Whitey
05-01-2007, 09:13 PM
Guillotine cuts thru to win again...
Mick "Guillotine" Gillett has carried on his excellent form from the final round in' 05 to win Round 1 of the 2006 Series, The Rally of the Manning Valley.
Five Excels faced the starter, three competitors returning from last year and newcomers Dave & Mark Roberts and Andrei Artominov partnered with Alex Pisarev in their very first rally.
The rally consisted of 10 stages, a loop of 3 stages repeated twice followed by a loop of two stages repeated which included the fast downhill Knodingbul stage.
Glenn Farrant with "stand-in" Co-driver Anna Ritson set the early pace completing the first loop of three stages with nearly a minute lead over Mick Gillett in second. At the IN control neither Mick's or Glenn's car would restart, fortunately the control was downhill and the crews were able to coast into control and the waiting hands of the service crews. Had it occurred elsewhere the "no outside assistance" rule could have seen both cars DNF. The problem in both cases turned out to be a faulty battery connection. David White with Nav' Craig Franklin were having a good battle with series newcomers Dave & Mark Roberts.
On the second loop of three stages Farrant continued to build a solid lead of just over a minute over Gillett who matched Farrant with a shared fastest time on SS5. Roberts and White, a further minute or so back, continued to swap stage times and Roberts went to service with a two second lead after White/Franklin overshot a RGL. Andrei Artominov & Alex Pisarev were not setting a fast pace but were doing a fantastic job dealing with the totally new rallying experience.
On SS7, Farrant suffered problems with his Terratrip probe and stopped prior to Stage 8 in an attempt to sort out the issue, incurring a late time penalty. Unaware of the extent of their lead Farrant and Ritson set off into stage 8 attempting to make up for the "lost time". With about a kilometre to go in the Knodingbul stage they ran wide on the freshly graded road and beached the car and would go no further. The Farrant/Ritson combo have now DNF'd on each of their three events together. I'm sure they will be keen to beat this monkey at their next outing together. Roberts also took a good lead of 50 seconds over White in stages 7 & 8 to cement his position.
On the last loop of two stages, the Hyundai backed team of Mick Gillett and Marek Dzidowski backed off, happy to coast to the win having built a good gap on the first 8 stages. White and Roberts swapped fastest stage times on the last pair with Roberts coming out with the upper hand.
The result a win to Team Hyundai from the Roberts Brothers, who will be the ones to watch as they get their car sorted. White/Franklin finished third and Artamonov/Piserev happy to finish fourth in their first rally without any dramas.
The next event will be a clash between the NSW and Victorian Excels at the Bega Valley Rally on June 11.
Mick "Guillotine" Gillett has carried on his excellent form from the final round in' 05 to win Round 1 of the 2006 Series, The Rally of the Manning Valley.
Five Excels faced the starter, three competitors returning from last year and newcomers Dave & Mark Roberts and Andrei Artominov partnered with Alex Pisarev in their very first rally.
The rally consisted of 10 stages, a loop of 3 stages repeated twice followed by a loop of two stages repeated which included the fast downhill Knodingbul stage.
Glenn Farrant with "stand-in" Co-driver Anna Ritson set the early pace completing the first loop of three stages with nearly a minute lead over Mick Gillett in second. At the IN control neither Mick's or Glenn's car would restart, fortunately the control was downhill and the crews were able to coast into control and the waiting hands of the service crews. Had it occurred elsewhere the "no outside assistance" rule could have seen both cars DNF. The problem in both cases turned out to be a faulty battery connection. David White with Nav' Craig Franklin were having a good battle with series newcomers Dave & Mark Roberts.
On the second loop of three stages Farrant continued to build a solid lead of just over a minute over Gillett who matched Farrant with a shared fastest time on SS5. Roberts and White, a further minute or so back, continued to swap stage times and Roberts went to service with a two second lead after White/Franklin overshot a RGL. Andrei Artominov & Alex Pisarev were not setting a fast pace but were doing a fantastic job dealing with the totally new rallying experience.
On SS7, Farrant suffered problems with his Terratrip probe and stopped prior to Stage 8 in an attempt to sort out the issue, incurring a late time penalty. Unaware of the extent of their lead Farrant and Ritson set off into stage 8 attempting to make up for the "lost time". With about a kilometre to go in the Knodingbul stage they ran wide on the freshly graded road and beached the car and would go no further. The Farrant/Ritson combo have now DNF'd on each of their three events together. I'm sure they will be keen to beat this monkey at their next outing together. Roberts also took a good lead of 50 seconds over White in stages 7 & 8 to cement his position.
On the last loop of two stages, the Hyundai backed team of Mick Gillett and Marek Dzidowski backed off, happy to coast to the win having built a good gap on the first 8 stages. White and Roberts swapped fastest stage times on the last pair with Roberts coming out with the upper hand.
The result a win to Team Hyundai from the Roberts Brothers, who will be the ones to watch as they get their car sorted. White/Franklin finished third and Artamonov/Piserev happy to finish fourth in their first rally without any dramas.
The next event will be a clash between the NSW and Victorian Excels at the Bega Valley Rally on June 11.