05 Sotico Safari Wrap.
In it’s 40th consecutive year,
the Sotico Safari Rally is the longest running rally in Australia, and one of the longest
running in the world. A proud tradition that has been upheld by the rally’s
organising car club, the Light Car Club of WA. After successful revisions last year, the
event was further tweaked this year to enhance the experience for all involved. Run over
the June long weekend, teams had the opportunity to pace note special stages through the
Sotico tree plantation on Saturday with Sunday being reserved for actual competition.
One word to describe this year’s Safari,
Fast! The mostly hard packed, open stages gave excellent grip and high speeds. Most
competitors were able to find the top speed of their cars in several places during the
rally.
Traditionally a wet event, teams, officials and
spectators were treated to pleasant weather this year.
John Macara/Chris Parish in the AISAT
Instruments WRX led the field away on Sunday morning. Without overnight rain, conditions
had not changed since recce which was reassuring for teams in terms of tyre choice and
driving style. SS1 (Sleeps Transport) was an open and relatively short start to the rally.
Silverstone Tyres sponsored Craig Bignell/Joan Percival (Lancer Evo 3) won the stage with
the husband and wife team of Dennis/Jacqui Dunlop (Lancer Evo 7) in second and Matthew
Knox/Elio Della Maddalena (CDM Australia Lancer Evo 3) in third.
The trend in the first stage was set to continue
for most of the rally. SS2 (West Coast Alarms), SS3 (Extreme Racing) and SS4 (KLB Systems)
were all won by Bignell/Percival with Dunlop/Dunlop second for each. The Deep Creek Lancer
Evo 4 of Chris Anderson/Joel Lithgo were third for SS2, with Alex Stone/Dianna Madlener
(WRX) providing some Subaru support taking third for SS3. Macara/Parish further
strengthened the Subaru position, taking third for SS4.
Not renowned as a car breaking event, the Safari
began taking it’s toll early.
SS2 claimed the Linde Materials Handling Suzuki
Swift Gti of Mark Cameron/Adam Pearson with clutch failure. SS3 retired John Webb/Gary
Kynaston (Elite Pool Covers Lancer Evo 3) with mechanical troubles and Neil Herbert/Mark
Sforcina (Forjon Contracting WRX) with drivetrain problems. Ray Stubber/Todd Payne had to
retire after SS3. On Ray’s first rally the pair collected a tree in their Medicon
Honda Civic, damaging the front end and radiator. SS4 saw the retirement of Jack
Thornley/Daniel Smith (Daihatsu Charade) with mechanical problems.
Dunlop/Dunlop briefly turned the tide in SS5
(Supa Value Boddington), winning the stage with Bignell/Percival second and Stone/Madlener
third.
Laser Sight Centres sponsored Graham
Furness/Peter Lindsay (WRX) retired in SS5 with a broken driveshaft, whilst the Maximum
Motorsport WRX of Adam Smits/Shane Cary withdrew after the pair had an accident in the
tight and twisty end to the stage.
Special Stages 6 (Hotel Boddington) & 7
(Shell Boddington) saw the same teams finish in the same order, Bignell/Percival,
Stone/Madlener and Dunlop/Dunlop in 1st, 2nd and 3rd
respectively. On the last group of stages, times were showing that teams were pushing hard
toward the finish. Steve Oxley/Glenn Martinovich’s sponsor J & A Beren Smash
Repairs are going to have some work to do after the pair put their WRX into a tree on SS6
and retired. Anderson/Lithgo also retired in SS6 with a blown turbo.
The last and longest stage of the day, SS8 (ARB
4x4 Accessories) was to change the results for the day. Bignell/Percival were to win the
stage, second were Stone/Madlener and third were Knox/Della Maddalena. Dunlop/Dunlop who
had fought hard all day saw their rally end in the cruelest fashion. Within the last
kilometre of the rally the pair put their Evo 7 off the road and were unable to recover
the car. Also within the last few kilometres of SS8 Julian Wright/Jeff Huggins retired
their Network IT Datsun 1200 with electrical problems.
Karl Drummond/Trevor Brewer had done more miles
on the Safari than the rest of the season so far. Coming to terms with the new WRX, the
pair were going well on the last three stages until mid way through SS8. A power steering
hose got cooked and sprayed power steering fluid over the glowing turbo. The resultant
fire forced the pair to stop and extinguish the flames. Luckily the damage was relatively
minor and the pair continued to finish the rally.
The top ten as taken from results supplied by
Duetime. After an eventful rally Rob Herridge/Lisa Dunkerton (Maximum Motorsport WRX)
having lost a lot of time in SS5 were tenth, Tolley Challis/Greg Flood (Auto
Wholesale.com.au Lancer Evo 7) were ninth and the Automotive Action sponsored WRX of Shane
Eather/David Burton was eighth. Mick Steele/Lee Tierney brought their Morley Fleet WRX
home in seventh, Mike Anderson/Gray Marshall (Lancer Evo 6) had a trouble free run to be
sixth and Macara/Parish finished fifth. Brad Markovic/Anthony Chudleigh brought their Auto
One sponsored WRX to a respectable fourth and Knox/Della Madalener drove well to a fine
third place. Stone/Madlener flying over the jumps in earlier stages took a deserved second
place and Bignell/Percival having been fastest on seven of the eight special stages won
the rally outright.
In the two wheel drive standings, James
Anderson/John Coney in the Deep Creek Nissan Sunny Gti took first place, David Gould/Wayne
Marshal Honda Civic were second and Adam Maguire/Rob Stewart brought their slightly dented
Maximum Motorsport Hyundai Coupe into third.
Thanks to Wendy Walker, Sotico, The Light Car
Club, Duetime, the officials, the sponsors and the Town of Boddington for a well run,
enjoyable event.
Round 3 of the WARC is due on Saturday the 2nd
of July. The Experts Cup Rally is run around Wellington Dam in Collie and hosted by the
West Australian Car Club. Details will be published shortly.
