With four Class triumphs and a Class podium finish on each of the seven rounds competed on, Colin Evans has taken an emphatic victory to take the 2025 Drivers Rally Challenge title*. The Llangadog man who has recently moved to Abergavenny has used his Road Rally spec. BMW to compete on both sealed surface and gravel events during the year, accompanied earlier by son Harri who has now taken a break to concentrate on his studies in Motorsport Engineering.
Credit Mark Griffin / Griffin Rally
Seventeen contenders began the event, three claiming a top ten finish. After his Roger Albert Clark Rally adventure, Llanddarog’s Ian Taylor admitted to still feeling the effects of five days of competition. He and Oli Hopkins lived up to their seeding, fighting for overall honours all day to finish 2nd in the Mitsubishi Mirage by a 10.8 second margin.
Barry and Seyyan John again put on a giant killing act in their Impreza. Organisers decided to split the Class they were in otherwise they would have been competing for points with far more powerful R5 cars and came home an impressive 6th overall.
The Restruct Rally Team were out in force with Ron Morgan / Sion Jones, (pictured),giving the historic specification Escort Mk.1 a rare outing. Justin Fowler-Bishop drove his first rally for many a year only to be dogged by bad luck when a fuel pump relay failed on the way to the start line of SS1. After missing the stage they carried on, on a rare day where every contender finished. Despite son Dylan Fowler-Bishop being more at home on forestry events he decided to secure his position as leader of the Celtic Micra Challenge and his Junior title lead in the ‘TCS’, eventually finishing 2nd in Class.
Maesteg DMC ‘Wonder Woman’ Co-driver Yvonne Walton surprised everyone by announcing that she was to swop seats after travelling to Nottingham to buy a Nissan Micra and arriving in darkness at the venue after scrutineering had closed. Brave man Leighton Escott sat beside her and despite a few spins, reported that she was gaining pace throughout the day. Yvonne aims to drive for a few events to achieve an International License to co-drive in Europe. Her rally the day after in Donnington gives her an incredible total of 27 events this year.
*Based on provisional results
The Bridgend crew of Chris and Cieran Gifford lead the ‘TCS’ pack, bettering their best ever result of 8th at Abingdon to take an impressive 6th overall after only a year of competing in the Darrian T90.
Russell Davies and Richard Suter were on the pace on Day 1, only for an electrical issue later traced to be a cable shorting on the exhaust manifold, robbed them of a potential Top 4 result.
The Celtic Micra Challenge crews of Kay Thompson / Jordan Joines and Alex and Stephen Roscoe swopped times all weekend with the father and son crew ahead at the end of the 12 stage event.
All eyes now turn to Castle Combe for the final round.
For full list of current scores and positions, click here.
For full list of current positions following Round 10 – The Richard Cole Contracting Wyedean Rally – click here.
Competitors faced a tough rally as they left the Llandudno start for the penultimate Challenge forestry round with over 30 cars not making the finish.
Stars of the show in the Challenge fight were again Nigel and Kaz Jenkins up against Dylan Fowler Bishop and Dan Evans. Their pace in the 1400cc class netted both crews an incredible Top 20 finish with the latter lying second and first respectively for the Overall title battle. The result puts Fowler-Bishop and Evans at the top of the Celtic Micra Challenge standings.
The two remaining Sealed Surface and one Gravel Round take place over the Welsh Border with entries filling quickly. The DAE Castle Combe Rally will this year have the added challenge of running the last stages in darkness.
For full list of current positions following Round 9, click here.
For the full list of current positions following Round 8 – The Trackrod Rally Yorkshire – click here.
Colin Evans in his road rally specification BMW still holds a strong lead in the Drivers category despite missing the Woodpecker to prepare for his run on the Rali Ceredigion. Machynlleth’s Hywel Davies lies second closely followed by Ammanford Motor Club member Huw Jeffreys. Hereford’s Dan Evans holds a slim co-drivers lead going into the next round, the Trackrod Rally Yorkshire after a second in class alongside Dylan Fowler-Bishop. The customary tussle between them and husband and wife crew Nigel and Kaz Jenkins this time ending in the latter’s favour.
Fowler-Bishop has taken the Celtic Micra Challenge lead with Dominic Hodge lying second in a one litre version, despite having to compete in the 1400cc Class. His co-driver Brian Cammack holds the current CMC lead.
For the full list of current positions click here.
Photos courtesty of Andrew Scott.
Nigel and Karen Jenkins
Huw and Avarina Jeffreys
Hywel Davies and Sion Rowlands
Pictured above Thomas Cooper and Sarah Edwards
Photo Credit Mike Frayne
After swapping times with Ammanford driver Robert Tout all day, Thomas Cooper and Sarah Edwards emerged victorious with a 25 second lead at the end of the 6 stage event hosted by Carmarthen Motor Club.
Richard Merriman / Sam Weller were the first of the two wheel drive cars home, Richard taking maximum points on all 3 tarmacadam rounds so far in the Darrian.
Colin Evans had plenty of competition in the Road Rally Class in his BMW318Ti and his third still sees him dominate the top drivers slot.
The ‘TCS’ is now at its halfway point but with the best 7 scores to count, the title is far from decided.
Co-driver Yvonne Walton competed on the Down Rally in Northern Ireland and travelled back overnight to join Tom James in the Suzuki Swift. She takes the current lead with a 4 point advantage over Sarah Edwards.
With the cancellation of the Hills Ford Rally, the Challenger Stages at Bovington will now become a points scoring round.
For current points following Round 4, the JD Competition Tyres Bob Shaw Memorial Stages, please click here.
Victory in the 1400 class and maximum Celtic Micra Challenge points went to Kay Thompson, (right), and Yvonne Walton.
Following the forced cancellation of Welsh forestry events, the Challenge finally got under way with 38 contenders competing on the Dixies Challenge.
Result of the Day was a tremendous 3rd overall and Class Victory for Richard Merriman and Louise Lewis (pictured right). After a 9-year break from co-driving for Louise and 23 years since last competing on Epynt, the crew gelled immediately, Louise stating she had big little shoes to fill, occupying the seat of the late Kath Curzon.
Photo credit right: Alan Jones
After a tough fight all day with Craig Kampshulte and current leading co-driver Elgan Davies, the new pairing emerged 5 seconds ahead after the 10 stages.
Click here for current scores.
James Palmer and Steve McPhee have become the first leaders of the Celtic Micra Challenge, finishing a very creditable 26th out of the 68 finishers. Man behind the new series, Justin Fowler Bishop was on hand for a champagne spraying ceremony for the crews.
