Pakenham Auto Club member Kimberly Woods navigating for her father, Trevor, watches the clock as start official, Jim Webster counts down their start time.CREWS travelled from throughout Victoria and interstate for last weekend’s Yakkerboo Rally hosted by Pakenham Auto Club.
It was the final round of the Victorian Club Rally Series and was sponsored by Edwards Ford Garage, Kooweerup and Grayn Restaurant, Pakenham covering more than 200 kilometres of roads through the Noojee and Powelltown forests.
The directing team, led by Glad Fish, spent six months organising the event with more than 50 officials ‘manning’ the control points needed to run the event under the umbrella of the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport.
Starting and finishing in Neerim, 45 crews entered the event, some travelling from as far away as South Australia, Ballarat, Alexandra, Wangaratta and Bendigo.
Pakenham Auto Club (PAC) was well represented with 14 crews competing.
Wayne and Kim Stewart, who were in a good position to take out the championship, unfortunately had to withdraw due to insufficient time to prepare their Subaru WRX after sustaining considerable damage on the previous round.
Mammi/Sheeran from the Nissan Car Club now had the championship sewn up and a win in the last round would have been a good way to finish the year. However a navigational mistake on section six cost them 2.53 minutes, dropping them back to fourth place.
Greg Wyatt and Robyn Renahan, in the Alfa Romeo Alfetta, were in equal first place over the first three competitive sections.
They were in fact first car on the road when a puncture, possibly due to a large rock causing rim damage on the previous section, cost them 11 minutes.
Unfortunately the jacking point had also been damaged so Greg had to use an open rear door as a jacking point while Robyn attempted to stop it from swinging further open. This incident robbed them of first outright place. However they were first senior cup crew.
The first PAC crew home was junior members Ross Allan and Matthew McAdam driving a Nissan Bluebird.
Ross drove consistently while Matt seemed to have the navigation under control, except for booking in three minutes early at the end of a transport section and this cost one place in the outright positions. They were first junior cup crew.
Tim Stuchbery and Matt Sheppard in a Holden Commodore and in their first rally performed quite well finishing 18th outright.
Although Matt did not miss any information boards, their time taken on sections six and eight suggested they might have taken some wrong turns.
Steve White and Catherine Stavropoulos were rookies driving a Saab 99 EMS.
Their times suggest they may have seen several ‘wrong-way, go-back’ boards, however they persevered to qualify as finishers in the top half of the field.
Next PAC crew to finish was Dean Hasnat and Matthew Petersen, also in a Holden Commodore.
The youngest PAC crew was brother-sister team of Rebecca and Daniel Sharlott in a Holden Commodore.
Rebecca is only 18 and Daniel is 15. Their father was a regular rally driver some 20 years ago and now is service crew, chief mechanic for his daughter and son.
Several PAC crews did not qualify as finishers.
Ari Patterson and Samantha Robison broke a drive shaft on section 10, Liam Dunn and Heath Burriss stopped after three competitive sections with a sick navigator and Adam Bloomfield and Brad Evans retired on section six with a blown motor.
Others not qualifying were Craig and Sean Gibson, who rolled on section six, and Troy Donoghue and Sue McCready had alternator problems on section six.
Brother and sister Kylie and Eli Evans only managed two competitive sections before a sick navigator forced them to retire, while Aaron Stone and George Occipinti’s rally ended when they lost their lights on section four.
Crews are now busy preparing their cars for the 2006 rally season that kicks off with the George Woods Introductory Trial on 11 February, also in the Powelltown Noojee forest areas.
