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2022 ARG SpeedSeries RD 5: Thrills and spills being played out in Race 1 yesterday at Queensland Raceway with the Trans-Am and TCR Australia where both winners were too good all along from start to finish

by Sports Benches

Yesterday afternoon of ARG SpeedSeries racing at Queensland Raceway was full of twists and turns, where losing control or being collected into the gravel can cost you a few spots or even dearly. It changed the course of these opening respective races with the Trans-Am & TCR Australia.

We’ll start with the TCRs and what a day it has been for Tony D’Alberto in the No.50 Honda Civic Type-R for Wall Racing. Not only he set and started pole position but he too took the opening race win which was too easy from start to finish. While Zac Soutar would’ve love to have a close sniff of Tony and challenge him for top spot, but he‘s happy to finish 2nd also in the same Honda car & hopefully go one better for the next two Sunday races.

And it’s good to see Jay Hanson back on the podium in 3rd for the Melbourne Performance Centre organisation, as well as Bailey Sweeny in 5th behind Aaron Cameron (No.18 Peugeot 308 for Garry Rogers Motorsport) following an opening lap scare through the grass that cost him a few spots. Although, Sweeny’s team-mate Nathan Morcom was unlucky to be taken out by Ben Bargwanna into the gravel.

Then we go into Trans-Am where we also saw another driver who was too good with Nathan Herne in the No.1 Ford Mustang for Garry Rogers Motorsport. He has no problems getting the job done from pole position to dominating the entire field, especially when some drivers behind him was collected through the gravel on the opening lap. While some slip and spills continue across the race track, it’s great to see 17-year-old Jett Johnson finish 2nd after he got around Supercars regular Brodie Kostecki in 3rd with credit from these restarts. So awesome seeing Brodie spend the weekend here as he hopes to fulfil his NASCAR aspirations over in the US next year, especially when he was being linked with Trackhouse Racing’s 3rd part-time Cup car that has a specific focus on International drivers.

Can’t wait for Races 2 & 3 later today with TCR & Trans-Am to round off Round 5 of 7 in the 2022 SpeedSeries season.

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Looking ahead to Round 5 of the 2022 ARG SpeedSeries season with TCR Australia & Trans-Am this weekend at Queensland Raceway following a two month break

by Sports Benches

It’s been a bit over two months when we last had SpeedSeries at Eastern Creek with the TCR Australia, Trans-Am & S5000. Although the main S5000 portion may be done, but SpeedSeries is back at Queensland Raceway (Ipswich) this weekend for Round 5 of 7 in the 2022 season.

There’s plenty of exciting headlines to look ahead when we’ve got a jam-packed Trans-Am grid of 29 cars alongside a couple of debutants from Tom Hayman (Aussie Racing Cars), Jack Sipp (Super2) & Brodie Kostecki (Supercars).

Plus, TCR Australia will make up their half-century milestone at 50 races during Race 2 this Sunday. And it has been a long time since the TCRs last raced there in QLD three years ago when the 2020 season was cancelled due to COVID, while this track wasn’t selected out of the shortened five-race calendar last year.

This is one huge event you don’t wanna miss as Nine will once again put Race 1 of the Trans-Am & TCR Australia this Saturday afternoon on their free-to-air channels via 9Go (NSW/QLD/ACT/NT) or 9Gem (VIC/SA/WA), with the whole weekend’s activities being a Stan Sport exclusive. Then as usual, Nine will showcase a two-hour highlights package the following weekend (August 13-14) on 9Gem/9Go.

You can sign up to Stan Sport for a seven-day free trial right now to watch every race live, as well as, full event replays & highlights. It only costs $20 a month to keep your fix of motorsport at any time, anywhere within Australia, such as, Formula E, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, Motocross and many more.

I would love to watch another SpeedSeries race live on free-to-air, having watched the season opener earlier this year at Symmons Plains in Tasmania. But I will be leaning on Club Rugby with Shute Shield regular season finale at North Sydney Oval at the same time between Northern Suburbs v Eastern Suburbs; That game will be live on 9Gem in NSW and ACT as well.

I will continue to keep a close eye though on the SpeedSeries from QLD within the next few days, while the Rugby Championship with the Wallabies & Australian Superbike Championship are back on my sports viewing fix also this weekend.

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2022 Australian Rally Championship: Interview with Troy Dowel on 2nd August 2022

by Sports Benches

Round 4 of the 2022 Australian Rally Championship season at Rally Queensland may have been called off two weekends ago on the 24-26th last month due to flooding over in Gympie, QLD at the time. But I’m delighted to catch up with one of the current drivers in this competition in Troy Dowel, who drives the No.4 Hyundai i20 RX with co-driver Bernie Webb for Proto Cars Australia.

1. How prepared were you heading to Gympie QLD before the Rally Queensland event was cancelled over the weekend beyond the organiser’s control?

We were feeling fairly prepared for gympie as we had competed in about half of the stages for this year’s event the previous year. However I believe one of the most important aspects of our preparations for Rally Queensland was the decent results we got back in Western Australia & Tasmania and being able to carry that momentum into the next round. 

2. .You & your co-driver Bernie Webb are currently sitting 4th in the Drivers’ Standings after 3 rounds, how good was it to bounce back from the opening round in ACT to potentially challenging the Bates brothers and Richie & Dale in the Shamrock car after back-to-back 4th placed finishes in WA & Launceston?

Yeah it was definitely a good feeling bouncing back from Canberra, it is all about building experience for us this year so it is nice for our pace to begin to get a little closer to the front runners however we still have a long way to go until we can start challenging them consistently but I believe we are definitely on the right path.     

3. Looking ahead to Rally Gippsland in a few weeks’ time, what are your favourite and not so favourite stages to tackle over in Victoria?

Most of the stages are pretty good in Victoria so I don’t think I really have any unfavourable stages, however my favourite stages to tackle in Victoria are definitely Yarra Valley stages such as Mt Slide.  

4. Now I don’t know if you follow the World Rally Championship or not, but what’s your favourite memories of Rally Australia growing up and whether or not if you will take part as a driver should the event return in 2023 or 2024?

My favourite memory of Rally Australia was when I made my rally debut in 2017, I had a lot of good memories from that event and even managed to get my first ARC stage win on a super special stage. I think if the event did return we would definitely take part. It is always a highlight of the year.  

5. And do you have any other rallying stints going on other than the ARC later this season and where do I keep up to date with your career on social media?

Yeah we do, we have the rally of the bay coming up very shortly. It is based around Batemans Bay and has some iconic stages. You can follow me on Facebook & Instagram under Troy Dowel. 

We thank Troy for his time to respond to a few questions on the Sports Benches blog. Good luck to him for the rest of the year with his Rallying activities, as you can catch Troy in action next Saturday for the Rally of the Bay at Batesmans Bay in Regional NSW before the ARC resumes for Round 5 of 7 on Saturday 27th & Sunday 28th August in Gippsland, VIC.

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2022 Australian Rally Championship Round 3 Rally Launceston Interview Recap with Dean Herridge

by Sports Benches

I had the pleasure to speak to Dean Herridge on the phone a few days ago when I went through the latest Australian Rally Championship round with him from last weekend at Rally Launceston in Tasmania.

We’ve talked about the following topics such as:

  • Irish luck with Shamrock Motorsport.
  • Lewis Bates’s remarkable recovery from the early Saturday heat rounds.
  • Hometown success from Tasmania’s own Eddie Maguire.
  • Coral Taylor’s one-off return to the co-driving role this time with Harry Bates.
  • And we round off a brief next round preview at Rally Queensland in a few weeks time on the 22nd-24th later this month. Plus, will anyone stop Harry at the moment with an outlook on his next career goals.

We also have a video version of my interview below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mV1IBJRh1SU&feature=youtu.be
  1. Irish Luck with Shamrock Motorsport: They had a great weekend start on Saturday but luckily kept 2nd despite a poor Sunday run. What do you think of the duo (Richie Dalton & Dale Moscatt) right now?

Richie (Dalton) has back-to-back podiums, so in the past, we were joking about the Irish and his luck as he has been a bit unlucky in and around the series (Australian Rally Championship) for a long time. He stepped into various cars and now drives one of the ex-factory Toyotas – bringing in a generation to find some form. So, he moved with pretty good speed – probably similar to Lewis (Bates) at the moment. Their back-to-back podium finishes seem to have pleased them as well.

  1. How did Lewis Bates recover from that poor start on Saturday and then work his way back into the final podium spot in 3rd?

Yeah, what’s happening is more of our sprint rounds; we only have the heats, so someplace like Day 1 – you lock away points, and that’s your points for Saturday. Despite a dismal Saturday, they were lucky to get into the Top 4 thanks to a much better Sunday performance. They had to start back at zero on Sunday for Heat 2 stages.

Obviously, Harry went on to win again this time, followed by Lewis in 2nd. His (Lewis’s) points tally of a 2nd and a 4th is the same as Richie (Dalton) in the Shamrock car (Toyota Yaris). Richie had a really poor Sunday in comparison. They were equal on points; Richie ultimately gets 2nd on the podium through a countback- total time on the weekend. Points from Saturday and Sunday are added together to get the round result that we saw on the podium. Lewis was lucky to get on the podium despite having troubles with Heat 1 on Saturday.

Young Troy Dowel missed out by one point, so he got two-thirds which is a great result. But he was just one point away from being on the podium. As I said, a 2nd and a 4th are better than two-thirds in terms of how the points structure works, and that came about.

  1. Hometown hero: How did you react to the Tasmanian success story in none other than Eddie Maguire?

It’s not unusual because Eddie (Maguire) is an excellent driver. He won Targa Tasmania on the tarmac several times in one of those Dodge Vipers. He’s got a great pedigree and is a very talented driver; he doesn’t do as much on the main gravel rallying. So it was great to see some locals step up from their state series (Tasmanian Rally Championship), including the ARC (Australian Rally Championship) and the Hoosier Control Tyres. As you mentioned, he (Eddie) ended up being the top of the production class. It is not a surprise because the production cars are slightly older and heavier; they’re not expected to take on the likes of the Toyota and the R5 cars. But ultimately, Eddie’s a class act and did a great job as expected.

  1. I also saw you on the post-rally coverage with Coral Taylor on how she has her retro racing suit and hat on while she filled in the weekend as Harry Bates’s co-driver?

Obviously, she’s (Coral) not been competing. I’d use the word definitely, but she’s a legend of the sport (rallying in Australia). She’s been around for 30-plus years; She’s won four championships and also won Targa Tasmania with Neal Bates. They’re obviously the most winning combination in the Australian Rally Championship history with 29-round wins. She currently has 34-round wins herself – just one behind Possum Bourne.

She stepped in because Harry’s usual co-driver, John McCarthy, couldn’t be here due to contracting COVID in the lead-up. She was the fill-in co-driver brought in as someone who wasn’t effectively competing. Still, she was a highly experienced co-driver to step into the role. That was a great result for them as she won another round, and it was surprising that she had a current race suit on when she was just filling in.

She wasn’t entirely…well…the decision was made on Tuesday prior to the event (Rally Launceston) for that change (of co-driver role with Harry Bates). So, at the end of the day, the deputy (Coral) was there to get the pace notes sorted. Harry has different pace notes than everyone else; you have to learn them, get on board, do the reconnects on Thursday and Friday and then get in the car, and obviously, he’s top on pace. Coral did an outstanding job stepping in, and she’s as good as anyone to step in as a co-driver again.

  1. Can anyone stop Harry Bates and John McCarthy from winning in Rally Queensland in a few weeks’ time?

No, not that sort of problem. I don’t think so. I believe this is a challenging position – probably Eli Evans is as good as he goes. In Perth, he showed pace in that mini, but he has reliability issues. On speed, it’s only going to be someone like Eli Evans who can do it close. Otherwise, I think I spoke before of Richie’s (Dalton) naivety to be able to set a pace for each other; Other people who are pretty new to it are learning a little bit. So, I think they’ll have their issues and it will be tough to stop them (H. Bates & McCarthy), as you suggest.

The difficult part of Harry’s (Bates) now and career is that they will only likely win the Australian Rally Championship again. It will be his second title. It was a difficult period through COVID as we couldn’t crown a champion back in 2020 with a couple more on the line. Because he’s young, he should try and go overseas to find opportunities and fight; He needs the battles. Although he scored wins and dominated the ARC series at the start, you’re always learning.

The next phase is to learn how to win under pressure and fight for second place – at the moment, he’s not really under that pressure. For now, his career is all on winning the Australian Rally Championship, and many people would love to do that. But for sure, he would like to try and get that experience overseas. I believe that’s where he thinks about how good it can be in the long term, how it fits in with their Toyota deal, and his arrangements, funding, and the possibility of competing overseas to improve if he had the option to do so.

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Harry Bates & Coral Taylor on top once again at Rally Launceston, even without his usual co-driver John McCarthy in Round 3 of the 2022 Australian Rally Championship

by Sports Benches

Harry Bates was too good once again at Rally Launceston in Tasmania after we just finished Round 3 of the 2022 Australian Rally Championship. It was a bit different though when his usual right-hand man John McCarthy was forced to sit out for a week due to a positive COVID test, so thankfully Coral Taylor was fortune to step into his place for this occasion. We love how Coral said during post-rally that she wore her retro racing apparel & hat as her good luck charm, while H.Bates smashed all 12 stages unchallenged from start to finish in the No.1 Toyota Yaris GR.

Finishing off P2 is the No.3 Shamrock Motorsports Yaris of Richie Dalton & Dale Moscatt. We love their strong start from Heat 1 Saturday that helped them work their way up into 2nd. Although they may have struggled a bit of consistency going into yesterday, but they pulled off well nonetheless.

Then we saw Harry’s brother Lewis finished 3rd with Anthony McLoughlin in the sister No.2 Yaris GR. They may have fired off slow earlier yesterday during Heat 1 but glad they caught up with ample time needed to get back into 4th going into Sunday – even though they had to settle for 2nd-3rd best in the final few stages.

4th place belongs to Troy Dowel & Bernie Webb in the No.4 Hyundai i20 for Proto Cars Australia. An early momentum build-up was important to stay ahead which is exactly what they wanted after Heat 1 Saturday. Although they couldn’t find a way to hold off L. Bates/A. McLoughlin going into today, but it’s still a treat to connect that execution past the final power stage.

And hats off to Eddie Maguire on his weekend at his hometown. Not only he topped the Top 5 but also won the Production Cup class in the No.7 Mitsubishi Evo 9 with Zak Brakey.

We can’t wait for Rally QLD on the 22nd-24th next month with four rounds left in the ARC schedule this year.

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2022 RD3 of the Australian Motor Racing Series: Jett Johnson and Noah Sands too good once again in their respective categories at TA2 Muscle Cars & Australian Formula 3

by Sports Benches

Who can stop Jett Johnson right now? He was simply outstanding all Sunday long with three straight wins out of four here at Winton Motor Raceway in the TA2 Muscle Car category. Every time he has the chance to start and re-start the race from top spot, he was just too good to hold off on his own from start to finish. There is one bright young talent in the making with huge potential from Jett, having came from the famous Johnson Racing family background via his dad Steven and grandad Dick Johnson.

Dylan Thomas came home 2nd in the No.68 Ford Mustang for CXC Racing. He would’ve love to have a close sniff at Jett and put pressure on the young kid when it comes to the top spot battle, but he never looked out of place nonetheless with three straight P2 finishes on top of P5 from Race 1. And how good was Josh Haynes also in the No.17 Elvin Group Chevy Camaro! He started from the back of the grid in around 13th following the stall of Michael Coulter just before the green flag waved; He too had a brilliant when Haynes made up so many positions up to third. Although he may not had enough time to chase down the Top 2, but he’s certainly a huge threat if Haynes was right up there side-by-side with Dylan and Jett.

Plus a couple of mentions with Jackson Rice’s rebound in 4th following a late wreck earlier today with Mark Crutcher; Kyle Gurton back in the Top 5 when his Race 1 win followed up with a late mechanical issue that saw him battle at the back end of the field during Race 3; And although Zach Loscialpo would’ve like to stay running within the Top 3, he overcame an early spin down at Turn 2 where he finished 10th.

Then we round off with one of Australian Motor Racing Series’s core categories in the Australian Formula 3 Series at Winton Motor Raceway in Victoria. The opening lap was wild when Ethan Brown couldn’t get the clutch going, while Mitch Neilson fired off with the early lead. However, Neilson lost top spot when he overcooked it at Turn 1 that cost him two spots in the eventual P3 position, despite being given a 20-second penalty as he finished well ahead of his R-Tek Motorsports team-mate in Roman Krumins.

In the end, it’s Noah Sands once again with the win. He credits the patience that created plenty of pressure to any driver ahead of him before Sands was able to get past through the gate and the rest is history en route to the chequered flag. And Race 1 winner Ryan Astley would’ve like the full-race momentum after the last two races today in a bid where he couldn’t stop the dangerous Noah Sands, but an all-podium finish in 3rd and 2nd respectively in Races 2 & 3 still shows that his rivalry with Sands isn’t over when it comes to the overall championship.

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2022 RD3 Australian Motor Racing Series: Jett Johnson too good on the TA2 Muscle Cars with back-to-back wins in Race 3; Noah Sands’s aggressive drive past Ryan Astley paid off during Race 2 in the Australian Formula 3

by Sports Benches

We kick off our Sunday with one of the two Australian Motor Racing Series’ core categories here at Winton Motor Raceway in the TA2 Muscle Car Series, Race 3. We haven’t seen much of green flag racing in the first couple of laps when Paul Hadley and John Hollinger made contact at around Turn 2, while Josh Haynes’s fast start became short-lived after he picked up a right front flat tire; all three drivers were marked as DNF before the restart.

Back into green flag racing now, Jett Johnson was too good once again unchallenged in the No.117 Napa Auto Parts Ford Mustang with back-to-back wins coming off Race 2 yesterday afternoon. No.68 CXC Racing’s Dylan Thomas came home in 2nd that summed up a Ford 1-2 finish ahead of Zach Loscialpo who rounds the Top 3 podium places in the No.21 Chevy Camaro for Excelerate Motorsport. And Race 1 winner Kyle Gurton (No.2 Dream Racing Ford Mustang) benefitted the late collision of Mark Crutcher & Jackson Rice ahead of him, as well as the last-lap drama of Chris Sutton that helped him climb from the back of the field to 8th.

Then we look at the Australian Formula 3 Series in Race 2, this time we saw some decent contenders out there fighting up front. No.99’s Ryan Astley fired off well earlier on with the earlier lead before he lost two spots later in an eventual P3 behind race winner Noah Sands and 2nd-placed Ethan Brown. What a brilliant drive from Sands in the No.17 Gilmore Racing machinery where he was patient with a couple of aggressive drives & once he got around Astley, he was too good to pull further away ever since towards an easy win. And hats off to Ethan Brown in the No.27 for Tim Macrow Racing who would’ve liked to take advantage of the early momentum & have a stab for the win where he lost a spot from 3rd to 4th, but he recovered well on the run home past Astley for 2nd.

There’s only once race left to round off the weekend for these two categories later this afternoon at around 2-3 pm.

#AusF3 #TA2Racing #MuscleCars #Formula3 #AMRSeries #WintonMotorRaceway #Motorsport #JettJohnson #NoahSands #EthanBrown #RyanAstley #KyleGurton #JoshHaynes #DylanThomas #ZachLoscialpo

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2022 ARG SpeedSeries RD4: A mix of opening lap dramas and an easier finish by the respective leaders round off the weekend in Race 3 of the S5000, Trans-Am and TCR Australia at Sydney Motorsports Park

by Sports Benches

What a Sunday afternoon it has been to close out the weekend here at Sydney Motorsports Park in Round 4 of the 2022 ARG SpeedSeries. We’ll start off with the S5000s where Tim Macrow fired off well from pole before he was spun off by Nathan Herne that cost him a few places, while race officials handed Herne a drive-through penalty at the same time.

As the race goes on, we saw a brilliant battle for 1st between Aaron Cameron & Joey Mawson before Cameron completed his payback with the win following his unfortunate opening lap DNF by Mawson into the wall from Race 2 earlier today. And James Golding finished his Sunday spell with two podiums in 2nd & 3rd, having made up lost time from a DNF Race 1 yesterday over a steering issue.

Then there’s the same opening lap drama over in the Trans-Am this time at Turn 1, when the No.67 of Nash Morris touched the wall before he collected Lochie Dalton in No.45 out of the park that led to the next couple of laps under caution. In the end though, Owen Kelly remained unchallenged from start to finish in 1st that followed up from an excellent Race 2 during the night session yesterday. Race 1 winner Nathan Herne became the biggest mover when it comes to track position from 22nd on the grid to 2nd, while Ben Grice rounds off the podium in 3rd.

And we finish our huge Sunday afternoon of ARG SpeedSeries with the TCR Australia category. Nathan Morcom adds another podium finish on top of an excellent Sunday performance from P3 earlier during Race 2 today in the No.11 Hyundai i30 N, but this time he takes home with the win which ended his drought on top of the podium since November 2019 at the Bend in South Australia. He did an excellent job getting around polesitter Jordan Cox on the inside line straight away from 2nd spot before he never looked back ever since, while team-mate Josh Buchan in the sister No.30 machinery completed a 1-2 sweep for their HMO Customer Racing team. And Cox would’ve liked to hunt down the HMO cars all race long, but he’s happy to prevent an all Hyundai Top 3 when he passed Luke King on the final lap for 3rd.

#SpeedSeriesAU #Motorsport #S5000 #TCRAustralia #TransAm #OwenKelly #AaronCameron #NathanMorcom #JoshBuchan #Hyundai #GarryRogersMotorsport #FordMustang #EasternCreek #HMOCustomerRacing

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2022 ARG SpeedSeries: Youngsters Jay Hanson (TCR Australia) & Cooper Webster (S5000) take out the win in their respective categories during Race 2 at Sydney Motorsport Park

by Sports Benches

It was an easy run from Jay Hanson who dominated Race 2 comfortably in the No.9 Audi RS3 for Melbourne Performance Centre here at Sydney Motorsports Park.

He did a brilliant job holding off a four-wide pursuit at the start which was incredible to watch, before he never looked back as the race leader upfront.

Joining Hanson was the two Hyundai i30s in Luke King (No.2 Moutai) & Nathan Morcom (No.11 HMO Customer Racing) in 2nd and 3rd respectively. Now King may have got in a bit of contact with Tony D’Alberto over in the No.50 Wall Racing Honda Civic earlier on but it didn’t affect him too much as he kept racing all the way in 2nd.

Then we go into the S5000s also in Race 2 with some drama at the start/finish straight when Joey Mawson sent Aaron Cameron over to the wall, as Cameron was unable to race on just moments after the race began. But the highlight though belongs to Cooper Webster in the No.37 Versa Motorsport machinery who was just too good unchallenged from start to finish; he too gets his first win of the year which is an incredible moment to remember from this teenager. And James Golding did a great job passing Tim Macrow for the battle for 2nd where Macrow overcooked it out wide at Turn 6 where that kind of patience paid ahead of him.

Can’t wait for Race 3 later this afternoon with a mix of S5000s, Trans-Am & TCR Australia.

#SpeedSeriesAU #TCRAustralia #Motorsport #S5000 #SydneyMotorsportsPark #JayHanson #Audi #Hyundai #LukeKing #NathanMorcom #CooperWebster #JamesGolding #TimMacrow #EasternCreek

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2022 Australian Rally Championship: All three Toyota Yarises round out the podium spots at the Forest Rally WA with Harry Bates & John McCarthy as the overall winner

by Sports Benches

Good to see a couple of contenders throughout the three-day Forest Rally weekend across Western Australia in Round 2 of the 2022 Australian Rally Championship.

The Toyota pair of Harry Bates and John McCarthy fired off well in the No.1 Yaris, but it’s Eli Evans & Adam Wright who dominated the rest of the Bunbury Super Stages portion in the No.2 Mini Cooper, with a mix of dirt & asphalt through in and out of the Bunbury speedway. Evans & Wright continued to carry that early lead going into Saturday with the stage 5 win, before Bates & McCarthy managed to fight back top spot where they kept their arch rival quiet for the rest of Saturday’s action.

Now Evans & Wright may ended the long-running stranglehold of H. Bates/McCarthy earlier today in the 2nd & final leg beginning at Stage 13, but they sadly dropped out due to a fuel pump issue whilst leading with only three stages to go. So that paves the way for H. Bates/McCarthy to end their campaign here on a high with the power stage and overall win, even though the 80-second penalty didn’t bother him too much over a late check-in earlier today.

Next up is Harry Bates’s brother Lewis & his co-driver Anthony McLoughlin, who finished 2nd in the sister No.3 Yaris GR. Now this pair had to even had to pull over for repairs at one point towards the end of Friday’s activities after Stage 4. However, they made a remarkable recovery ever since that helped them catch up as it goes before they finished well inside the Top 3 following the Heat 2 win.

And joining the Bates brothers is 3rd placed pair of Richie Dalton & Dale Moscott, also in a Yaris, except it’s not a GR chassis. They simply never looked of place within the Top 3-5, especially over the last two days when they finished their Forest Rally WA journey on a high during the Power Stage in 2nd alone. They would’ve liked to took advantage of that H.Bates/McCarthy penalty well & split both Bates Gazoo cars towards the Top 2, but it’s still a great result nonetheless.

Two rounds down, five to go, with the Australian Rally Championship will now head off to Rally Launceston in Tasmania on the 25th-26th June next month.

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