The signs were all good after posting fastest times in the shakedown Friday morning, and then winning super special stages 1 and 2 on Friday night, on the Busselton foreshore in front a big crowd. A solid start had Steve and John leading the event Saturday morning until in stage 5 an electrical problem stranded the car for close to 15 minutes, and dropped the team to last outright. Once the problem was found and fixed, the team aimed to finish heat one and collect valuable series points.
On the last forest stage Saturday afternoon, the Turbo blew and ended the day in a cloud of white smoke. The crew changed the turbo with 5 minutes left to spare in the evening two hour service, and sent the car off for the start of heat two.
An identical start to heat two with wins in the super special stages boosted the teams moral, and set them up for a lead into the first Sunday morning forest stage, but disaster was to befall them again, when a terminal engine problem put the team out Sunday morning while leading the heat.
“We are wrapt with the pace of the car straight out of the truck, and while we did not get any result this weekend, we know we can fix the engine and come out fighting for top spot in round two in a few weeks time in Queensland,“ said a gutted Steve Shepheard, as the car was packed into the transporter early Sunday.
“It felt good and yet nerve racking to be leading an ARC round outright for the first time … we want more of that,“ joked John McCarthy, “and we intend to win one like Ryan and John have just done."
All our sponsors have been really supportive after showing we have the pace to run right at the front, so to SACHS, LDL Watches, Pram Warehouse Online, ALBINS and Accord Body Works, we are aiming to spray some champagne on your signage as soon as we can.
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