The second-round of the championship will see Quit Forest Rally winner Alex Stone pit himself against the winding roads of WA’s Wellington Dam precinct and also against fellow competitors such as 2010 Quit Forest runner-up Chris Anderson, Leigh Hynes and Nicholas Box.
Anderson however will face a race against time to get his Subaru in shape for the event with gearbox problems plaguing him since the end of the first round.
“We just found out our fourth has gone and sixth is going on our gearbox so I would be lying if I said I was definitely going to make it there,” he said. “When you turn up though, you always want to run quick, no doubt about it.”
With former champions Alex Stone and Leigh Hynes returning to the fold full-time in 2011, Anderson said despite there being tougher opposition this year he will fight for the win if he manages to fix his broken gearbox in time.
“I think it is going to be more competitive this year – with Hynes and Stone coming back... you also never know if you’re going to be on the pace straight away but if you turn up you pretty much want to go for the win.”
One man who will not be going for the win is last year’s winner and reigning WARC title-holder Tom Wilde who has chosen to concentrate on winning the rallyschool.com Junior Challenge at Rally Australia and Rally of Victoria instead of contesting the Experts Cup.
The main contenders for 2WD honours are Forest Rally Clubman winner Geoff Leat-Hayter, Kiel Douglas, Julian Wright and Blair Pugh.
With a total of 115.36 competitive kilometres, the best place for rally fans to view the action in Collie is at the Mungalup Road spectator point about 15 kilometres from Collie. Alternatively, fans can keep an eye on the crews in action at the service park located off Bridge Street in the heart of Collie.
RallyWA would like to advise that due to major logging operations the Experts Cup stages may need to be shortened in the days before the event if rain causes excessive road damage. Check www.rallywa.com closer to the event for more details and also for further spectator instructions.
Entries into the Experts Cup are open until Thursday June 2, 2011.
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