MOTOR SPORT
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THE weather stayed perfect and the roads held up well as the Bathurst Light Car Club staged the Bathurst 200 Rally on Saturday at Sunny Corner.
The race was taken out by Taree driver Peter Neal alongside co-driver David Darby in a Subaru WRX, the pair proving that a lack of local knowledge wasn’t a particularly big handicap.
They finished 33 seconds clear of Woolgoolga driver Mark Beard and his navigator Jim Gleeson in a non-turbo charged Subaru, with Jeff David and Grant Geelan a further 46 seconds adrift in their Porsche 911.
On the Bathurst front things weren’t quite as successful with the likes of Ron Moore and Joe Chapman failing to finish, the pair joining a number of entries affected by mechanical issues.
The leading Bathurst performer was Mick Tuckey, who was co-driving for John Hills. The pair crossed the line in 20th.
“We had 41 starters and 32 of them finished the rally,” race co-ordinator John Paine said.
“Most of the nine who didn’t make it suffered mechanical problems rather than crashes or anything like that.
“The conditions were absolutely ideal, it was a bit colder than expected but other than that, it was perfect. The track held up beautifully and during the second time around the course it improved a bit more again.”
In their first competitive rally start, Bathurst father-and-son duo Mark and Harrison Hudson finished a credible 29th.
The challenge now for Paine and the rest of the BLCC is to ensure that the event remains an annual one, having only appeared on the racing calendar sporadically in recent times.
“The feedback we got from the drivers was very positive. You never know how they are going to take it until you speak with them after the race finishes, but they were all happy with the roads, with the officials and the way it was all run,” Paine said.
“We want to up the ante and have this event become part of the NSW Rally Championship, which is a tier above what we are doing now.
“We’ve already applied to do it, we have a commitment to making it happen, so hopefully we get a good response to that idea. September seems to be the ideal time for it, so we’ll stick with that I’d say.
“A lot of the drivers will come back for it going by the response on Saturday.”