Car rally hog heaven at Preysal

The Jack and Jill Stage was cancelled as a section was made impassable by several heavy trucks the day before and the rains only added streams to the landscape.

The ZigZag/Indian Trail was shortened to only the ZigZag as a trucking company in the area dumped a derelict trailer in the centre of the rally route the previous day.

The drivers ran that section of the stage cautiously as a kind cane farmer with a tractor-plow moved the trailer slightly off the trail.

Disappointingly, John Powell’s Toyota Corolla WRC and Franklyn Seegobin’s Corolla FX did not clear the port on time to compete.

On the first round, the surface was fair to fine with some mud with the Barry McKenzie driven Castrol/Rallymac/Sweet Tambran Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 6, first in the line-up.

His Evo parted the mud, providing a clear way for the other cars to follow. By the third round, the rains had changed the route to hog heaven.

The two-wheel drive cars had a most difficult day — the tow truck had to extricate Simon Rodriguez and Wesley Nandoo’s high boosting Toyota Corolla 1600 Turbo twice.

The Stag/Ultra/Josef’s Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 6 team of Ainsley Lochan and Scott Sheppard also required the tow truck once.

Their ECU (Engine Computer) antilag could not be switched off and added to the driving problems on Sunday’s slippery stages.

The Mitsubish Lancer 1800 GSR FWD Turbo Lancer of Rezan Mohammed/Arshad Mondro dominated their class again, eventually finishing ahead of some 4WD cars.

Watch out for newcomer James Harris and new navigator Kevin Ablack, who finished second in the FWD class.

James continues to improve steadily in the 2WD class and this young competitor is one to watch in future events. He certainly enjoyed Sunday’s run.

Colin Khan/Richard Ramsingh, with their Flowertime/Esso Subaru Impreza, showed their ability to run at the forefront of the 4WD teams.

The only car to better Khan was the recently PMED tuned Castrol/Rallymac/Sweet Tambran Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 6 of the ONE OOT Team of Barry Mckenzie and Max Jallai, who performed flawlessly, dominating every stage with some excellent cane cutting and road development skills.

Special thanks were extended to the Marshals— Jackie, Roger, Uncle Lennox, Aunty Fairy, Dino, Barry, Yugesh, Sunil, Julie, Marcus, Suzette, Genevieve, Miguel, Kordel, Franklyn, Sheldon, Roshan and Vance.

And the folks from the Cadets: Mark, Isaac, Michael, Akeem, Jesse, Kyle and Saron, who stood their ground in pouring rain to ensure that the stages were run off and the large spectator turnout told the tale of fun in the mud.

As usual Sham’s Curry Duck and Cassava was absolutely sumptuous.

The next rally is July 23. The club is expecting three overseas cars for this event to practise before the international event in August.

OFFICIAL RESULTS

Overall—

4WD Category (Grp 3A): 1 Barry McKenzie/Max Jallai — Rallymac/Castrol/Sweet Tamarind Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6 (13:32); 2 Colin Khan/Richard Ramsingh— Flower Time/Esso Subaru Impreza (14:31); 3 Vishal Dhanraj/Kevin Mohammed— Esso/Mileage Mack/Lucozade Sport/ Subaru Impreza (15:43)

2WD category (Grp 1-4 and 1-3)— 1 Rezan Mohammed/Arshad Mondro— Mitsubishi Lancer GSR (15:22);

2 James Harris/Kevin Ablack— Tropical Engineering Sunny B13 (16:44); 3 Shelford Robinson/Rajesh Ganar— Tire Clinic Nissan Sunny (17:15)

Overall— 1 Barry McKenzie / Max Jallai— Rallymac/Castrol/Sweet Tamarind Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6 (13:32); 2 Colin Khan/Richard Ramsingh— Flower Time/Esso Subaru Impreza (14:31); 3 Rezan Mohammed/Arshard Mondro— Mitsubishi Lancer GSR (15:22).