Saxon Safari suits Subarus

SUBARU rally legend Possum Bourne has further tightened his grip on a dominant sixth consecutive Australian Rally Championship by clean-sweeping both heats of the Saxon Safari on the weekend.

The Kiwi led home perennial rival, Canberra's Neal Bates, after the Toyota driver's Corolla WRCar suffered a puncture and lost more than a minute halfway into heat one.

Bourne has now taken his Impreza WRC2000 to seven wins from eight starts this season, and now needs only finish third in one of the two heats at the Rally of Melbourne in September - even if closest rival Bates wins both of them - to win a history-making sixth title.

The five-times Australian rally champion has a 24-point lead in the highly modified Group A championship over Bates, 156 points to 132.

Bourne's outright victory in treacherous forest conditions 55km northwest of Hobart was emphatic, but a far tighter battle is looming in the Group N championship, which will go right down to the wire between Subaru's Cody Crocker and Mitsubishi Ralliart's Ed Ordynski.

Crocker, who is aiming for his fourth straight national Group N title, claimed two impressive heat victories in Tasmania, also finishing third outright on both occasions.

His Saxon Safari was made a little easier by the demise of Group N championship leader Ordynski, who was dogged all day by a badly slipping clutch in his Lancer Evo VI.

Crocker overcame a scare during the second last Special Stage when a large rock caused his Impreza WRX to lose a wheel and almost its rear suspension before going on to claim both wins.

Adelaide driver Ordynski and co-driver Iain Stewart, of Brisbane, have finished first or second in all eight heats so far this season, and will go into Melbourne's final round of the ultra-competitive production championship with 140 points.

That's just four more than Crocker who has 136, however, and Crocker's home rally also carries a double-points bonus.

"It's been a very tough weekend but we've come away with 32 points and now turn our focus to the final in Melbourne," Ordynski said.

"Fortunately the rest of the car has been 100 per cent, which has allowed us to keep the pressure on Cody on stay ahead of the other Group N runners. I'm just glad we could get the car home both days," said Ordynski at the Derwent finish.

In another outstanding drive, Mark Thompson brought his battered Evo V Lancer home in fifth in heat two behind Bourne, Bates, Crocker and Ordynski. But it was touch and go for the young Sydney driver, whose car began overheating on stage three before eventually finishing with a suspected crasked cylinder-head.

A tie for sixth outright resulted in Simon Evans and Tolley Challis sharing the honours, the two inseparable after almost 110km of competitive stages.

In the two-wheel drive battles Andrew Krieg backed up his strong performances in South Australia to claim the Aussie Car victory for the weekend ahead of local gun Dave Thompson.

Krieg took victory in his first visit to Tasmania, while in Formula Two Andrew Hannigan has achieved his season aim of winning the F2 championship and taking both heat wins for the weekend.

Proton Rally Trophy Albury driver Tod Reed capped off his great weekend, taking the win ahead of fellow Proton drivers Dave King and Peter Lockhart.

In an unfortunate incident late yesterday afternoon Rick Bates and Michelle Murphy left the road in their Subaru Impreza WRX and, while trying to place warning triangles on the road to warn following cars, Murphy was hit by Tony Sullens' car. Murphy was taken to hospital with a broken wrist and a suspected broken rib.

Provisional result Saxon Safari Heat One:
1 Possum Bourne/Craig Vincent Subaru Impreza WRC2000 Group A 1:01:36
2 Bates/Taylor Toyota Corolla WRC Group A +1.19
3 Crocker/Foletta Subaru Impreza WRX Group N +2.26
4 Ordynski/Stewart Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI Group N +3.23
5 Herridge/Carlton Subaru Impreza WRX Group N +3.50
6 Warren/Judd Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI Group A +4.40
7 Evans/Evans Subaru Impreza WRX STi Group N +4.50
8 Lowndes/Randell Mitsubishi Lancer Evo V Group N +4:58
9 Shepheard/Corkeron Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI Group A +5.39
10 Thompson/Boddy Mitsubishi Lancer Evo V Group N +5.59Provisional result Saxon Safari Heat Two:
1 Possum Bourne/Craig Vincent Subaru Impreza WRC2000 Group A 1:01:36
2 Bates/Taylor Toyota Corolla WRC Group A +0.56
3 Crocker/Foletta Subaru Impreza WRX Group N +2.47
4 Ordynski/Stewart Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI Group N +4.01
5 Thompson/Boddy Mitsubishi Lancer Evo V Group N +4.45
6 Lowndes/Randell Mitsubishi Lancer Evo V Group N +4:59
7 Evans/Evans Subaru Impreza WRX STi Group N +5.10
8 Warren/Judd Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI Group A +5.41
9 Lintott/Jackson Subaru Impreza WRX Group N +5.48
10 Challis/Hayes Mitsubishi Lancer Evo V Group A +5.51Next round: Rally of Melbourne, round five (final), September 1-2