Rankleburn Rally on Again   10 Oct 2014

MEDIA RELEASE
10 OCTOBER 2014

RANKLEBURN RALLY ON AGAIN

Many of the south's best rally drivers will contest the MLT/Heartland Hotels/Ernslaw One Limited Rankleburn Rally in West Otago from 10am this Saturday.

Forty cars will contest the event which is the third and final round of the Laird Motorsport Southern Rally Series 2014 and also part of the Eastern Southland Car Club Rally Championship. It will be based at Telford Tops Road in the Rankleburn Forest, approximately one hour from Gore and 35 minutes from Balclutha. The rally will comprise five Special Stages totalling 80 kilometres of high speed competition.

Balclutha driver Dean Bond who has his sister Tania co-driving in his Mitsubishi EVO 6.5 is the top seed. Bond, the winner of the Catlins Coast Rally in 2009 and 2011, is out for "a bit of fun" in this event and is relishing the clash at the top of the field. "Second seed Dougie (Andrew Graves) is always hard to beat and he comes out of the blocks pretty quick. We will do a couple of stages to see how we are going and then decide to settle for position or if we are in second or third place whether to have a go. The roads look like they will be in good condition."

Graves of Gore, also a two-time Catlins Coast Rally winner, has long time co-driver Jared Leebody aboard in his EVO 3. Graves won this event in 2012 but has only done one club rallysprint since he won the Catlins Rally in 2013. "I have been a long time out of the seat so I am really looking forward to it," he says. "The car is still as it was then, it will just have fresh fuel!" Carter Strang/Stewart Robbie of Wallacetown near Invercargill are seeded at three. Strang and Robbie were the winners of the Rally Of Otago Allcomers event earlier this year in their EVO 6. Strang is looking forward to a good contest, "Bondy is always consistent and Andrew is quick, super quick. We are hoping for a good result. We are leading the Southern Rally Series too, so hopefully we can take that out."

The fourth and fifth seeds will have their own epic battle with Derek Ayson of Gore and Mike Verdoner of Balclutha both in Ford Escorts. Verdoner scored a fine third at Catlins this year while Ayson, a previous winner of this event in an EVO and also the reigning Laird Motorsport Southern Rally Series Champion, has a loan engine in his car after a rare failure at Catlins.

The sixth seed is Neville Krammer of Wallacetown, third here last year in his elderly Subaru Legacy RS while the top ten is completed by Philip Terry of Invercargill in a 2 litre, 4-wheel-drive turbocharged Toyota Starlet, last year's fourth placegetter Jim McDonald of Gore in an EVO 5 and the two drivers who tied for ninth place last year, Murray Marshall of Kaitangata in a Subaru Impreza WRX and Steve Morris of Balclutha in an EVO 5.

In Class B Kevin Laird of Alexandra in his Toyota Levin AE92 and Eastern Southland Car Club Champion, Graham McRae of Gore in a Toyota Corolla GT, can be expected to continue their rivalry while Carl Morris of Gore in a Datsun 1200, the Class A winner at Catlins squares off against Steve Thompson of Mosgiel who won the class at Dunedin in his Datsun Sunny Coupe.

The battles in the Laird Motorsport & Models Southern Rally Series are just as hard fought with Strang and Robbie holding the lead of the drivers and co-drivers sections respectively.

Strang has 47 points, fourteen ahead of both Catlins winner Rhys Gardner, who is not competing this weekend, and defending series champion Derek Ayson of Gore. Jim McDonald is currently fourth in the standings after two consistent results ahead of Verdoner.

Strang also leads Class D for 4-wheel-drive cars from McDonald while James Worker of Wyndham leads Class C (1601cc & over), seventeen points ahead of Ayson and Verdoner. Kelly Todd of Palmerston (Toyota Levin) leads Class B (1301-1600cc) from early leader Jake Thomas of Mosgiel who is not competing this weekend. Kevin Laird is third after winning the class at Catlins with Brayden Palmer of Mosgiel and Andrew Gillies of Queenstown next, the top five covered by just 10 points. Brendon Fisher of Oamaru in a Toyota Starlet has the lead in Class A (0-1300cc) with Carl Morris and Steven Thompson tied for second.

Stewart Robbie leads the co-drivers points in Class D comfortably. In Class C Worker's co-driver Ttasha Oakden, who is not competing this weekend, leads with an 18 point buffer from Jareb Verdoner. Leona Todd leads the Class B co-driver points while in a tight battle in Class A Jack Brownlie, Steven Thompson's co-driver at Otago and Ian Morris (Carl Morris) are tied on 32 points.

The popular series is for drivers and co-drivers who are members of a Motorsport New Zealand Car Club from and including South Canterbury south and who have a residential address in South Canterbury, Otago or Southland.

Last year Ayson became the first 2-wheel-drive competitor in the history of the series to take overall honours, the third time Ayson had picked up the series title, the previous two in 4-wheel-drive machinery.

ENDS

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