Report by Matt Jansen
Once again Mt Alexander turned on a fine, sunny day for the final round of the Club Sprint Series Championship.
Sam Murray had made the long trip down and was the class act to follow, driving Paul Jansen’s WRX he went on to win the event . Brad Harris set a scorching first run (good enough for second overall) in the Evo, unfortunately the car was trailered after run 1 diagnosed with a possible broken ring . Dermot Martin had the Evo humming on his way to 3rd overall, less than half a second back was Steve Car in the RX7 having a blinder of a day, taking 4th overall and a comfortable win in the big 2WD class. Ryan Berry and Matt Jansen filled the next two spots separated by just over 1 second . Blair Logan was again scaring the pants off some of the 4WDs in his 1600cc FXGT taking the 1600cc class victory. Another early casualty was Stu Weeber when his WRX jammed in 2nd gear, still good enough to take 8th overall. Chris Hughes in 9th overall was sharing the Evo2 with his father Geoff, unfortunately Geoff’s first run ended prematurely just after the first ford, a power pole ending their days competition.
Leigh Marston and Matt King were battling it out for 10th overall, the former taking it by only 0.2 of a second. Andrew Sim had his newly acquired ex Rhys Musson Corolla out for a skid into 12th overall and 2nd in the big 2WD class. Gary Hawkes had the yellow BDA up to 3rd in the big 2WD class. Alec Doig had his V8 Mk 1 Escort out for a skid, looking good and bringing the car home in 14th. Barry Varcoe had the Ultimate Car Wash Café hot seat ride winner along for a ride, giving him more than he bargained for overcooking it in the second ford, breaking a wheel and ending his day in 15th. Phil Gurney in another FXGT found his way home to 2nd in the 1600cc 2WD class. Paul Jansen (now we know the car can do it ) and Dave Fletcher filled out 19th and 20th, the latter also taking a very commanding 0-1300cc class victory . Shane McKenzie had another good day piloting his car into 3rd in the 1600cc class. Dave Carr was sharing the highly overpowered RX7 with Steve Carr finished the day without any damage in 22nd overall. The Bufton Family were at it once again with a battle of age against youth with Stewart wining the father/son dust up when Andrew put it off the road in run 3, bouncing straight ahead at the last ford. Hamish Galletly had Trevor Crowe’s old WRX out for a blat into 28th overall. Marcus Van Klink has the Datto into 2nd in the 0- 1300cc class. As after match photos showed Jonathan Bradshaw’s big moment on run 3 in his Starlet. (Racey) Stacey Taylor showed a good 20 second improvement between run 1 and 3 .Chris Herdman had his wee Starlet in third in the 0-1300cc class, Matt Richards was sharing Marcus Van Klink’s Datto all going well for his first time on gravel. Rhys Ellison rounded out the days finishers in his WRC Fraud Focus (Vauxhall Chevette). Willie at the Waipara Hotel provided an excellent venue for the event prize giving and sponsored the schooner glass trophies.
Thanks to Andrew Sim and David Fletcher for organising, Dermot Martin for Assistant C of C duties, Richard Towse and John Weir for scrutineering, Andrew Wells for operating the timing all day, Michelle Reid and Nic Mulholland for documentation, Stewart Bufton for helping with the timing gear, Graham and Anne Wilson and the crew from Rangiora Rotary for marshalling, Keri Steventon for marshalling at the last minute, Craig Millar for liaising with the locals, Derek Simpson for being the starter, and all the helpers who set up and cleaned up afterwards (there were heaps which is fantastic) and of course the Waipara Hotel for sponsoring the event.
Click here for the results