Whitey
05-01-2007, 09:06 PM
Farrant tightens his grip on the trophy.
Four Excels faced the starters for Round 4 of the Excel Series, the Bay Stages, three of them in the main event and one in the Starters Rally. Usual suspects Glenn Farrant/Jason Wood and Luke Anderson/Mick Ryan were joined for the first time by Mick Gillett/Marek Dzidowski in the beautifully turned out Hyundai Genuine Parts backed Excel. Series regular David White missed this round due to work commitments.
Adam Tipping/ Peter White entered their Excel in the Starters Rally and finished a creditable fourth.
The event was won by Farrant/Wood who now have a strangle hold on the series and will need to DNF a couple of times to give the opposition a sniff at the title.
Farrant/Wood's plan was for a steady approach as the next round in Coffs Harbour is only a couple of weeks away. In line with the plan they had a trouble free run, the only issue was reoccurrence of the brake problems which first surfaced at Bega. The Bay was also the first event this season Farrant had not experience a flat tyre. Farrant won every stage but the first to take an easy win.
There was much anticipation in the lead up to the event head to head battle between Farrant & Anderson. However it again came to nothing as Anderson/Ryan were plagued by issues.
Anderson/Ryan won the first stage in spite of an electrical drama which saw the ECU light come on and the engine cut out a number of times. Their crew spent a large amount of time during the first service sorting what looked like a faulty alternator. They headed out to the start of Stage 2 only to realise that in all the haste they had forgotten to fill up with fuel. Unable to return to service they tackled the longest stage of the event marginal on fuel. The engine was still cutting out and it looks like a flat battery. Mick eventually finds that the battery earth lead on the starter motor was less than finger tight. Problem solved !!
Inevitably they run out of fuel on a steep uphill. Being a pair of "MacGyvers", the boys decide to reverse as the fuel pickup is in the back of the fuel tank. Eventually they reverse into the time control and hand in the road card. Now there was only 17km of more forward/reverse to reach the next service.
With all the gremlins fixed and being just about out of late time they head to the next stage. Fortunately there had been a hold up and they just managed to sneak in front of the sweep and set a semi-reasonable time, however the fuel pump appeared to have suffered from pumping a large amount of air and overheated. Their event came to an end at the next service where the fuel pump said enough when they attempted to restart the engine. Shab & Mick were out of energy & late time and called it a day.
Gillett/Dzidowski started steadily after a little practice indiscretion a couple of weeks before "The Bay". They steadily increased the pace during the event and took second place after the early demise of Anderson/Ryan.
The next Excel Series event is in Coffs Harbour on 27th August and hopefully the much anticipated clash between Glenn and Shab will finally come to fruition.
Four Excels faced the starters for Round 4 of the Excel Series, the Bay Stages, three of them in the main event and one in the Starters Rally. Usual suspects Glenn Farrant/Jason Wood and Luke Anderson/Mick Ryan were joined for the first time by Mick Gillett/Marek Dzidowski in the beautifully turned out Hyundai Genuine Parts backed Excel. Series regular David White missed this round due to work commitments.
Adam Tipping/ Peter White entered their Excel in the Starters Rally and finished a creditable fourth.
The event was won by Farrant/Wood who now have a strangle hold on the series and will need to DNF a couple of times to give the opposition a sniff at the title.
Farrant/Wood's plan was for a steady approach as the next round in Coffs Harbour is only a couple of weeks away. In line with the plan they had a trouble free run, the only issue was reoccurrence of the brake problems which first surfaced at Bega. The Bay was also the first event this season Farrant had not experience a flat tyre. Farrant won every stage but the first to take an easy win.
There was much anticipation in the lead up to the event head to head battle between Farrant & Anderson. However it again came to nothing as Anderson/Ryan were plagued by issues.
Anderson/Ryan won the first stage in spite of an electrical drama which saw the ECU light come on and the engine cut out a number of times. Their crew spent a large amount of time during the first service sorting what looked like a faulty alternator. They headed out to the start of Stage 2 only to realise that in all the haste they had forgotten to fill up with fuel. Unable to return to service they tackled the longest stage of the event marginal on fuel. The engine was still cutting out and it looks like a flat battery. Mick eventually finds that the battery earth lead on the starter motor was less than finger tight. Problem solved !!
Inevitably they run out of fuel on a steep uphill. Being a pair of "MacGyvers", the boys decide to reverse as the fuel pickup is in the back of the fuel tank. Eventually they reverse into the time control and hand in the road card. Now there was only 17km of more forward/reverse to reach the next service.
With all the gremlins fixed and being just about out of late time they head to the next stage. Fortunately there had been a hold up and they just managed to sneak in front of the sweep and set a semi-reasonable time, however the fuel pump appeared to have suffered from pumping a large amount of air and overheated. Their event came to an end at the next service where the fuel pump said enough when they attempted to restart the engine. Shab & Mick were out of energy & late time and called it a day.
Gillett/Dzidowski started steadily after a little practice indiscretion a couple of weeks before "The Bay". They steadily increased the pace during the event and took second place after the early demise of Anderson/Ryan.
The next Excel Series event is in Coffs Harbour on 27th August and hopefully the much anticipated clash between Glenn and Shab will finally come to fruition.