Mitsubishi masters mystic mountain

In his first tarmac rally Danish driver Allan Simonsen, and co-driver Ben Searcy, won the inaugural Lake Mountain Tango in the Les Walkden Rallying Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX with a total time of 51min 55.50 for their 11 runs; nine of which were up the ski resort access road while two were down the mountain.

Just outside Marysville in Victoria's high country, Lake Mountain is part of the range known locally as the 'Mystic Mountains' and it certainly looked the part when mist descended on the final day making driving at speed even more challenging.

Competition started on Australia Day with sunshine and a warm 28 degrees but by day two there was a cold wind with temperatures around 5 degrees with a few showers and even a couple of brief snowfalls.

On the final day it was raining for the start followed by the mist coming and going, but just 15 minutes before the final run up the mountain the sun was shining enough to dry most of the track making a great finish to the weekend.

Simonsen and Searcy won eight of the 11 stages, setting records for both the uphill and downhill courses while second placed gravel rally specialists Eli Evans and Chris Murphy took one stage and finished almost a minute behind the winners.

Evans put on a great show for spectators at Kelly's Paddock as he lost grip through the corner and changed direction several times without backing off in his Subaru Sti.

In third place Tasmanians Jason and John White were a further 14 seconds back. The Whites won last year's Lake Mountain Sprint, which was only run up the mountain, and were favourites to win this event in their Lamborghini Gallardo but they said a poor tyre choice made things difficult in the wet conditions although they did win two stages on the dry road.

Fourth outright went to gravel rally champions Cody Crocker and Ben Atkinson who were not happy with their tyre choice on their Subaru Sti. The husband and wife team of Drew and Georgie Jorgensen took fifth place in their Nissan Skyline GTR.

Popular Seven network presenter and V8 Supercar driver Grant Denyer partnered former rally champion Dale Moscatt in a Subaru Sti but despite performing well finished 19th outright after an off road excursion.

Fellow V8 driver Steven Richards also had an off road excursion in his MkI Escort but not before the spectators had several chances to hear that wonderful Cosworth engine.

Richards and co-driver Gerry Bashford were unhurt but the Escort will visit the workshop. Jim Richards had also entered but failed to get his car ready, as did rally organiser Peter Washington who had entered his Saleen S7.

The only all-female team of Samantha Stevens and Simone Bachman showed that any car can compete by having great fun in a tiny Mazda 2, and promoted the cause of Lung Cancer research. 

The top three in the classic class for pre-1981 cars was an all-Porsche affair with Kevin Weeks and Bec Crunkhorn taking the win and eighth outright in their 1971 RS ahead of Gary Tierney and David Carra in a 1974 RS followed by the 1972 911 of Stephen Cadden and Steven Strik.

Many of these teams will be back at Lake Mountain for the sprint event which will run uphill only in May.