Alex Stone has held off strong competition from rival Leigh Hynes to win the LRT Lewana Stages, the second last round of the WA Rally Championship.
The outstanding drivers, both competing in Subaru WRXs, took turns claiming fastest stages times over the quick gravel roads near Balingup on Saturday and at the finish just 12 seconds split the pair.
The win means Stone now has a stranglehold on the WARC four wheel drive championship with a 20 point lead over Hynes. Doug Tostevin, who finished third in the event in his WRX, is third on the leader board.
But Stone is reluctant to start celebrating just yet: “We still need to press on and keep Leigh (Hynes) honest.”
Surprisingly, the win on Saturday was Stone and co-driver Hanna Drury’s first WARC 4WD win for the year. They placed second in the Quit Forest Rally and Trade Hire Donnelly Rally and were fourth, after a blown turbo, in the Experts Cup.
Hynes actually has two wins under his belt (the Experts Cup and the Donnelly Rally) but has been playing catch up after not finishing round one, QFR.
Stone said the win in the LRT Lewana Stages, which was run over 120 competitive kilometres, wasn’t an easy one. Challenges included car computer issues, sickness (he caught a cold working long hours to prepare his car) and being first car on the road.
“It was slippery on the gravel,” he said.
In the 2WD competition, Kiel Douglas was the victor in his Holden Commodore and Sean Keating, who’s competing in his first year, was the highest place novice and 2WD Challenge winner.
Keating said his Nissan Silvia performed really well and the rally was the ‘fastest and most enjoyable’ he’d done so far.
In the Clubman Series rally (which was run over half the distance) Carl Rattenbury, a Ford Escort, took the honours and denied Matt Snaddon making it four in a row in his Toyota Corolla.
The next event is the Carringtons Traffic Services Safari on Saturday October 13 in Chidlow. That event will decide the WA Rally Championship while the Clubman Championship winner is announced after the Darling 200 around Jarrahdale in November.
SUBSCRIBE BELOW TO READ THE FULL STORY
