Whitey
02-05-2007, 04:19 PM
Glenn Farrant has continued his domination of the Race Brakes NSW Excel series with a convincing win in the Rally of the Manning Valley held in Taree last Saturday (28 April)
Farrant with the South Coast's Matt James co-driving won the Excel event by a huge 4 minutes 45 seconds from David White/Paul Bailey with Andrei Artimov/Alex Pisarev a further 6 plus minutes in arrears.
Early on Saturday it looked unlikely the event would run after persistent light rain on Friday and throughout Saturday night. Event orgainsers made what in hindsight was an inspired call and rerouted or shortened all but two of the ten stages. The day of the event cleared to provide great conditions with dust free grippy roads.
Farrant/James were in a class of their own, having a trouble free run. Winning every stage to place seventh in the outright field.
Dave Roberts with new co-driver Matt Mead had a ding-dong battle with David White/Paul Bailey but would finish the event last after breaking a coil pack mount on Stage 5 where Roberts also left his sunglasses on the car roof at the stage start. They were forced to stop mid stage with a misfire, losing ten minutes to effect repairs with cable ties. They went on to set some more good times which would have seen them well placed if not for the delay.
David White with Gemini series regular Paul Bailey in the silly seat kept the pressure on Roberts/Mead and set a reasonable pace until stage 8 where the crew (Driver) could not establish a good rhythm resulting in two spins due to a lack of concentration. Bailey was also feeling off-colour during the final two stages.
The Russian connection of Andrei Artimov/Alex Pisarev continued steady improvement in times over past events and had a great battle, swapping stage times with Matt and Ben Cullen competing in their first Excel event. The Cullens have a slight lead in the Motorsport Bits Rookie award due to taking their officiating points at the Narooma Booma .
Event reports from the crews can be found here (http://www.excelrally.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=208), and photos for the Race Brakes Excels in action can be posted here (http://www.excelrally.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=211)
Farrant with the South Coast's Matt James co-driving won the Excel event by a huge 4 minutes 45 seconds from David White/Paul Bailey with Andrei Artimov/Alex Pisarev a further 6 plus minutes in arrears.
Early on Saturday it looked unlikely the event would run after persistent light rain on Friday and throughout Saturday night. Event orgainsers made what in hindsight was an inspired call and rerouted or shortened all but two of the ten stages. The day of the event cleared to provide great conditions with dust free grippy roads.
Farrant/James were in a class of their own, having a trouble free run. Winning every stage to place seventh in the outright field.
Dave Roberts with new co-driver Matt Mead had a ding-dong battle with David White/Paul Bailey but would finish the event last after breaking a coil pack mount on Stage 5 where Roberts also left his sunglasses on the car roof at the stage start. They were forced to stop mid stage with a misfire, losing ten minutes to effect repairs with cable ties. They went on to set some more good times which would have seen them well placed if not for the delay.
David White with Gemini series regular Paul Bailey in the silly seat kept the pressure on Roberts/Mead and set a reasonable pace until stage 8 where the crew (Driver) could not establish a good rhythm resulting in two spins due to a lack of concentration. Bailey was also feeling off-colour during the final two stages.
The Russian connection of Andrei Artimov/Alex Pisarev continued steady improvement in times over past events and had a great battle, swapping stage times with Matt and Ben Cullen competing in their first Excel event. The Cullens have a slight lead in the Motorsport Bits Rookie award due to taking their officiating points at the Narooma Booma .
Event reports from the crews can be found here (http://www.excelrally.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=208), and photos for the Race Brakes Excels in action can be posted here (http://www.excelrally.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=211)