Boisdale Rallysprint 22 January 2022
Graham Wallis and his crew of great volunteers put on an interesting event to open the competition for this year. Crews had 3 runs over each of 2 different stages using the MADCC hill climb circuit to start both stages and then different arrangements of tracks out in the back of the reserve. The hill climb was slippery to start with but improved a little by day’s end whilst the back tracks were tight and twisty to keep everyone concentrating.
20 entries, including a welcome 9 in the Standard Car Class, had more than a few doing double duties as driver and co-driver or co-driving for more than 1 driver which meant there was a bit of jumping between seats after each run. It was good to see that some of our newest members (Susan Edwards, Bruce Mountain, Leigh & Patrick Swingler, Wayne Milburn and Derek Pickard) were out having a run.
The only DNF came from Simon Brown in his Navara ute which unfortunately finished on its side just a couple of corners into the event.
When times were totalled after the 3 runs over stage 1 the results were very close with only 20 seconds separating the top 6 crews. Derek White and Simon Brown in Derek’s Peugeot 504 with a total of 498 seconds led Alan Upton and Michael Ward in Alan’s Peugeot 306 by just 1 second with Leigh and Patrick Swingler 3 rd in their Renault Clio only 5 seconds behind. Michael Ward and Alan Upton swapped seats
and cars to have Michael’s Corolla in 4 th place another 5 seconds adrift. Further back things got even closer with 3 crews equal in 8 th place (Peter Canals/Rob Cranston in the Rodeo, Gerry Bashford/Dave McAdam in the Escort and Doug Fernie/Alex Kovacevic in Doug’s Honda powered Datsun 1600) on 522.
After a pleasant lunch break at the Maffra Car Club operated canteen, the crews fronted up for stage 2 which Graham had set up while we all ate and chatted.
Whilst still starting on the hill climb track crews had to exit earlier with a tight left and an even tighter right (with a Caution, Tree Root on inside) just 30 metres later. On this stage, as with the 1 st stage, the tracks were rather narrow (See videos on Club Facebook page) and again the stage finished with a loop on the motorkhana area beside the hill climb. The 180 degree left onto this led to some interesting lines with many a handbrake turn having cars at some strange angles.
Quickest crew overall for stage 2 were David Burn and Wayne Milburn in their Hyundai Excel on 476 seconds just 8 ahead of Alan Upton/Michael Ward. Another 4 crews had totals less than 500 so again it was tight at the top. While this stage was slightly shorter than stage 1 and most crews had lower times, a few crews struggled with the somewhat tighter turns and couldn’t match their stage 1 times. Doug Fernie in his powerful Datsun was one who battled to find traction and some seemed to find the tighter turns time consuming.
With all times totalled for outright placings, Alan Upton/Michael Ward finished lowest on 983 seconds. In 2 nd place were David Burn/Wayne Milburn on 992 just ahead of Derek White/Simon Brown on 997. Very close behind in 4th were Michael Ward/Alan Upton at 1000.
Outright Standings (Provisional) @ 18.30- 22/1/22
| Place | Driver | Co-driver | stage 1 (place) | stage 2 (place) | total | car | |
| 1 | Alan Upton | Michael Ward | 499 (2) | 484 (2) | 983 | Peugeot 306 | SCC |
| 2 | David Burn | Wayne Milburn | 516 (5) | 476 (1) | 992 | Hyundai Excel | |
| 3 | Derek White | Simon Brown | 498 (1) | 499 (=5) | 997 | Peugeot 504 | |
| 4 | Michael Ward | Alan Upton | 509 (4) | 491 (3) | 1000 | Toyota Corolla | |
| 5 | James Pickard | Derek Pickard | 518 (6) | 497 (4) | 1015 | Toyota Celica | SCC |
| 6 | Leigh Swingler | Patrick Swingler | 504 (3) | 513 (8) | 1017 | Renault Clio | |
| 7 | Peter Canals | Robert Cranston | 522 (=8) | 511 (7) | 1033 | Holden Rodeo | SCC |
| 8 | Gerry Bashford | David McAdam | 522 (=8) | 514 (9) | 1036 | Ford Escort | |
| 9 | Owen Polanski | Joel Wald | 521 (7) | 516 (10) | 1037 | Nissan Skyline | SCC |
| 10 | Wayne Milburn | David Burn | 546 (=13) | 499 (=5) | 1045 | Hyundai Excel | |
| 11 | Chris Ellis | Joel Wald | 539 (12) | 523 (12) | 1062 | Datsun 180B | |
| 12 | Patrick Swingler | Leigh Swingler | 547 (15) | 522 (11) | 1069 | Renault Clio | |
| 13 | Doug Fernie | Alex Kovacevic | 522 (=8) | 550 (15) | 1072 | Datsun 1600 | |
| 14 | Chris Lee | Tim Kennon | 536 (11) | 537 (13) | 1073 | BMW 323E | |
| 15 | Doug Norman | Bruce Mountain | 546 (=13) | 541 (14) | 1087 | Peugeot 504 | |
| 16 | Robert Cranston | Peter Canals | 570 (17) | 553 (16) | 1123 | Toyota Celica | SCC |
| 17 | Sean O’Callaghan- Daft | Callum O’Callaghan- Daft | 555 (16) | 570 (17) | 1125 | Peugeot 205 | SCC |
| 18 | John Moore | David McAdam | 671 (18) | 614 (18) | 1285 | Morris 1100 | SCC |
| 19 | Max Engellenner | Susan Edwards | 713 (19) | 641 (19) | 1354 | Toyota Celica | SCC |
| 20 | Simon Brown | Derek White | DNF | DNF | DNF | Niissan Navara Ute | SCC |
I’m sure all the competitors would have enjoyed the day and would like to thank Graham and all the crew of volunteers who made it possible.
Next event is the George Woods Novice event on Saturday 26/2/22.
Report by Peter Canals
Page banner: Alan Upton and Michael Ward, Peugeot 306, on their way to 1st OR at Boisdale. Pic by Bruce Keys.
Historic Rally Association 