BALA & District Motor Club ran The Minafon Garage Gareth Hall Memorial Rally at Trawsfynydd Ranges last weekend.

The rally was won by Denbigh driver Will Rowlands with a co-driver with a difference.

Will had auctioned off his co-driver’s seat by raffle which had raised £830 for the North Wales AirAmbulance; the winner was Ross Wasson from Cilcain.

This sum together with donations at the spectator gate meant that the club were able to present the charity with a cheque for £1,800. This takes the total raised by the club for this charity to over £40,000.

Llocal crew Aled Wyn Owens and James Martin took the early lead but they slid their Escort off the road and into retirement on the 4th stage.

The rally was held in dry weather conditions with Rowlands taking a lead that he would not relinquish over the remaining eight challenging stages. The top three was rounded off by local crews Gary Thomas / Chris Walton and Richard Owen Morgans / Sophie Law.

Through the classes there was much local interest with Mold’s Gareth Roberts and Ruthin co-driver Rob Bryn Jones taking the small engines car class from Llangollen’s Martyn Quant and Chris Evans.

The up to 1,600 class was taken by Llandudno siblings Chris Phillips and Sarah Hughes followed by Geoff McQuilling and Gary Edgington from Corwen, partnered by  Gethin Sharp.

The road rally class was taken by Steven John Williams who were chased hard all day by the returning crew of Meredydd Jones from Ruthin, partnered by Ian Jones, another local co-driver from Abergele.

The historic rally car class was taken by young Bala driver Ilan Pritchard partnered by local co-driver Dylan Richards, third in the class was Julian Birley from Llanuwchllyn, co-driven by his son Tom Birley.

The rally welcomed back the mini rally championship with no less that 11 Mini’s taking the start; first home was Jacob Neal / Russell Thompson followed closely home by Gordon Davies and local navigator Jack Morris.