Round four of the Welsh Tarmac Championship was a local affair at Talbenny Airfield on Sunday. The rally had maximum capacity entry and was in memory of the late Bob Shaw, whose family was there in great support of the event. Local co-driver Delyth Brown, of Narberth, was raring to go on home turf with Cardigan driver Mark Jukes in their Toyota Corrolla, in the highly competitive class two (up to 1600cc). The stages seemed damp, so they opted for an intermediate tyre on the rear for the first stage, but found the course had dried considerably from the initial inspection, leaving them third in class after the first loop. A swift tyre change at the interval, however, saw them take 17 seconds off their previous time. Throughout the day they continued to be competitive in their class and knew a consistent result was on the cards. But on stage six, coming around a fast 45 left, Mark went to change gear and the gear lever snapped, leaving the car in neutral! Delyth said afterwards: "We pulled over to a safe point mid stage. I was ordered to get the tools out quickly and we started to take the top off the gearbox. Mark managed to dislodge the broken piece of metal that was obstructing gear selection, but the bolts holding the lever housing were hard to get to with a spanner so, using his initiative, he managed to get the car into second gear and we drove on! "That mishap cost us three-and-a-half minutes and put us out of contention of any class award, but during service, a new gear lever was fitted and we decided to continue to compete in the two remaining stages of the rally and salvage some of the Welsh Championship points available. "Mark drove the final stages with real intent and his skilful efforts gave us 30th overall and third in our class. Not only were we in shock after this result, but so were the competitors in our class! This result has given us valuable points and kept us in a strong position in our Welsh Championship class." The next round of the Welsh Championship is the Welsh International Rally at Epynt on May Bank Holiday, where Mark and Delyth hope to continue their fight for the title.
