MOTORSPORT: Three in hunt for rallycross rights

Three parties are interested in running an official Australian Rallycross Championship.

Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS) general manager Michael Smith has said today that three expressions of interest were received by last Friday’s deadline.

Smith would not divulge the names of those three parties “given the confidential nature of the expressions of interest process”.

However, Greg Evans of the long-established V8Race driving experience has confirmed that he is one, while David Ridden, the man behind the ambitious Extreme Rallycross Championship due to kick off at Brisbane’s Lakeside Park on the first weekend of September, already had said he submitted an abbreviated application.

The identity of the third applicant remains a mystery for now.

“We’re assessing the information that we have received and we expect to conduct further discussion with those who applied in the coming weeks,” CAMS executive Smith said.

Evans has embraced the concept of Australian rallying and rallycross legend Bob Watson that would involve providing competition for under-utilised rally cars.

Watson’s Rallycross Australia organisation had planned two events in the second half of this year at the Broadford motorcycle complex north of Melbourne and a more expansive six-round series next year.

However, those plans were set back when Motorcycling Victoria reneged on its agreement to allow Broadford to be a rallycross venue.

Money already had been spent on developing a rallycross course there and a launch was held, but Motorcycling Victoria became concerned about gravel and mud being brought on to the tarmac circuit by rallycross cars.

In expressing his interest to CAMS in running an official rallycross championship Evans would be the promoter while Watson’s outfit would be the sporting organiser.

A combination of rallying and circuit racing on short courses that include jumps and water splashes, rallycross was hugely popular in Australia in the 1970s with manufacturers involved and drivers including Peter Brock, Allan Moffat, Larry Perkins, Colin Bond and Watson.

The sport is enjoying a new boom overseas, with the World Rallycross Championship in its second season and another American-based series called the Global Rallycross Championship.

Petter Solberg is the superstar of World RX while Ken Block and Travis Pastrana compete in the Global series.

Evans said he saw considerable potential in reviving rallycross in Australia but that it was dependent on suitable facilities.

He already has strong links with race circuits through his V8Race, which he said 135,000 people had experienced over 11 years – many of them riding and driving with John Bowe, while soon Dick Johnson will become involved soon in a replica of his famous Greens’-Tuf XE Ford Falcon.

Queensland Raceways promoter John Tetley already has added a rallycross course to the Lakeside venue in northern Brisbane that hosted top-level open-wheeler and touring car events before the encroachment of suburbia.

Ridden’s proposed Extreme championship held a shakedown there last Saturday and the first of seven rounds scheduled in that series is on September 4-5.

However, there is only one of the 300hp 2.4-litre naturally-aspirated four-wheel-drive Super Lite cars intended as the premier category of that series in the country, to be driven by renowned rally driver Alister McRae.

Extreme events also are listed for Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide with Ridden remaining hopeful of more $200,000 Super Lites fronting during the season.

Ridden said a week ago that preparation for the Lakeside shakedown had precluded him providing all the detail CAMS requested by its deadline for expressions of interest in the championship it will sanction.

Extreme Rallycross Championship Series calendar:

Round 1 – September 4-5, Lakeside Park, Brisbane
Round 2 – September 25-26, Calder Park, Melbourne
Round 3 – October 30-31, Sydney Motorsport Park
Round 4 – November 13-14, Lakeside Park, Brisbane
Round 5 – December 11-12, Wayville Showground, Adelaide
Round 6 – January 15-16, Calder Park, Melbourne
Round 7 – February 19-20, Sydney Motorsport Park