gave Pete Hallows another quickest stage time on SS4 but only by one second from Steve Raines this time. John Hardman was another three seconds adrift. God! It was all exciting stuff at the top! At the end of SS6, however, the Hallows lead had stretched to six seconds over John Hardman, with Steve Raines still looming large and only three seconds behind.

In Class B, Wild Wil had taken over the lead, ahead of Karl Jones/Baz Green. The amazing Skoda/Astra of Gareth Roberts/Mark Hoyte had moved ahead in Class A, some 18 seconds ahead of the Mini of Dave Bound.

SS7 saw the end of John Hardman's challenge, when, after a highish yump, the prop-shaft parted company with the car, flew through the air and landed not too far from a marshal, arriving as if delivered by Fatima Whitbread. Pete Hallows couldn't afford to take things easy, as Steve Raines had started to speed up, closing to within eleven seconds at the Service after SS9. Also moving up were Pat Jeffs/Carol Pearl, now up to fourth overall and setting some very respectable stage times, just one second separating the flying lady from John Jones/Ian Rogers. With all to win or lose, an exciting last three stages was ensured.

Pete Hallows pulled out a few more seconds advantage, to end the day some 16 seconds up on Steve Raines. Pat Jeffs got the better of Karl Jones, for her best result to date. In the class battles, B went to the Sunbeam of Gareth Lloyd Davies/Llyr Wyn Davies and class A to the Escort of Kevin Peacock.

A good event overall, handled well by Bala at an improving venue. It will be interesting to see what some of the Welsh Tarmac Championship contenders make of the venue, on their visit later in the season.

Competitor's comments

1: John Hardman/Andy Davies. Escort II 2400 Cosworth. C&A
PEC TYRES OF RUTHIN Retired

2: Steve Raines/Steve Gregg Chevette 2300SC Whitchurch
WILLIAMS OF MARKET DRAYTON, MARKET DRAYTON TYRE & BATTERY SERVICE.
On SS1, we lost seven seconds to the eventual winners, through taking it easy at the water splash. After tying with them on SS2, we decided that we had to hit the water faster. So we devised a demon modification to prevent the carbs from sucking in water, by using the co-driver's clip-board as a shield! It worked well, except the co-driver kept complaining that he was getting soaked, from water coming through the gearbox surround. What gratitude! From then on, it was a question of trying to pull back the lost time on Hallows and Hardman, to gain class points and valuable Vauxhall Bonus money for class and overall wins. We managed to get back on level terms with Hardman and then he retired but we could do nothing about Pete Hallows. 2nd.

3: Pete Hallows/David Roberts. Escort III RWD 1998 1st.

4: John Lay/Tim Hobbs. Escort 11 1998. Whitchurch.
RICHARD EVANS (FABRICATIONS) Ltd, HAWKINS MOTORS, WEM TYRE SERVICES, AMW MOTORS, JBS OFFICE SYSTEMS.
At present, we are leading the ANWCC Forest Championship and also had a good result on the Fram Welsh National Rally - 3rd overall. So, as our luck was running well, we decided to have a go at the 'Tarmac Racers'. However, the intercom failed on the first stage and the head-gasket on the next, that was that. Retired.