Whitey
05-01-2007, 09:14 PM
NSW Reins in the Rain
On Sunday June 12, both the 2006 NSW and Victorian Hyundai Excel Rally Series revved up for Rallying’s “State Of Origin”. Based around the NSW south coast town of Bega, 11 Excel crews battled not only each other but the unforgiving rain sodden forest roads.
The rain shortened Bega Valley Rally was harsh on teams that pushed too hard with many running into trouble including new Victoria’s new resident hard charger, Paul Batten who lost considerable time off the road on stage 2. NSW driver David White also came to grief on the same corner. Fortunately a local farmer in a Landcruiser “Troopie” was on hand to pull both beached Excels back onto the road.
The all girl team of Emma Cugley and Joanna Robinson also had problems, sliding off the road 500 metres into stage 1 but were somewhat lucky, using another unfortunate competitor’s car as Armco. With only minor damage to pride and the pink machine, the girls were able to continue after a quick look at the front of the Excel.
NSW Driver and reining NSW champion Glen Farrant was first Excel home breaking his run of DNF’s with Co-Driver Anna Ritson. Farrant took a cautious approach, coming from behind to take the lead on the final stage to win by 17 seconds He was followed by Victorian Tom Kaitler, with current NSW series leader Hyundai’s Mick Gillett in third a further 23 seconds in arrears.
Gillett with stand-in Co-driver Harvey Smith were leading after three stages and lost time on stage 4 with a couple interesting moments in the first few kilometres of the stage. “The first part of the stage was very slippery with about 4 cars off the road including the car in front of us” Gillett said. After a huge tank slapper in third gear and a mid corner drift causing them to run very wide, close to some large trees they decided it was better to back off, get to the end and gain some valuable points in the series.
The Roberts boys swapped roles for this event after they arrived at Documentation check-in and found that Crazy Dave’s driver’s license had expired the previous week. With no access to the RTA and nothing the police could do to help Co-driver Mark took the wheel improving throughout the day, even setting the fastest Excel time on Stage 4.
The Hyundai State of Origin Challenge went to NSW with the help of Glen Farrant and co driver Anna Ritson (1st Excel), Mick Gillett and Harvey Smith (3rd Excel), the brother team of Mark and Dave Roberts (5th Excel), David White and Craig Franklin (9th Excel) and Andrei Artamonov and Alex Pisarev (10th Excel).
The Hyundai Series competitors were hosted for a Sausage Sizzle by the local Bega Hyundai Dealer, Momsen Motors on Saturday evening prior to the event. The Momsen Motors workshop staff were also able to help a few competitors with last minute problems.
All the Excel crews would like to thank all the team at Momsen Motors Hyundai the event organisers and all the officials that battled the cold and rain out on the stages on Sunday.
The next event, Round 3 of the NSW Hyundai Series, the Hastings Valley Rally will be held on July 8 in Port Macquarie
On Sunday June 12, both the 2006 NSW and Victorian Hyundai Excel Rally Series revved up for Rallying’s “State Of Origin”. Based around the NSW south coast town of Bega, 11 Excel crews battled not only each other but the unforgiving rain sodden forest roads.
The rain shortened Bega Valley Rally was harsh on teams that pushed too hard with many running into trouble including new Victoria’s new resident hard charger, Paul Batten who lost considerable time off the road on stage 2. NSW driver David White also came to grief on the same corner. Fortunately a local farmer in a Landcruiser “Troopie” was on hand to pull both beached Excels back onto the road.
The all girl team of Emma Cugley and Joanna Robinson also had problems, sliding off the road 500 metres into stage 1 but were somewhat lucky, using another unfortunate competitor’s car as Armco. With only minor damage to pride and the pink machine, the girls were able to continue after a quick look at the front of the Excel.
NSW Driver and reining NSW champion Glen Farrant was first Excel home breaking his run of DNF’s with Co-Driver Anna Ritson. Farrant took a cautious approach, coming from behind to take the lead on the final stage to win by 17 seconds He was followed by Victorian Tom Kaitler, with current NSW series leader Hyundai’s Mick Gillett in third a further 23 seconds in arrears.
Gillett with stand-in Co-driver Harvey Smith were leading after three stages and lost time on stage 4 with a couple interesting moments in the first few kilometres of the stage. “The first part of the stage was very slippery with about 4 cars off the road including the car in front of us” Gillett said. After a huge tank slapper in third gear and a mid corner drift causing them to run very wide, close to some large trees they decided it was better to back off, get to the end and gain some valuable points in the series.
The Roberts boys swapped roles for this event after they arrived at Documentation check-in and found that Crazy Dave’s driver’s license had expired the previous week. With no access to the RTA and nothing the police could do to help Co-driver Mark took the wheel improving throughout the day, even setting the fastest Excel time on Stage 4.
The Hyundai State of Origin Challenge went to NSW with the help of Glen Farrant and co driver Anna Ritson (1st Excel), Mick Gillett and Harvey Smith (3rd Excel), the brother team of Mark and Dave Roberts (5th Excel), David White and Craig Franklin (9th Excel) and Andrei Artamonov and Alex Pisarev (10th Excel).
The Hyundai Series competitors were hosted for a Sausage Sizzle by the local Bega Hyundai Dealer, Momsen Motors on Saturday evening prior to the event. The Momsen Motors workshop staff were also able to help a few competitors with last minute problems.
All the Excel crews would like to thank all the team at Momsen Motors Hyundai the event organisers and all the officials that battled the cold and rain out on the stages on Sunday.
The next event, Round 3 of the NSW Hyundai Series, the Hastings Valley Rally will be held on July 8 in Port Macquarie