Leigh Hynes has won the final and most challenging round of the 2012 WA Rally Championship but Alex Stone, who finished second, has claimed the 2012 WARC title.
Rain fell on Saturday afternoon around Chidlow as Hynes threw his orange and blue Subaru WRX around the notoriously rough and technical course.
He was fastest over most of the stages and thanks to a ‘fairly incident-free’ rally last year’s WA State Rally Champion was more than 50 seconds ahead of Stone, also in a WRX.
For Stone and co-driver Hanna Drury, who needed a top five finish in the event to seal the 2012 championship, their biggest challenge was from their gearbox which was throwing gears.
“We stopped using fifth and sixth altogether and it kind of then hamstrung us a bit,” Stone said.
“We couldn’t race because of the long straights. We’d run out of top speed pretty quickly.”
Despite the gear problems, Stone still claimed three fastest stage times and one equal fastest with Hynes.
John Macara, in a silver Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VII, also set fast times for the first seven stages of the Carringtons Traffic Services Safari, looked set for a solid finish until a brake line issue forced him out. His exit meant third place went to WRX driver Steven Davies.
In the 2WD competition, Dylan King etched his name on the 2012 State Championship trophy with an impressive win in his Ford Escort. He was fifth outright more than nine minutes ahead of nearest rival Lea Welch in a Ford Falcon.
Even though there’s one more 2WD event for the year, the 18 year old has an unbeatable lead over last year’s champion, Kiel Douglas who failed to finish the Carringtons Traffic Services Safari after his Holden Commodore suffered differential problems.
Meanwhile, the 2WD co-driver’s championship is wide open. Five co-drivers will vie for the trophy in the Darling 200 around Jarrahdale on November 17.
That event will also decide the 2WD Challenge winner which is now led by Leo Iriks in a Ford Escort. Sean Keating (in a Nissan Silvia) had been leading but crashed out of Saturday’s rally.
In the Clubman competition, Matt Snaddon, in a Toyota Corolla, has an unassailable lead on the championship. He was fifth in the Clubman division of the Carringtons Traffic Services Safari which was won by Julian Wright in a Datsun 1200. Wright blitzed the field, finishing two minutes ahead of Dylan King’s dad Nick in a Ford Escort.
Photo by Brian Percival