Media Release
29 September 2002
Autosport Club (Inc.)

SILCOCK SUPREME AT HANMER MOTORSPORT WEEKEND

John Silcock in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VI reigned supreme at the Autosport Club's Hot Springs Hotel Hanmer Motorsport weekend, doing the double by taking out both the rally and the bent sprint. With brother Andrew in the co-driver's seat for Saturday's rally, the pairing had a very tight battle for the top spot with last year's winner Deane Buist and third placed Jeff Judd, both in Subaru Impreza WRX's.

Judd won the first stage by three seconds from a drawn Silcock and Buist, with Silcock fighting back in the second stage to take it by 5 seconds from Buist with Judd a further 5 seconds back. With the autocross stage time not counting in the final results, the return to the forest saw Silcock again claim the stage win by 4 seconds from Judd with Buist a further 2 seconds in arrears. The stage was set for an exciting final test, but Buist's 3 second stage win from Silcock was not quite enough to overhaul the Rangiora driver's lead. John Silcock won the rally by a mere 8 seconds from Deane Buist with Jeff Judd 10 seconds back in third.

Class placings were interesting contests in themselves with the big 2WD class, 1600cc and over, won by Chris Banks and Scott Ballingal by nearly a minute in a Mazda RX3. Bryce Biggs driving the Otago Classic Rally winning BDA Escort RS1800 came in second with first placed lady driver, 16 year old Sara Randall from Nelson in the Datsun Sunny, 3rd in the class with another rally finish under her belt.

The mid-sized 2WD class, 1301-1600cc, went to Hayden Spatcher with co-driver David Sidery in their front wheel drive Toyota Corolla with David Gallagher driving a Starlet in second and after putting the his recently rebuilt pristine Corolla DX-4AGE on it's side in SS1, Jason Clark finished in 3rd.

The small capacity 0-1300cc class was won convincingly in a commanding performance by Bruce France and his son and co-driver Vaughan France in the Toyota Starlet. The pair also finished a fine 10th overall in the rally. Second place in the class went to seasoned campaigner Grant Goile in the Corolla with David Fletcher's Corolla in 3rd in a drive which saw the 31st seed climb to 16th overall.

The rally had its fair share of bad luck, with 12 of the 39 starters failing to finish. The first stage claimed 0-1300cc class favorite Donald Mathais with two tyres off the rims and the car beached. Big 2WD class favorite Glenn Buist broke an axle in the second stage and retired from the event. The biggest crash of the event was had by local driver Chris Brereton whose Corolla left the road on a tightening downhill corner and the steep forested terrain resulted in a badly damaged vehicle. Thankfully the crew escaped without serious injury.

Sunday's bent sprint was run on the final four kilometers of the rally stage but in the opposite direction. Again the first few placings were hotly contested between the 4WD turbo cars. Merv Hatcher in his Mitsubishi Lancer RS opened the scoring with a second's lead over John Giltrap in the Subaru Impreza WRX. John Silcock fought back in the second run with a scorching time 5 seconds faster than his first which was to be the winning time for the day. Hatcher had problems with the car's computer and was down on pace in the second run. Silcock's third run was slower than his second and it was left to Hatcher to go for the win in his final run. With his passenger holding the computer plug in place Hatcher blasted through the course but a slight loss of time in a rutty corner saw him stay in second place by just 0.2 seconds! Third place went to Justin Prattley in his Mazda GTR, two seconds down.

In the big 2WD class Glenn Buist piloted his repaired BDA Escort into first place by 4 seconds from Brent Rawstron's similar car. Bryce Biggs brought home the Escort RS1800 in third. A great drive by Blair Logan saw him again win the mid-sized 2WD class in the Corolla by four seconds from Andrew Sim in another Corolla FXGT. Two seconds back in third was rally stalwart Chris Paddon in the Levin driven in the previous day's rally by his son Hayden. Don Mathias was a man on a mission after a DNF in the rally and he put in an awesome drive to win the 0-1300cc class in the Starlet. Don was running 9th overall after the first run and that time stood to take the class win. Five seconds down and second in the class was Grant Goile, followed by rally class winner Bruce France only 0.1 seconds behind! First lady driver of the day was won by CTV presenter and regular sprint competitor Jo Giles in the Henson Motorsport Toyota Starlet, and novice driver of the day went to Scott Reid in his Toyota 4AGE powered Ford Escort.

The rally roads were in great condition, unaffected by a few showers in previous days, and were a great mix of twisting narrow and wide flowing sections, with a thin bridge and a few off camber downhill corners to catch out the unwary. Apart from a few rutty sections in the slippery sections with heavy tree cover the surface stood up well to the repeated use, with the improving times throughout the day testament to the quality of the course and the quality of the crews.

With the drivers commenting that both events were a lot of fun, and that the roads were great, both the rally and sprint had a level of success that bodes well for next year's Hanmer Motorsport Weekend. The event has proven again that motorsport at a club level is alive and well and that a relaxed and friendly atmosphere can go hand in hand with tight competition. These sentiments were also expressed by visiting crews from Nelson, the West Coast and Mid-Canterbury. Full results will be available from the Event Details page of the Autosport Club's website www.autosport.org.nz.

The Autosport Club would sincerely like to thank the event sponsors, the Hot Springs Hotel Hanmer, Rubber Developments Limited, Vantage Auto Electrical, Palmside.co.nz, Glenn Buist Vehicle Broker, Magnum Group, Giltrap Drainage, Audio Addiction, Hoon Hay Automotive, Gobstoppers, and Ascot Auto. Special thanks goes to Carter Holt Harvey for the use of their excellent forest roads and to all those who helped organise and run the event. Thanks also to the well behaved spectator crowds who were treated to a feast of motorsport action!

David Fletcher
Event Publicity
Autosport Club (Inc)
(021) 261-0082