With the Classics battle wrapped up at the previous round in Coffs Harbour, there are still three major titles up for grabs at this weekend’s Scouts Rally SA – the Australian Rally Championship, the Australian 4WD Series and the Side-by-Side Rally Challenge – with each having a strong points leader but also a determined challenger.
In the outright battle it’ll be a straight fight between Eli Evans and Molly Taylor. Each have taken round victories this season, each has proven their pace and determination, but Eli starts with the benefit of a 31-point lead and two prior titles behind him.
“Mathematically I need to win the Friday and Saturday to wrap up the title,” explained Eli. “That’s the aim, to drive as fast as I can, it’s the same approach I’ve had all year.”
“I’m sure Molly will throw everything at me, she has no choice but to and hope we have an issue. Me though, I’m just focusing on what I can control and that’s driving fast and neat, everything after that is out of my control,” he added.
The Citroen driver proved his worth at the previous round in Coffs Harbour, having made a rare mistake and badly damaging his DS3 on the ARMOR ALL & STP Power Stage, he was able to bounce back and win the rally.
“The cars still showing some bumps and bruises,” added Eli. “From Coffs it was completely stripped and sent to the panel shop, then rebuilt with the parts that came off the car. Meanwhile a shipment of new parts from Europe only arrived this week, so after testing today the boys have some more hard work ahead of them to have the car ready for the start of the rally.”
Further back in the two-wheel drives Steve Mackenzie looks incredibly likely to secure third, despite suffering through an extremely challenging season, with current third placed driver Adrian Coppin electing to run in the 4WD’s for this event.
“Without Adrian running we should be able to get into third place in the Championship, we’re currently only two points behind,” said Steve. “We’re not expecting an easy time in Adelaide, the nature of the roads doesn’t really suit our car, it’s a lot of point and squirt roads and junctions.”
“I really prefer the forest roads where you get a good rhythm of corners, I don’t really enjoy the long straight into a square junction, followed by another long straight into another square junction. But I’ll take the same approach as we did in Coffs, drive our own race, and see where we end up by the finish,” he added.
Also keen to round off a difficult season on a high note is Ashlea James, who has spent the year developing his VW Polo at each and every round.
Speaking about the previous round in Coffs Harbour Ashlea said: “It was an up and down weekend for us really, it didn’t start so well but we made it to the finish and that was my aim all along.”
“We set the second fastest stage time on the last stage, can’t complain with that, it’s a big leap forward,” James continued. “The cars definitely improving but I still see a long way to go. Handling, setup and reliability are the main areas, we’re still chasing silly things going wrong.”
In the Australian 4WD Series Mick Patton holds a commanding advantage over his rivals in the “Best three out of five rounds” scenario. He’s claimed victory in WA and Canberra, and backed it up with podium results in Queensland and Coffs Harbour.
His major rival will be Marcus Walkem, who in comparison has a win from Coffs and a podium from Canberra, so will need to claim a dominant victory in South Australia to upset the current standings.
“Walkem has to have spotless round to get in front,” said Mick. “Anything can still happen but I’m feeling pretty confident with the results we have for this year considering the best three results scenario.”
“I’m not going to be driving conservatively though, there is no next time for us, this is the last rally of the year and we need to make it count as much as anyone,” he added. “A lot of the shackles are off, but still without doing anything silly that could throw it all away.”
Patton is expecting a fierce battle for the 4WD win, with himself and Walkem dueling for the title, a reinvigorated Mark Pedder who successfully tested his Peugeot 208 ‘Maxi’ last weekend, and new comers Adrian Coppin (Toyota Corolla Group N P) and Harry Bates (Toyota Corolla S2000).
But they’ll all have to watch their backs with local hot shot Guy Tyler, who briefly led in Coffs Harbour before his engine melted, determined to secure his best ever result on home turf.
“I’ve got one eye on the 4WD’s and one eye on winning the South Australian Rally Championship,” commented Guy. “The SA title runs over the Friday and Saturday, so I’d like to have a solid start and wrap that up, then the gloves are off for the Sunday!”
And lastly the Can-Am versus Polaris battle in the Side-by-Side Rally Challenge, with multiple titleholder Cody Crocker finding himself once again in the box seat in his Polaris RZR 900 XP. He will start the event with a 66-point advantage over his closest rival, Can-Am pilot Nathan Chivers.
Scouts Rally SA starts this Friday morning with the ARMOR ALL & STP Power Stage, before four competitive stages on Friday afternoon and evening in the forests outside of Adelaide.
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