THREE days of action, drama, upsets and even a fire ended in Perth on Sunday when Leederville driver Peter Major emerged as winner of the Competition Modern category in Quit Targa West, WA’s premier motorsport event.
Major (25) and co-driver Kim Screaigh moved their Nissan GTR-35 ahead of the NSW-entered Porsche GT2 of favourites Jim Richards and Barry Oliver at the end of the first leg and went on to take the outright win.
They finished 51 seconds ahead of Richards with WA’s Peter Rullo and Simon Iseppi third, in a GTR-35.
“We’re over the moon,” an elated Major said.
“The car was fantastic; it did everything we wanted it to do.”
Defending champ Steve Jones, with new co-driver Ben Searcy, retired their GTR-35 on day one with a broken engine after hitting a speed hump at the Whiteman Park special stage.
The rally, which started and finished in Perth and took in special stages in Kalamunda, Toodyay and Bullsbrook, drew big crowds, with about 10,000 fans lining Riverside Drive to see the finish along the Swan River foreshore.
It was the first time in the rally’s six-year history that a stage had been run on the city streets.
But it was also the scene of near disaster for Tolley Challis and Greg Flood. They were well in front in the Competition Classic category with just one run left to do on Riverside Drive when their Porsche’s engine erupted in flames.
The blaze was quickly extinguished and the car was able to complete its final lap and take the popular pair to victory.
David and Vicki Moir (Datsun 240Z) were tipped to win, but they slid off on SS1 at Whiteman Park in what Moir described as a “cold brain” moment, and finished third, behind the Torana A9X of Mark and Mitchell O’Kane.
Duncraig driver Robert Buys, with co-pilot Sanja Aksamija, took their Community Newspapers and Golfwagen-backed Porsche 911 to a runaway win in the Challenge Classic class, finishing 2 min 48sec ahead of Paul and Mitchell Thompson’s Porsche, with the Triumph TR-8 of Martin and Sharon Eyer third.
“We had a great run,” 36-year-old Buys said.
“But we didn’t have an intercom and the noise from the bare-metal interior of the car made communication difficult.
“Sanja resorted to screaming her pace-note instructions.”
A battle between two Nissan GTR-35s in the Challenge Modern section eventually went to defending champions Mark and Andrew Conacher from Robert Darrington and David Abetz with Keith and Russell Hawley (Holden VU Ute) third in the class.
Some interstate big names had a torrid time in the event.
Dean Evans and Samantha Stevens had a high-speed “off” on the Kalamunda special stage that smashed their TMR Evo and popular Queenslanders Keith and Mary-Anne Callinan left the road at about 150km/h on the John Forrest special stage.
Their rare De Tomaso sports coupe was a wreck, but the pair escaped injury.
The demanding John Forrest stage also claimed the Subaru of WA’s Todd and Darren Payne.