Forty
three WA Rally teams descended on the small town of Balingup over the weekend, for round
one of the WA State Rally Championship and WA Clubman Rally Series.
Using the Grimwade tree plantation for all of the
special stages, the Lewana Stages Rally had plenty in store for those contesting the
rally’s challenging roads. Across 10 special stages, the car’s tyres had to work
hard on the ball bearing gravel.
In the rally’s recent history, the rates of attrition have been high. With the long
break since the end of last season and the total competitive distance of some 124km, it
was interesting to see how many would slide off the road.
In comparison to the 2006 season, Maximum Motorsport
had fewer cars to manage and service for the start of this season. Team leader, Rob
Herridge/Elio Della Madalena led the field away in their WRX. The duo set the third
fastest time through the SS1. Last year’s WARC winning driver Alex Stone, co driven
by Greg Flood opened his account early. The pair took their WRX to a stage win ahead of
James Anderson/Ben Searcy in their Spec C WRX. Whilst most got off to a good start, Toby
Heyring/Peter Lindsay (Spec C) and Tolley Challis/Hannah Drury (Lancer Evo 7) had troubles
in SS1. Both teams dropped a lot of time, tumbling well down the order.
With the same two teams taking the first two places
on SS2, it was up to Doug Tostevin/Alan Cook to break up the trifecta. The pair showed
their speed in their Subaru Legacy RS, setting the third fastest time through the stage.
Further back in the field Geoff Leatt-Hayter was making a welcome return to rallying.
Running in his rebuilt Ford Escort with David Burton alongside, the pair encountered a few
teething troubles early on. The Escort lost a wheel during liaison and then there was a
constant paranoia as to whether any other wheels would come adrift! The pair continued to
finish Lewana in 18th place.
In SS3 and SS4 Anderson/Searcy began to shine. The
duo set two fastest stage times with Herridge/Della Madalena second on SS3 and Derek
Reddie/Lee Tierney (Galant VR4) just 2 seconds behind, sharing third with Justin
Kinnear/Adam Pearson in their Evo 7. Second for SS4 went to Leigh Hines/Stuart Percival
(WRX) and third were Stone/Flood.
Prior to the start of SS4 the rally lost a couple of
competitors. Mike and Catherine Civil retired their Lancer Evo 6 when Catherine became
ill.
Phil Steel and daughter Chantelle were on their
first rally together. The pair were having a great time until their WRX suffered a rear
diff failure. Unfortunately without a spare diff, the team had to bow out early.
SS5 was the most technical stage of the rally. The
stage was long, twisty and had some narrow patches to negotiate. It was a tough way to
reach the mid way point. For some it was also a wet welcome to the stages as some sharp,
however heavy rain fell in the forests.
With the usual names filling the leader board, it
was up to John Macara/Trent McCollough to take the second quickest stage time on SS5 in
their WRX.
After a quick freshen up in service, teams then
tackled the first three stages again.
Familiarity, some rain and swept stages tightened up
all the times. SS6 had a tied fastest time between Stone/Flood and Hines/ Percival. The
teams of Macara/McCullough and Anderson/Searcy were not far behind the stage leaders
either. Tom Wilde and sister Nerralie were going well in earlier stages, hovering around
12th place. Unfortunately a badly leaking sump put paid to their day early.
In the last four stages familiar names filled the
top three places.
In SS8 Kinnear/Pearson had a drama which dropped
them around 2.5 minutes to the leaders, a hug deficit to recover. As dusk approached
nature took over and the infamous Lewana hanging dust obscured vision on the stages. To
add to the mix, some of the wildlife jumped out in front of a few cars.
Dave Thomas/Paul Church were having a huge 2wd
battle with Blair Pugh/Anthony Chudleigh, both teams in Escorts. In SS9 Thomas/Church
ended their rally, possibly due to the lack of visibility. The pair slid their Escort off
the stage and got stuck, unable to recover the car.
As post event scrutiny was conducted the results
were calculated.
Steve Oxley navigated by Stephen Rance brought their
WRX to tenth place. Lee McIlroy/Steve Vass (WRX) had a trouble free run to be ninth,
Challis/Drury recovered a little from SS1, finishing eighth and Tostevin/Cook made
seventh. Reddie/Tierney had big dramas with dust inside the car, however managed to get to
the finish in a credible sixth place behind Macara/McCullough in fifth, with
Hines/Percival in fourth. Herridge/Della Madalena managed third place, although Herridge
admitted later that if the Zero car had swept more gravel off the lines, he’d have
been higher up the order. Leading by a slender margin at 2/3 distance, Anderson/Searcy
could not quite hold onto the lead until the end and finished second, a very strong result
for the team. For Stone/Flood it was a case of showing what had won Stone the WARC in
2006. The pair won the rally by 32 seconds.
