Graves Grabs Second Catlins Coast Rally

28 July 2013

Graves Grabs Second Catlins Coast Rally

Andrew Graves and Jared Leebody of Gore won an action packed Catlins Coast Rally on Saturday.

It was the duo's second win in the event after they also took the spoils in 2010. Despite the fact that Graves' Mitsubishi is an older EVO 3 version he has fashioned an outstanding record in recent times. Since the 2010 victory he has placed third in 2011 and second last year. He also won the event as a co-driver with good mate Derek Ayson in 2005. Graves and Leebody won the Darryl Robinson Memorial Trophy for their efforts as they came home 35.5 seconds ahead of 2004 winner Deane Buist of Christchurch in an EVO 4 while Ayson of Gore was third.

Buist along with co-driver Andrew Bulman produced a steady drive while Ayson and Gav McDermott were the first 2-wheel-drive car home in their Nissan powered 2-wheel-drive Escort, coping with a gearbox that was losing oil.

Graves was "absolutely stoked" with the victory. "It's really cool. If the car ever becomes unreliable or too slow I might have it mounted! The car ran faultlessly all day and a lot of that is thanks to Lindsay Tressler. I got a bit too close to a signpost in Stage 3 and took out a taillight but it was an exciting moment for the spectators. It's a shame that Rhys (Gardner) and Bondy (Dean Bond) struck problems, it would have been a great battle." Adding more merit to Graves achievement was the fact he has done little competitive mileage recently.

Balclutha driver Barry Mills surpassed his best ever Catlins result of sixth with a superb drive to fourth despite a broken radius arm that left him to struggle through 10 kilometres of Stage 2. However from that point on he moved steadily up the order and he and co-driver Mark Allington took the Kerry O'Donoghue Memorial Trophy for the first South Otago crew home while they also snared Class G honours. Marcus Van Klink of Christchurch was fifth in his Toyota Corolla and first in Class C with David Clearwater, formerly of Winton but now resident in Christchurch, sixth albeit with the hard luck story of the day. Clearwater went into the final stage in fourth place but rolled his Subaru Impreza a few corners from home. Co-driver Stephen Lloyd was taken to hospital as a precautionary measure. Clearwater gained some consolation by winning Class E and in accordance with a formula for Super Special Stages was given a time three minutes greater than the fastest stage time, earning him sixth place. The same corner also claimed Ray and Steven King in a similar manner.

Nigel Marshall of Wyndham finished seventh after a superb effort which saw him also take Class F in his Datsun 1200 with Graham Ferguson of Greymouth (Ford Escort) eighth. Class D winner Scott Simpson of Oamaru (EVO 7) was ninth and along with co-driver James Bee also won the Glen Shirlaw Memorial Trophy for the first Otago Sports Car Club crew to finish. Jim McDonald of Gore (EVO 5) rounded out the top ten. Taylor Jansen of Christchurch finished eleventh and won Class A for the second year in a row in his Datsun 1200 Coupe. Craig Cormack of Gore won Class B in his Toyota Levin in seventeenth place overall.

Kayne Barrie of Auckland in his V12 BMW and David Kirk of Gore in a Mitsubishi also produced good drives to be just outside the top ten while Balclutha driver Mike Verdoner was fast until he succumbed to mechanical problems.

Top seeds, local drivers Rhys Gardner and Dean Bond, made it to the finish but both had days to forget. Bond won the first stage of the day in his EVO 6.5 before Gardner (EVO 7) took the second to move into the rally lead. Bond won Stage 3 to move back in front while Gardner stopped in the stage. He resumed but his chance of victory was gone. Bond took Stage 4 from Gardner to give himself a 9.9 second lead over Graves who had recorded the second fastest time in the first three stages and third quickest in the fourth. However in the fifth stage both Bond and Gardner went off the road in close proximity to each other leaving Graves with more than a minute in hand over Buist. Graves won the next two stages before backing off to bring it home safely. Gardner bounced back to win the long penultimate stage while Jim McDonald of Gore won the final test at the Riverside Reserve in Balclutha.

Other top ten runners to have issues included Bert Murray of Waimate who had troubles throughout the day while Carter Strang broke a CV joint and Neville Krammer went off the road due to brake problems.

Other high profile drivers who failed to finish were Trevor Crowe of Christchurch after engine problems in his Subaru WRX Ute, David Wright of Te Aroha with gearbox problems and Tony Aimers of Upper Hutt with mechanical problems in his Fiat 131 Abarth Replica.

The rally was Round 3 of the Mainland Rally Championship and Round 2 of the Laird Motorsport Southern Rally Series. The new tracking and timing system Rally Safe proved popular with crews.

Support for the 2013 Catlins Coast Rally came from the Rosebank Lodge, Vodafone, SouthRoads, Owaka Motors, Century Batteries and Catlins Cafe.

CLASS PLACINGS

A (0-1300cc)
1 - Taylor Jansen/Karl Celeste (Christchurch) Datsun 1200 Coupe
2 - Carl Morris/Ian Morris (Gore) Datsun 1200
3 - Peter Fridd/Cherie Fridd (Oamaru) Toyota Starlet

B (1301-1600cc)
1 - Craig Cormack/Mark Quertier (Gore) Toyota Levin AE86
2 - Kevin Laird/Jane Blair (Alexandra) Toyota Levin AE92
3 - Graham McRae/Robert McRae (Gore) Toyota Corolla GT

C (1601cc & over)
1 - Marcus Van Klink/Dave Neill (Kaiapoi) Toyota Corolla AE86
2 - Barry Mills/Mark Allington (Balclutha) Hillman Avenger
3 - Neville Kidd/Andy Reid (Nelson) Ford Escort

D (4WD)
1 - Scott Simpson/James Bee (Oamaru) Mitsubishi EVO 7
2 - Jim McDonald/Michael Gunn (Gore) Mitsubishi EVO 5
3 - Mark Taylor/ Katie Taylor (Timaru) Mitsubishi EVO 6.5

E (Pre 96 4WD)
1 - David Clearwater/Stephen Lloyd (Christchurch) Subaru Impreza
2 - David Kirk/Jeff Scott (Gore) Mitsubishi Lancer GSR
3 - Wayne Julian/Kevin Lynch (Christchurch) Mitsubishi EVO 3

F (0-1700cc Classics)
1 - Nigel Marshall/Michael Kelly (Wyndham) Datsun 1200
2 - Malcolm Budd/Reagen Little (Dunedin) Isuzu Gemini
3 - Brendon Mitchell/Gavin Read (Winton) Datsun 1600

G (1701cc & over Classics)
1 - Barry Mills/Mark Allington (Balclutha) Hillman Avenger
2 - Graham Ferguson/Jim Hewlett (Greymouth) Ford Escort RS1800
3 - Allan Dippie/Paul Coghill (Dunedin) Porsche 911

ENDS

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