Ballarat’s Mark Fawcett and Simon Ellis won last Saturday’s Mt Porepunkah Rallysprint, held near Bright in north east Victoria.
Driving a Subaru Impreza WRX, the duo took a convincing 49 second victory over the non-turbo Impreza RS of Eli Evans and Adam Wright.
In third place were the father and daughter combination of Craig and Carrie Morris, in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6.
Evans drove his Impreza RS to get some competitive miles in a right-hand drive car, prior to heading to the Rally of Malaysia next month to contest the Pirelli Rally Challenge.
The eight stage rallysprint offered competitors two 8km stages, run twice in each direction, for a total competitive distance of 64km.
The first two-wheel drive vehicle home was the Nissan 200SX of Brian Semmens and David Leoncini. Local driver Grant Heywood, driving a Datsun 1600, had Semmens’ measure during the day, but his engine lost its sump plug on one of the road sections, and Heywood dropped 90 seconds in a road penalties, dropping him to equal ninth place.
A capacity field of 30 cars started the event in perfect weather conditions. Crews had one reconnaissance run over each stage before competition began.
Nathan Reeves and Steve Piggott both debuted new Impreza WRXs, but retired on the very first stage with mechanical problems. An oil fire halted Reeves’ day, while Piggot suffered power steering failure.
The event was organised by the North Eastern Car Club, which recently celebrated its 55th anniversary.
Photos: John Doutch
CLICK HERE for full Mt Porepunkah Rallysprint results
CLICK HERE for more John Doutch photos of the event
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