Coffs Coast Rally - Australian Rally Championship

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Story: Evan Rothman
Picture: Team Hyundai Rallye
The first diesel car to tackle the Australian Rally Championship in the modern era is all set to go for the Coffs Coast Rally this weekend.

Coffs Coast Rally plays host to Round Three of the Australian Rally Championship (ARC), and is contested over three days of challenging stage kilometres.

With an endurance concept in mind, the organisers’ of this year’s edition have extended the rally’s stage distance. The total distance for the event competitors will be 694,00km, with 292,99km being timed stages. This will be split into 22 stages...

To read the rest of this article, click to:http://handbrakeshairpins.wordpress.com/2010/05/13/coffs-coasts-is-first-test-for-hyundai-i30-in-arc/

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The Coffs Coast Rally takes place this weekend. After three stages, the battles are already long underway…

Overall Standings after SS3:
01) Evans/Evans (Subaru Impreza WRX) – 15m 46,2s
02) Pedder/Mortimer (Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX) + 03,3s
03) Quinn/Smart (Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX) + 09,3s
04) Smart/Smart (Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX) + 13,9s
05) Pedder/Tierney (Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX) + 19,9s
06) Hynes/Percival (Subari Impreza WRX) + 22,6s
07) Shepheard/McCarthy (Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X) + 26,1s
08) Raymond/Raymond (Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X) + 34,6s
09) Evans/Weston (Honda Civic Type R) + 41,4s
10) Drake/Moynihan (Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII) + 43,6s

[6789]

Any news on the state round running as well?

[raybak]

Yeah the State round is happening, not a large field but it is propping up the ARC part of the field.

All kicks off tonight.

Check out http://www.rally.com.au for results

Ray

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State Championship Runners: After SS3
01) Mitchell/Cadman (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VII) - 16:23.9
02) Drake/Moynihan (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII) + 05,9s
03) Van Eck/Gleeson (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo III) + 38,1s
04) Amos/Gillis (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII) + 41,9s
05) Keough/Long (Datsun 1600) + 01m 03,6s
06) Roberts/Darby (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI) + 01m 18,7s
07) Kennedy/Kennedy (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo III) 01m 48,5s
08) Cullen/Cullen (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI) + 02m 14,2s
09) housalas/Legg-Stocker (Subaru Impreza WRX) + 02m 28,9s
10) Neal/Everingham (Subaru Impreza WRX) + 02m 54,5s

[raybak]

Yeah I know i should be up there at Coffs, but too much on this weekend, an AMSAG round at Cowra with 170km comp all daylight, plus the VRC on at Bairnsdale. Too many choices so staying home and planning my event for next year. Plus get to drive the Charade while course checking :)

Ray

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Sounds like a very busy weekend for you, Ray.

The Internet will have to do us both good, keeping me in the loop of the rally happenings.

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At the close of Day One of the rally, Evans still has a slender gap over Pedder and Quinn. Interestingly, the first ten crews are separated by less than a minute. Rally action resumes early tomorrow morning.

Overall Standings after SS5:
01) Evans/Evans (Subaru Impreza WRX) - 17m 30,8s
02) Pedder/Mortimer (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX) + 03,5s
03) Quinn/Green (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX) + 08,9s
04) Smart/Smart (Toyota Corolla Sportivo) + 14,7s
05) Pedder/Tieney (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX) + 22,5s
06) Shepheard/McCarthy (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX) + 30,2s
07) Raymond/Raymond (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X) + 36,4s
08) Drake/Moynihan (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo III) + 46,4s
09) Evans/Weston (Honda Civic Type R) + 50,4s
10) Boaden/Cheers (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX) + 56,8s

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ARC: Coffs Coast Rally – Overall Standings after SS12
01) Evans/Evans (Subaru Impreza WRX) – 01h 22m 12,5s
02) Quinn/Green (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX) + 48,4s
03) Pedder/Mortimer (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX) + 56,5s
04) Smart/Smart (Toyota Corolla Sportivo) + 01m 24,0s
05) Shepheard/McCarthy (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X) + 02m 54,5s
06) Evans/Weston (Civic Type R) + 03m 12,7s
07) Boaden/Cheers (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX) + 04m 46,0s
08) Fullerton/Readon-Smith (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX) + 11m 02,0s
09) Tonna/Tonna (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo V) + 12m 07,2s
10) Knowles/Knowles (Toyota Corolla Sportivo) 13m 54,3s

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Defending series champions, Simon and Sue Evans, are on track to take their first heat win of 2010 in round three of the Australian Rally Championship, the Coffs Coast Rally, today.

The Evans’ went into the morning stages with an 8.9 second lead and have extended that lead to 41.2 seconds at the end of SS11 with four more stages to be completed in Heat One.

“It’s really tricky, that last long stage was really hard just trying to drive clean and smart. We don’t want anyone to close the gap but we don’t want to make a mistake so it’s really tough,” Simon Evans said. “

Despite the commanding lead the husband and wife team were just one of many crews who faced some difficulty out in the forest this morning.

“We got airborne coming into a corner on the first stage and carried too much speed and went off but luckily we were able to get back on the road. That was early in the stage and we tried not to focus on making up the time and just getting to the end of the stage,” Evans said.

The chasing crews were unable to capitalise on the Evans’ troubles all suffering issues of their own through the opening stages of the day.

Local driver Nathan Quinn and co-driver David Green are in second outright, battling with Ryan and Rebecca Smart and current series leaders Scott Pedder and Jon Mortimer for the position throughout the day.

“We lost a little bit of time trailing Raymo (Glen Raymond) when he had a problem in the first stage this morning which was unfortunate but we’re just out there trying to drive better and better and the car is going well so, so far so good,” Quinn said.

At the end of SS11 the Smarts are holding onto third outright but are battling their car as well as the crews on the road with gearbox issues causing them to make some adjustments out on the stages.

“Tyres are playing a big part of it and just to stay competitive you have to make the right choice. We’ve got a small gearbox issue as well at the moment which we’re going to have to deal with for the rest of the rally so hopefully the rest of it can stay together and we’ll get to the end,” Ryan Smart said.

Scott Pedder and Jon Mortimer, who came into the start of the days stages in third following a late penalty handed down last night, have also had a difficult day getting a puncture midway into the opening stage, as well as spinning out and leaving the road on several other stages.

“The car has a mysterious issue and we’re trying to figure out what’s wrong, but we had an overshoot as well in that last stage which caused as to drop some more time but we’re still in the fight for second if we can get the car right,” Pedder said.
- Credit: http://www.rally.co.au

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Simon and Sue Evans have won the Coffs Coast Rally, their first Australian Rally Championship (ARC) event win for 2010, and have jumped to the top of the ARC points table.

The Evans’ won Heat One, but trailed Scott Pedder and Jon Mortimer by 27.8 seconds going into the final stage (SS21) of Heat Two today and looked likely to finish second to the pair for the third event this season.
However, in a dramatic end to the event, with the Evans’ needing to win the final stage to win the rally, Pedder and Mortimer rolled only a few kilometres into the stage.

“I am pretty relieved but feel a bit sorry for Scotty. It’s not the way you want to win but at the end of the day you have to finish the rally,” Evans said.

“It was tough out there, very tough and we were fighting for that last stage win to see who took out the rally so I guess I came out on top.”

With Pedder and Mortimer unable to get their car out of the stage to complete the rally they dropped out of Heat Two contention and off the podium.

The DNF also means Pedder and Mortimer didn’t record any points for the Heat dropping them out of first place in the championship.

“We were pushing very hard to try and win the stage and came over a little crest into a tight left hander and ran wide and up a bank. That brought the nose in and we hit a big rock that tipped us onto our roof and broke the steering which was unfortunate,” Pedder said.

Ryan and Rebecca Smart finished the event with third outright in both Heat One and Heat Two. Rewarded for their consistency, they joined the Evans’ on the podium – second outright for the rally.

It is the highest ARC finish for the brother and sister combination who battled with a potentially rally ending gearbox issue for the second half of the event.

“We were very lucky that’s why we’re second but we drove to the finish and conserved our car,” Ryan Smart said.

“We don’t like to take positions due to other people misfortunes but that’s how the game goes I guess and we’ll take the points because we need them,” he added.

Another brother and sister combination, Michael Boaden and Helen Cheers, rounded out the podium after consistently recording top 10 stage times and having a relatively trouble free rally.

Local driver Nathan Quinn was sitting in second up until the last stage of Heat One when he was forced to retire from the Heat with radiator and engine damage.

Not willing to give up Quinn and his service crew worked on the car until 12:40am when they had to check the car in to be eligible for today’s Heat.

Quinn set himself the goal of a top five finish in Heat Two and he did that with ease, second outright by more than two minutes leaving him with an impressive equal fourth outright for the rally.

“I’m feeling pretty good now considering last night I think we all sat back and said there was a point there when we were going to start today, so to come from there and to finish fourth after not finishing yesterday was pretty special for all of us,” Quinn said.

“I think the folks are proud and the team are proud so what can I say,” he added.

Eli Evans and Glen Weston, who had been setting blistering times in their front wheel drive Honda Civic during Heat Two, also rolled over on the final stage of the day.

Looking ahead to the fourth round of the ARC, Scouts Rally SA, Simon Evans said they’ve got their work cut out for them.

“We’ve got a bit of work to do, Scotty’s very fast so somehow we’ve got to find some more speed out of this old girl but we’ll go back we’ll do our homework we’ll give it our best and come back and fight again at the next round,” Evans said.

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ARC: Coffs Coast Rally Overall Results:
01) Evans/Evans (Subaru Impreza WRX) – 01h 09m 09,3s
02) Quinn/Green (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX) + 02m 08,1s
03) Smart/Smart (Toyota Corolla Sportivo) + 04m 14,8s
04) Boaden/Cheers (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX) + 05m 08,5s
05) Fullerton/Reardon-Smith (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX) + 09m 45,0s
06) Bailey/Earley (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VII) + 12m 20,0s
07) Berne/Best (Subar Impreza RS) + 14m 39,7s
08) Gillet/Smith (Hyundai i30 Diesel) + 16m 22,7s

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2010 ARC Points after 3 rallies...

http://www.australian-motorsport.com/index.php?page=australian-rally