All-Japan Rally
Championship
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Australian Rally Championship |
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Australian Rally Championship |
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BOURNE AND CROCKER MAKE IT ONE TWO FOR SUBARU
Subaru Safari Tasmania
Australian Rally Championship round 6 August 10-11, 2002 
Defending Australian Rally Champion, Possum Bourne, has taken his Impreza WRX STi to victory in Heat Two of Subaru Safari Tasmania today, defeating the winner of the weekend's opening heat, teammate Cody Crocker.While it was one heat apiece for the Subaru drivers, Bourne was awarded the Safari title because he set the fastest time in nine stages compared to Crocker's eight over the weekend. The result went right down to the wire with the two tieing the final Super Special Stage on the banks of the Derwent River. Had the younger Subaru driver won the final stage outright, it would have been eight stage wins piece and Crocker would have been awarded the Safari title on a countback, having won the first forest stage yesterday. But Bourne prevailed and his success in the Tasmanian round now stretches to seven straight years and his results this weekend have taken him a long way towards a seventh consecutive Australian Rally Championship title to be decided in Melbourne on September 20-22. The Subaru ace now leads the 2002 Championship with 150 points from Mitsubishi's Ed Ordynski on 124 points, who crashed on Saturday and did not compete today, with Crocker third on 122 points. Even if Ordynski or Crocker win both heats in Melbourne, Bourne needs only to finish third in one heat and fifth in the other to continue his winning streak in the driver's title that started back in 1996. Bourne's margin today was 48 seconds from Crocker, with Mitsubishi's Spencer Lowndes third another seven seconds back. He set about dominating the day's 98.99 competitive kilometres from the very start. 
The Subaru veteran was fastest, or equal fastest, on every stage bar one. The stage he conceded was the penultimate, and that was by just one second to the Subaru Impreza WRX of Simon Evans."I'm absolutely stoked with the way the day worked out," said Bourne. "Yesterday we struggled with the tyre selection and the set-up but we had no such problems today. It was dryer than we thought in Heat One and we done all our testing in the wet. With the overnight rain we reverted back to our original set-up which was just spot on." "It was really slippery out there, particularly as we kept running over the same stages, but we had a day to remember." Crocker could not match his faultless Saturday performance, with punctures and brake problems seeing him lose time to his team leader. "We didn't have the set-up right for the conditions at the outset," Crocker said. 
"Greg and I altered the suspension settings after the opening stage as we'd nearly came to grief hitting a bank, which luckily didn't cause any damage or lose us too much time.""The changes helped, but then we had a flat on SS13 and finished SS14 without any brakes, so we did well just to hang on to second place." "This weekend has been a huge plus and I'm really looking to finishing off the series well in Melbourne next month. It is my home event, I know the roads really well and we now have the car to be super competitive." Dean Herridge, the third Subaru Rally Team Australia driver was placed fifth for the second consecutive day, punctures also costing him time. Simon Evans looked liked making it a clean sweep for Subaru until a puncture on the day's fourth stage, SS13, dashed his hopes as he slipped from third to eighteenth. |
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Australian Rally Championship - Subaru Safari Tasmania
Date: 10/08/2002 to 11/08/2002
Location: Hobart, Tasmania Surface: Gravel and Dirt Description: The Australian rallying community makes an annual pilgrimage to the Apple Isle for the Subaru Safari Tasmania Rally. Run over some of the best rally roads in Australia; the Subaru Safari Tasmania explores the Plenty Forest and the famous Styx River near Hobart. Teams competing in the Subaru Safari Tasmania Rally face the harshest rally conditions in Australia. Cold Antarctic winds and the possibility of snow and black ice often put a question mark over preparations. The presence of snow on the tracks shifts drivers' concentration from speed to gaining traction on the slippery roads. This tightens up the competition and brings times closer together. Spectators can brave the frosty conditions on course or catch the action at the Super Special Stage. Held at the Derwent Entertainment Centre on the banks of the Derwent River, the Special Stage is purpose built and offers uninterrupted views of the cars. |
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