The North-West coast  Tasmanian crew of Keith Abblitt and Adrian Hodgetts are the 2016 TRS champions after finishing second in both heats of the LWR Mountain Stages Rally which was run on Saturday in the forests around Mathinna.

Driving their Subaru WRX STi, the team were no match for the flying Eddie Maguire/Michael Potter Evo 9 Mitsubishi which won both heats by a comfortable margin elevating them to second outright in the series.

Going into the round only two points separated the top three teams but series leaders Lee Peterson/Daniel Willson went out on stage four with gearbox failure in the Nissan Sunny GTi and the Marcus and Scott Walkem Evo 9 Mitsubishi was a non starter so Abblitt/Hodgetts, who were third going into the event, just needed a consistent run.

While Maguire/Potter set a blistering pace to win nine of the ten stages, the Subaru team were content to stay out of trouble and focus on the series win.

A remarkable third place in both heats went to the Toyota Sprinter of Kade Barrett and Mitch Newton which put in some staggering times for a two wheel drive car which is normally driven by Kade’s father, Peter.

2015 series champions Craig Brooks and Reubecca Sheldrick in the Subaru WRX STi, looked set to provide a challenge to the Maguire/Potter team in the early stages but it all came to nothing with gear selection problems on stage four and they were forced out.

While there were no incidents, the event proved to be tough on the cars with eight of the 23 car field not getting to the finish.                                                                                           

Photo: Jarrod Leonard

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