We were at the International Rally of Queensland over the weekend. Here we take a look at the Classic Australian Rally Championship with this photo feature.
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Leg 1
Neal Bates had been expected to race away in the Classics, however a crank sensor failure early in the day had him over four minutes off the pace. That gave Jack Monkhouse the upper hand, but with Bates back up and running it was a case of how long Jack’s Datsun 180B would stay ahead.
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“Neal had a problem and that was the only way we knew we could beat him,” said Jack. “It actually helped me, once I was in the lead it kept me focused and drive nice and neat.”
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Monkhouse holds the lead by just 10 seconds, Bates lopping huge chunks out of the lead. “No one ever wants to come second,” laughed Neal. “It was actually really good to have to be in the position to have a really hard chase.”
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Further back Brett Stephens sits third in his classic Nissan Bluebird, Clay Badenoch in fourth in his brand new Toyota Celica RA40 and racing veteran Tony Quinn fifth in his BMW M3.
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Leg 2
In the Classic category Neal Bates swept past a limping Jack Monkhouse early in the day, and was never challenged winning by almost seven minutes. “A really enjoyable weekend!” smiled Neal.
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“Yesterday was a bit of a downer when we lost four minutes, but it also forced us to really fight hard and some of the times we set were fantastic in the old Celica. We really pushed hard all day again today and even managed to get within 0.7 seconds of setting a fastest stage time outright.”
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Monkhouse, who knew it was only a matter of time before he was overtaken by Bates, saw his lead evaporate when a suspension strut began to work free forcing him to slow considerably before a gearbox issue also hampered his progress.
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Despite the problems Monkhouse still managed to hang onto second just ahead of Queensland local Clay Badenoch.
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Leg 1 results
1 MONKHOUSE ‐ RYAN – Datsun 180B SSS
2 BATES ‐ TAYLOR – Toyota Celica RA40
3 BADENOCH ‐ DUNBAR – Toyota Celica RA40
4 FACKRELL ‐ WOOLLEY – Ford Escort RS1800
5 LASIJCZUK ‐ LASIJCZUK – Datsun 180B
6 HARBECK ‐ BEST – Toyota Celica TA22
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Leg 2 results
1 BATES ‐ TAYLOR – Toyota Celica RA40
2 MONKHOUSE ‐ RYAN – Datsun 180B SSS
3 BADENOCH ‐ DUNBAR – Toyota Celica RA40
4 FACKRELL ‐ WOOLLEY – Ford Escort RS1800
5 LASIJCZUK ‐ LASIJCZUK – Datsun 180B
6 HARBECK ‐ BEST – Toyota Celica TA22
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Photos (c) Sam Tickell, June 2014
Words from ARC media materials
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