At the Rallying of Classics event at Willowbank, the Honda Civic of Craig and Linda Newell took out the class award for PRC cars up to 2L. The couple finished more than 30 seconds ahead of their nearest rival in class.
More impressive, however, was the eighth outright result from a competitive field of 37 entries, finishing just 5 seconds shy of some of the 4 wheel drive cars in outright standings.
“It’s taken us most of the year to get the balance of the car sorted, but it performed faultlessly today,” said driver, Craig Newell. However the day wasn’t entirely without challenges, with rain playing havoc with the field during the second of the night-time runs.
“It got a bit interesting on the soft clay sections, which had turned to mud,” confessed Craig. Despite losing a couple of seconds across the stage, they were able to retain their class lead into the final pass.
Fellow Pocket Rocket competitor, Steve Allmark, was out in his beautifully prepared Renault Clio Sport with first time navigator Mario Czornyi. They finished third in class and a credible 18th outright.
The Rallying of Classics event, staged by the Gold Coast Tweed Motorsporting Club, was the first of its kind; a mixed surface event utilising the granite autocross track as well as the bitumen dragstrip service roads at Willowbank Park, connected by a series of newly built gravel roads.
The mixed surface definitely favoured the gravel-prepared cars, which dominated the field throughout the day.
The next event in the Silverstone Tyres Pocket Rocket Rally series is the Recovered Resources Rally at Gallangowan on November 3. Â
For more information about the series visit www.pocketrocketrally.com
Photo courtesy of Gordon Williams
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