The completion of the Saturday heat for the Falken Tyres Rally Qld has proved another step forward for the MRT crew of Brett Middleton and Andrew Benefield.
Driving their Citibank Ready Credit supported Sanyo WRX the two set some promising times throughout the days stages.
"We steadily got faster and faster " Brett said, and we didn't;t even damage the car in the creek crossings" he laughed. In previous years the team has damaged sump guards in the Creek crossings.
The MRT crew set 5th fastest time in Forest Drive and several other 6th and seventh fastest times...
"I went too slow on two stages, (330 LA and New Traverse) a little bit to careful, this effected our position by one spot outright, but we are happy that we are getting more comfortable with the car and its set up.
The crew are still not %100 happy with the cars handling, and its too sideways on exits, so they are testing new set ups and will see what happens on Sunday.
"Adrian Bukmanis deserves a mention as he drove
extremely well, to come 5th behind the 4 factory supported cars, he certainly
beat us!"
OUTRIGHT RESULTS
1st Neal Bates Coral Taylor Corolla WRC
2nd Possum Bourne Mark Stacey Impreza WRC
3rd Cody Crocker Greg Foletta Impreza WRX
4th Ed Ordynski Ian Stewart Lancer EVO 6
5th Adrian Bukmanis John Ahern Legacy RS
6th Spencer Lowdnes Chris Randel Lancer EVO 6
7th Reece Jones Leo Bult Lancer EVO 6
8th Brett Middleton Andrew Benefield Impreza WRX
Off the cuff comments:
I am feeling very positive about today's results, the stages I had a strong 'go'
at we set some good times, the problem I have is I cant accelerate as hard as I
would like to on the exits of slow corners, the back of the car steps out and we
end up to sideways, risking tyre damage in the poor part of the road.
The result is I am constantly having to squeeze on the
power less than I feel we can.
The other problem is, I am not sure if its me, the car or the fact that I am
expecting too much, the car has more power than last year when Cody drove it so
we have a bit more to learn!
We used Falken RXO1D Soft 205 15 65 all day, we didn't;t use any Mediums and we
will only use "C" pattern tyres on the Pelican Waters Special Stage
tomorrow, in the sand. Poor John Goasdue hit a small cow and destroyed his front
of his car at 160 km/h, the cow was much worse off. He DNF'd
We were only two cars later and very fearful of cows on
the road, this is the same road that Possum nearly hit a cow hast year and a
competitor hit a Horse the year earlier.
Stewart Reid Michelle Murphy blew an engine in their new Lancer after some
strong stage times in SS1 and SS2.
I am desperately looking forward to the next State Championship event next weekend at BEGA!
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