Round three of the AASA Australian Tarmac Rally Championship, the Great Tarmac Rally (GTR), was run and won last weekend by Nathan Reeves and co-driver Reubecca Sheldrick in a hard-fought battle over the Reefton Spur and through Eildon's fast bends.
Through fog and rain on day one, and perfect conditions starting to melt tyres on day two, the 200km-long weekend event saw competitors and touring class entrants from as far as Queensland and Tasmania converge on north-eastern Victoria for what has been hailed as a fantastic event.
Reeves, driving a Subaru STI, has seen some stage wins earlier in the year before mechanical gremlins prevented him from a good result, but this round the car performed almost flawlessly to hand him the victory.
Almost – the car went in to limp mode on the very last stage, with Reeves haemorrhaging time.
However, close combatant Tim Hendy with navigator Joanne Sibley’s Nissan R34 GT-R suffered a puncture on the same final 32km stage, keeping them in second place and with seven seconds breathing space to Samantha Stevens and Daniel Lemish (Evo VI) who claimed a close third after sharing the drive and silly seat throughout the weekend.
Tyre trouble also saw the Subaru RA of Vladimir Berak and Michael Luff drop time and forfeit third to the Evo, and also relegate the pair to second in the championship after entering the third round tied with Stevens and Lemish.
After a relatively trouble-free run through the wet of Reefton, day two saw Classic frontrunner Keith Morling and son Alex (Escort) suffer engine failure, allowing Glyn Crimp and Frank Brookhouse to step up into the top five in their new BMW M1.
The final round in the national series, the Snowy River Sprint, will test all comers with 320km of competitive twists and turns through the Snowy Ranges west of Lakes Entrance on November 23 – 24.
For full class and Championship results, go to www.australiantarmacrally.com
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