Michael Busby and John Caldicott have won a sensational Shannons Classic Adelaide Rally, powering their Mazda RX7 home to victory by just over 30 seconds after two sensational days of competition.
Michael Busby won the Classic Adelaide Rally in his Mazda RX7.The overnight leaders extended their margin by sweeping SS13 (Gorge) and SS14 (Castambul) on Saturday morning as the rally launched into the incredible driving roads that made up the Udder Delights Adelaide Hills stages.
Despite losing five seconds on the next stage (Mount Bold), they rebounded on SS17 (Scott Bottom) to take their third stage win of the day to consolidate their margin, before slamming home their advantage with another win on the last hills stage - at Mount Lofty - to all but secure their victory.
Conservative runs through the two Adelaide City Council night stages that concluded the rally saw their margin reduced to a slim, yet ultimately safe 31 seconds at the end of the rally.
Behind the leader, an intense fight for second and third was decided in the favour of Craig Haysman and Julie Boorman, their Triumph TR7 just beating the Toyota AE86 of Oscar Matthews and Darren Masters for the final two spots on the outright podium.
“That was a really hard Rally!,” Busby said.
“We suffered some mechanical dramas on the way to Anstey’s Hill (on Saturday) by losing the power steering, and once we did lose the power steering we actually had a pretty hard charge and managed to gap the competition.
“We just drove hard and fast and flat out all weekend.”
“It was one moment away from situation change, position change,” explained navigator John Caldicott.
“Michael drove fantastically. He drove a very calculated rally and pushed when we needed to. But the competition from the other guys was amazing – I’ve never been in a rally when any one of five people could have been winning it.”
Behind them the fight for second and third was the most intense of the entire rally, with the Craig Haysman / Julie Boorman Triumph TR7 and the Oscar Matthews / Darren Masters Toyota AE86 never split by more than 10 seconds throughout the entire day.
The margin between Haysman and Matthews was only four seconds after Gorge Road, while Matthews took two seconds back on the run through Castambul early this afternoon.
Haysman dragged that time back on the run through Mount Bold, the TR7 back to four seconds as the field regrouped ahead of the final two hills stages of the day.
It was on the final hills stage up Mount Lofty where the Triumph made it’s biggest break of the entire event, gapping the Toyota by 22 seconds heading into the final two sprint stages in the city.
The final margin of 48 seconds between the pair belied how close the battle was for most of the event. The Matthews / Masters Toyota would also ultimately win the Late Classic handicap competition.
Nick Streckeisen and Mike Dale had held fourth outright until the final hills stage, their Porsche 944 Turbo in touch with the leaders for much of the rally before mechanical failure saw them stop just before the end of the Mount Lofty stage.
Their misfortune elevated Cameron and Tania Wearing’s Triumph TR7 to fourth place, the long-time Classic Adelaide Rally competitors enjoying a consistent run throughout the entire rally.
A tight battle for the Early Classic handicap went the way of the Datsun 240Z driven by Roger Lomman and Annie Bainbridge, who also finished a strong fifth outright.
The Datsun duo edged out the Glenn Dean / Jacob Streckeisen Ford Escort by less than 30 seconds for Early Classic honours, with Guy Standen and Andrew Coles third in their Alfa Romeo.
Martin Farkas and Tristan Catford stormed to a comfortable victory in the GT Sports Trophy, driving a BMW M3, winning the rally by three minute over Kristian Downing and Clayton Webber, driving a Subaru WRX. Michael Lowe and Kerry Chevis finished third in their Alfa.
In the Thoroughbred Trophy, Porsche 911 driver Tim Pryzibilla and Dainis Sillins fought a close battle with the BMW M3 of Phil Peak and Sam Hackett, the pair split by less than 30 seconds at the end of the day. Karl vanSanden and Alexander Visintin were third.
Finally, the TSD Trophy went to the stunning Jaguar F-Type driven by Christoper Waldock and Christine Kirby.
The Adelaide Motorsport Festival continues tomorrow with action at Victoria Park.
RESULTS – 2016 SHANNONS CLASSIC ADELAIDE RALLY
1. Busby / Caldicott (Mazda RX7)
2. Haysman / Boorman (Triumph TR7) + 0:31
3. Matthews / Masters (Toyota AE86) + 0:48
4. Wearing / Wearing (Triumph TR7) + 1:29
5. Lomman / Bainbridge (Datsun 240Z) + 2:17
SUBSCRIBE BELOW TO READ THE FULL STORY
