Subaru vehicles clinched the top two places in round four of the CAMS Onslow Contracting Western Australian Rally Championship (WARC), the Make Smoking History Experts Cup Rally, held last Saturday in Collie.
Winners Brad Markovic and Toni Feaver. (Photo: CMR Photographic)Maximum Motorsports’ Brad Markovic and Toni Feaver finished the 125-kilometre rally the fastest in their 2010 Subaru WRX STI.
Markovic / Feaver, who are contesting the CAMS Australian Rally Championship (ARC), won all nine stages.
“We had a great event,” Markovic said.
“I love the Experts Cup. Collie is a nice area and it’s a nice place to stay overnight. The Wellington Dam stages are really nice and the event is extremely well organised. And best of all, it’s not too far from Perth!
“I was expecting it to be colder than it was. The roads were amazing and our car was loving the conditions. There were a few little wet spots and but the stages held up brilliantly considering they were used three times. It was really fun to do the night stages, it’s been a while but we relish those stages.
“Our focus is the ARC. We like Collie and it was a good opportunity to test the car and make sure everything is perfect, which it is.
“I’m not sure what other WARC events we’ll do. The Championship is close, so you never know!”
Markovic acknowledged the result of his teammate John O’Dowd who, with co-driver Kenneth Sheil, finished in second place in their 2007 Subaru Impreza WRX STI.
“A one-two finish is a good result, it’s great for Maximum Motorsport,” Markovic said.
John Macara and Tahni Macara finished in third place in their 2001 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VII.
2WD
2WD winners and overall WARC leaders Tom Wilde and Madelin Kirkhouse. (Photo: CMR Photographic)Maintaining the overall lead in two categories is Verandah Apartments team Tom Wilde and co-driver and girlfriend Madelin Kirkhouse in their 1993 Honda Civic.
Wilde / Kirkhouse won the 2WD category of the Make Smoking History Experts Cup and finished in fourth place outright. They have held their historic lead of the WARC by 30 points from Markovic.
Wilde said he was pleased with their result.
“The car ran perfectly, we had no problems at all. The roads were amazing, probably the best I’ve seen in recent years. The sun was out and it was just a really enjoyable event,” the cheese maker from Nannup said.
“We’ve managed to just hang onto our championship lead. Brad [Markovic] and John [O’Dowd] are chipping away and getting closer … so whether we can hang onto the lead or not is another thing. With two events to go, anything could happen - fingers crossed!”
Wilde / Kirkhouse took the lead of the WARC after winning round one event the Trade Hire Kin Kin Rally, which was the first time a two-wheel drive car had a WARC event since 1994 when multiple WA State Rally Champion Bob Nicoli finished fastest in his Daihatsu Charade.
Clubman Cup is two-thirds the length / distance of the WA State Rally Championship events and is designed to be more accessible to enthusiasts and encourages more people to compete in the WA State Rally Championship.
Team Bunbury Sharpening Service driver Mitchel Clarke and co-driver Stuart Clarke took top honours of the Clubman Cup in their 1970 Datsun 1600. The father and son duo won all stages.
Finishing fastest in the Clubman Masters was Network-IT and Backup4me Julian Wright and Ian De Boer in their 1971 Datsun 1200 Coupe.
The Clubman Masters is a new category in 2017 for any competitor who has competed regularly in the Clubman Cup series and has held a 2WD DPI (seeding) greater than 0.8500 for more than two years as of 1st January of any year since 2007, or have been a winner of any Championship or Series.
Next
The next round of the WARC is the Wheels On Yirrigan Kumho Tyre Kirup Stages that will be run in WA’s south west on Saturday, September 9.
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