Rallysprint series unveiled for NSW and Victoria

A brand new rallysprint series has been unveiled in Southern NSW and North East Victoria, commencing in September.

The Mt Porepunkah Rallysprint is the opening round of the new three round rallysprint series. (Photo: John Doutch)The Wagga & District Car Club, the Albury Wodonga and Districts Car Club and the North Eastern Car Club all want to rebuild their rallying profiles, and given the difficulty of attracting entries from the distant big competitor bases in Sydney and Melbourne, have come up with the an exciting series that should get the attention of competitors of all abilities from near and far.  

They are reinstating the Riverina North Eastern Victoria Rally Series that ran successfully from 1980 to 1994, but as a series of Rallysprint events run by each club, to be known as the Riverina North East Rallysprint Challenge.

The events will be run two weeks apart over a four week period from September 9 to October 7, 2017.  

Facilities are available for competitors who want to leave their cars in the area for that period and come and work on them before each event.

First up on September 7 will be the iconic NECC Mt Porepunkah Rallysprint, based near Bright, back again after a few years lay off.  

The 8km roads up and over the mountain have received some maintenance so are in the best condition seen for some years.  They will be run twice in each direction as usual.  Keep up to date with the event via https://www.facebook.com/Mount-Porepunkah-RallySprint

Then on September 23 will be Wagga’s Bondo Rallysprint, run in the Bondo state Forest near Tumut.  Wagga have traditionally run the Mundarlo Road event, but have moved back into the forest with 10 and 13 km stages used three times in the one direction.

This is a variation to normal Rallysprint formats at the request of NSW Forestry Corporation.  Contact is Debbie Quirk (debbie.q@bigpond.com).

The final round on October 7 will be Albury Wodonga’s all new Bethanga Stampede, based at Bethanga out of Albury, revisiting the same name, location and some of the shire roads used as a famous part of the first Sydney-Melbourne-Sydney Southern Cross Rally in 1966.  

Two 8km stages will be run twice in each direction.  Contact is David West (Weststractorparts@bigpond.com).

Intending competitors do not have to enter the Challenge to enter any one of these events, and members of the three organising clubs will not receive preference in accepting entries.

The Challenge Regulations are pretty simple:

•    To be eligible, the driver and co-driver must be a financial member of one of the three clubs.
•    Entry forms will allow for the option to nominate for RNERC.
•    There will be a 4WD winning driver and a 2WD winning driver and co-driver.
•    Points to be awarded from each event: 1st 20, 2nd 15, 3rd 11, 4th 8, 5th 6, 6th 5, 7th 4, 8th 3, 9th 2, 10th 1.
•     Compensatory points for officialling on one round to the average of points gained in all other rounds contested.  No enter, equals no points.
•    The club with most points from competing members will be recognised on and retain the (existing) perpetual trophy.

An announcement on a Challenge sponsor and awards is still to come.

- Series release

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