Round one of the State Rally Championship (WARC) and WA Clubman Rally Series got underway at the end of March with the Quit Forest Rally in the state’s southwest.
The season opener was the biggest event on the WA Rally calendar in terms of both distance and status. The Forest Rally is a two day event run as two separate heats, for the WARC, ½ points are awarded for each heat that contributes toward the total for the weekend.
The Forest again followed its well established format with tarmac stages in Busselton on Friday and Saturday nights, followed respectively with gravel stages around the forest plantations in Nannup, some 50km south of the coast. As well as being a WARC & Clubman round, the Forest Rally is also a round of the Australian Rally Championship and included motorbikes, quad bikes and off road buggies known as side by sides.
Rain had been forecast in the lead up to the rally, however the weekend was mostly dry and dusty. During pace noting on the days before the event, competitors found out the roads were very loose this year. Without some moisture to bind the surface, ruts would become an issue as well as soft powdery dust in some places.
Heat one kicked off Friday night with a carnival atmosphere around the short tarmac stage on the Busselton foreshore. It had been a long break since the end of the 2011 season and some were still dialling in to the competition. Several teams nudged the concrete barriers or hay bales as they travelled around the circuit.
After two short runs of the tarmac stage competitors headed to bed for the early start and the forestry stages on Saturday.
A short service on Saturday morning saw teams head out to tackle two of the longest stages in succession first up. In those first couple of stages it was evident that the long break had taken its toll on both competitors and machinery.
Doug Tostevin/Tammy Adams lost power in their WRX in SS3, possibly down to a suspect batch of fuel and had to stop in the stage. New comers Carlos Deltoro/Darren Wiese went off not far into SS1 in their 4WD Turbo Group N (P) Corolla and got stuck well off the road. After winning the first of the forest stages (SS3) Leigh Hynes/Stuart Percival retired their WRX with a broken driveshaft. John Macara/Richard Harris also retired early in their new Lancer Evo 7. First suffering with steering problems then a blown engine, the pair were relegated to spectating for the rest of the weekend. Graeme Miles/Lisa Read White also retired early from the weekend. Suspected first as a blown turbo, the engine in the blue WRX appeared to have expired.
As the day progressed, the dry conditions were posing somewhat of a problem for teams. Whilst wind was helping with the dust in some places, the loose surface was wearing tyres heavily. Without the bigger budgets and a large supply of tyres of some of the top teams, privateers in the WARC needed to be conscious of their tyres and the length of the event. At least one team realised mid way through Saturday that their supply of fresh tyres was low and they still had Heat 2 to think about.
Raz Vlad/Damon Nicoli were not having a good Forest Rally this year. Their Fiesta ST was suffering with gearbox troubles and the team withdrew from the heat to remove and strip the gearbox after SS6. On the repeat of the Kinky stage (SS7), Garry Whittle/Ryan Doe went off the road and rolled their WRX heavily. Up until the off, the pair had been holding down 3rd place in the WARC. Blair Pugh/Paul Helm had been leading the State 2WD section of the event in their Ford Escort for most of the day. During SS8 the Escort broke a rear leaf spring and had to retire. Without a spare spring at the rally, the team made a mercy dash back to Perth to collect a spare to allow Pugh/Helm to start in Heat 2.
After two short sprints around the Nannup Oval spectator stage, teams finished heat 1 and entered a 2 hour service.
In 10th for the heat were the brothers of Craig & Scott Puzey. The team had upgraded from a high revving 2WD Mitsubishi Mirage to a 4WD Turbo Subaru Legacy (Liberty) RS and the result was good for a first attempt at all wheel drive. John Clinton/Alex White (Evo 9) finished the heat in 9th place behind Chard Marshall/Sharon Black in their WRX in 8th. Julian Wright/Ian De Boer drove their Datsun 1200 to a brilliant 7th place with father and son Mike & Jack Civil 6th in their Evo 6. Showing many how it was done, 17 year old Dylan King made 5th in his Ford Escort with Andrew Hannigan in the hot seat. John O’Dowd/Ben Searcy took their spec C WRX to a tidy 4th behind brothers Steve and Mark Davies (WRX) in 3rd. Alex Stone and Hanna Drury (WRX) drove neatly during heat 1 and bagged 2nd place behind Tom Wilde/Lee Tierney (Evo 10) who won the heat.
Heat 2 started the same as heat one with two runs around the Busselton tarmac stage on Saturday evening.
Leigh Hynes/Stuart Percival and Doug Tostevin/Tammy Adams had been able to sort their WRX’s and started heat 2. Both teams shared the 4th quickest time on the first pass on the tarmac. Also taking the start of heat 2 was Carlos Deltoro/Darren Wiese. It had taken a good couple of hours to recover the lodged Corolla from the bush in Kinky. Without any apparent damage to the car, Deltoro/Wiese set the 6th fastest time on the first pass around Busselton. In the 2WD ranks, Kiel Douglas/Anthony Paynter had been pleasing the spectators. On the tarmac the guys produced plenty of rear tyre smoke and through the gravel stages, the sideways style and the barking V8 of the big Commodore was a big draw card. On the second pass on the tarmac on Saturday night the diff expired and the Commodore coasted back to the in field. The service crew feverishly replaced the diff to allow the Commodore to re-start on the gravel on Sunday morning.
Light overnight rain had done little to damp down the dust on the forest stages. It was probably a good thing the rain was only light as heavy down pours would have no doubt turned the loose roads into slippery mud.
Into the forests Sunday morning Hynes/Percival leapt out of the blocks with a stage win first up and the game was on. The pair would run in the top 4 for the early part of heat 2. Unfortunately in SS16 it all came undone in when another broken driveshaft spelt retirement for the orange and blue WRX. The attrition didn’t end there either. Sean Keating/Caleb Ash were forced out with engine troubles in their rapid Nissan Silvia and Chard Marshall/Sharon Black (WRX) had to retire with boost problems in SS16. Kevin Sleep/Niall Doherty were struggling by SS17 with electrical dramas in their Honda Civic which led to retirement.
The Forest rally had certainly proved a trying event for many teams both on the stages and in the service park. The biggest drama of the weekend was not to come from the rally itself. Just as WARC competitors were due to start the 3rd last stage of the event, a bush fire broke out away from the rally’s stages. All emergency vehicles in the area were required and had to be called away from the rally. The remaining stages of the weekend were subsequently cancelled.
Many cars showed the scars of competition over the weekend, maybe none more so than the team of Nic Box/Ash Ridden. Whilst not technically entered in the State Championship, the WA competitors were leading the 4WD section of the ARC by just over 20 seconds. On the Healthway loop stage the pair had an off at high speed and used their Evo 9 as a logging machine snapping a few trees off on the way through. Showing testament to the strength and safety equipment in rally cars, both walked away from the accident.
In 10th place for heat 2 was the pairing of John Clinton/Alex White (Evo 9). After the Heat 1 dramas Carlos Deltoro/Darren Wiese brought their ex works Corolla Sportivo home 9th and Blair Pugh/Paul Helm (Escort) kept their suspension intact to make the finish line in 8th. Dylan King/Andrew Hannigan had a brilliant drive in their Escort finishing 7th in heat 2. The pair had not only won 2WD in the WARC for the weekend, King had entered the Junior Challenge in the ARC and finished well in that too. Mike and Jack Civil (Evo 6) finished 6th with a solid performance behind John O’Dowd/Ben Searcy (Spec C WRX) in 5th place. Steve & Mark Davies finished heat 2 in 4th place, however had enough points to take 3rd outright for the weekend. It was a brilliant drive for the guys and once they had ironed out minor teething troubles with their WRX, admitted to thoroughly enjoying themselves. Doug Tostevin/Tammy Adams (WRX) had a much better run during heat 2 and finished 3rd for the day. Alex Stone/Hanna Drury (WRX) drove well all weekend and took 2nd place for heat 2 and the weekend. On the podium in 1st place was the team of Tom Wilde/Lee Tierney (Evo 10). The pair had entered in both the State and National championship sections of the Forest Rally and took the outright 4WD win in the ARC too. It had been 20 years since the last time that a WA competitor had won the Forest Rally at ARC level.
The next round of the WARC and Clubman Series will see teams head to the old Donnelly Mill site near Bridgetown for the Donnelly Rally. The event is scheduled for the 19th of May. Results and information on all WA Rallies can be found on the rallywa website:
RallyWA - RallyWA.com