Wheels on Yirrigan-Kumho Tyres Kirup StagesRally had more twists and turns with a sting in it's tail for some competitors right up till the very end.
The event started in sunny weather with a light breeze with very dry/dusty roads with the breeze dropping off as the sun dropped making it very hard going for following competitors.
The rally started with Dylan King and Lee Tierney in the DK Earthworx Subaru setting the pace for the first 4 stages before gearbox gremlins sidelined them while John O'Dowd and Ken Sheil in the Maximum Motorsport Subaru set 2nd fastest time on the first 3 stages then in SS4 they ran wide hitting a stump and dropping around 4 minutes putting them back into 5th position.
John and Ken coming back taking 6.8 seconds quicker than the next competitor, on the next stage they were a whopping 47.5 seconds faster than anybody else on the final stage to finish2nd outright.
Mean while Stephen Oxley and Michael Wood in the CASA Security Subaru we're having a very consistent run and staying out of trouble tooking 2nd and 3rd fastest stage times all afternoon with a super drive to come home in first position and taking there maiden WA rally win.
As for third place that went to Tom Wilde and Madeline Kurkhouse who put in another giant killing performance in the mighty Verandah Apartment's Honda Civic giving the more powerful turbo 4wd's hell all afternoon with there only blemish for the rally being on the last stage where they ran wide and picked up a puncher and loosing over 5 minutes.
Thay also took out first 2wd while father and daughter team of Greg and Deeann Flood in the Greg Flood Electrical Mitsubishi Lancer took second after hard charging Rasvan Vlad and daymon Nicoli's MAXYRally.com.au Ford Fiesta DNFed with a broken drive shaft and Mark Travers and Jeremy Edwards in the LRT Custom Engineering Toyota Sprinter was slowed by electrical problem causing a lack of light going in to the night stages loosing a lot of time on the last stage to eventually finish 5th. Third 2wd went to the team of Ben Perard and Chris Parish in the Optimum Bali Ford Fiesta for there best result so far.
In the Clubman Masters Julian Wright and Jeff Huggins in the Network-IT & Backup4me Datsun 1200 coupe won every stage to take the win from Dene Courtis and Robert King in the Askwith Safe Company Toyota Corolla FX GT.
As for the Clubman Cup, brothers Michael and Stuart Clark's in the Bunbury Sharpening Datsun 1600 rally never really got going after something from a tree fell braking the windscreen - rally over before ss1. Then series leaders Brock Nicoli and Daniel Adams in the MAXYEngineering Hyundai Lantra broke a drive shaft loosing a considerable amount off time and coming home last all before the rally really got going.
The winner's of the Clubman Cup went to Graeme and Kathy Miles in the deceptively quick Miles Landscaping Mitsubishi Lancer and Andrew Percival and Jim Pearce in the Thornlie Towing Honda Civic second while Tim Bayer and Garry McCagh in the Herbalife Hyundai Excel came in third. Fourth and first rookies went to Terry Hughes and Monique Smith in there Thornlie Towing Daihatsu Applause.
Tony Floyd and his team put on a fantastic event that had so many twist and turns in more way's than one with a sting in it's tail right down to the last stage in an area that has some brilliant roads. It's just a shame for them with all the work they put in there wasn't more people competing. Although the event had a high attrition rate, most we're either mechanical or electrical gremlins.
Next event is the Carrington's Safari Rally. Stay tuned to RallyWA for more information or email safari@rallywa.com