SA Rally Champs - Murray Bridge
SARC 1 - Tarrawatta Stages - 26th Apr

The South Eastern Automobile Club was well represented at Round 1 of the SA Rally championships, which was held at Murray Bridge. The roads challenged drivers with fast rocky stages and many crests.

Gary Brown and Mike Dale jumping for joy on SS5 during

round one of the 2008 SARC, the Tarrawatta Stages held

just out of Murray Bridge.

Five Mount Gambier crews entered the event, with Trent Brand and Jeremy Browne driving a Subaru WRX finishing the best placing 4^th in the SARC standings. Brand battled with rear differential problems throughout the day but managed to finish well in one of the most competitive fields to run in the SARC for some time. The round was won by West Australian Roman Watkins.

The Buildpro/Coates Mitsubishi’s of Paul Heenan and Gary Brown experienced a day of mixed fortunes with the pairing of Heenan and co-driver Adam Branford overshooting a corner in an early stage, then suffering gearshift problems. Although successful repairs were made lost time saw them finish well down the leader board. Gary Brown and regular co-driver Mike Dale ran consistently in the top ten and were making good progress on the leaders when gearbox failure ended any chances of a podium finish late in the day. Craig Neave and Ashley Staude had a tough day running in P4 class in their Multi Metals Sigma, having run off and damaging the front suspension. The crew managed to complete the event but finished down in 15^th place.

Jason Sims and Damien Wilson driving their Blue Lake Cranes 180B Datsun were looking to improve on their last year final standings in P3 class but found the going tough and battling through to finish 3^rd in class and 14th in SARC. Crews will now prepare for the 2^nd round which will be held in the mid north of the state at Robertstown in May.

Photo supplied by Skot Carter