17 July – Tarn Road Sprint

Jeff Judd did the business in the wet and wild Tarn Road sprint this weekend. A scorching final run saw the WRX driver take out the event by 12 seconds from Brad Harris, who proved that he is definitely one to watch for the future with a great performance in the tricky conditions in the Evo 3. Dermot Martin took third overall with his second run time as the course was deteriorating between runs quite a bit. In the big 2WDs it was Steve Carr who capitalised on a return of luck in the RX7 who showed a clean pair of heels in front of Richard Towse who was happy to leave the organisational stress behind when he finished scrutineering and switch into driver mode, Murray Lancaster rounded out that class with a careful drive. In 12th overall Blair Logan led the chase for 1600cc honours, followed by a good drive from Pete Abernethy who is really coming to grips with the wee Starlet, and Stewart Bufton managed to save his best for last after crashing into a ditch in run 2 to post third fastest in the class in run 3. It was all on in the 1300’s with the top three being separated by only a couple of seconds in run 1, but it was Josh Marston who blew the rest into the (trimmed) weeds with his second run time (his third was a bit of a scary one with two high speed spins) a couple of seconds clear of Graham Wilson, with Dave Fletcher a bit further back in 3rd after a few dicey moments as well in run 3.Of note was the effort of Brent and Hamish Collins who traveled from Timaru for the event and they had a good day aside from a bit of an off that needed the recovery vehicle for Hamish early in run 2. John Weir ran without a spare tyre and the subsequent puncture saw him limp out of run 2 after pulling over and recovery was sent in to see what the problem was.

Thanks to the Southbrook Hotel for sponsoring some prizes and to Tait Communications for lending us the repeater. Thanks to Andrew Sim and Dave Fletcher for organising, Dave McCahon for being Clerk of Course; Stewart Bufton, Chris Hughes, Blair Logan, Richard Towse, Barry Deuart, John Weir, Les Summerfield, Mark Smith, Michelle Reid, and Kieron Telford for their help with setup and documentation and scrutineering. Huge thanks to the crew from Rangiora Rotary who continue to impress as the event marshals. And a big thanks to Derek Simpson who came out on his birthday to stand in the rain and start the cars, as well as performing his usual sterling effort as recovery vehicle. And we couldn’t go into the forest without the support of Paul Stanley and NZ Private Fire, and of course Carter Holt Harvey.

Results are here. Excuse them being a bit manky but the printout got wet!