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Results of Lancer versus bank then roll
Another Lancer just getting away lightly
Damn I'm sexy
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Crazy Gonzo Neil
Nick the winner
Results
The Battle for the Miramar Peninsular.
By Jody Seabright
Forget Ford vs Holden, the real battle on the streets is Subaru vs Mitsubishi. On Saturday 5 August, Wellington Car Club - with assistance from Harbour City Security - provided a legal battleground. The turf being fought over stretching along Massey Road, between Scorching Bay and Shelly Bay. This 2.6km piece of winding waterfront road provides a real challenge for both car and driver, with a rock wall on one side and the sea on the other.
25 drivers took the challenge to run against the clock, the fastest being crowned the winner of the battle.
Although the Subaru camp outnumbered the Mitsubishis by two to one, it was Stokes Valley based Ron Scanlan in his Lancer Evo who lead right from the start. This was the first outing of his recently built Lancer, and to be leading first up with limited testing, he was very pleased. Chasing close behind was Jono Bennett in his distinctive and highly modified Subaru WRX, with the “URECKN” number plate. The Te Aro lad initially second on his first attempt at the road.
Keeping these two honest were Rick Lucas from Plimmerton as he pushed his Imprezza WRX hard. Lucas is more used to racing his Production Car on the race circuits of New Zealand, but with tenths of a second separating the top competitors, he was obviously handling the bumps well. The others in hot pursuit at this point were Richard Billington in an older - but still potent - VR4. Plus adding spice to the apparent two make party was Darren Gledhill. The man from Hataitai using his race proven Nissan Skyline to good effect.
As expected the times got faster and the competition closer as the day went on. Scanlan managed to shave 1.5 seconds off his time on the second run, and that was as good as it was going to get for him. Completing the course in 1:13.94.
Of the others it was Wellington based Richard Billington who improved 2.5 seconds from his first effort to record his best time of 1:15.67 . This jumped him up the rankings from 4th to 2nd, as Rick Lucas could only pull back 1.5 seconds to 1:16.87. Starting the day in 3rd, that is where he also finished the day.
For Jono Bennett, his first run was his best, meaning that he dropped from 2nd to 4th. Gledhill could only improve half a second, which pushed him back to 6th as a fast improving Matt Wilson brought his Lancer Evo into that 5th spot. The Eastbourne resident being another in his first competitive attempt on the road, as he improved his time by 2.5 seconds.
The result of this battle being a win to the Mitsubishi clan, courtesy of Ron Scanlan, with Billington in the older VR4 backing him up. Rick Lucas in his Subaru managed to stop a Mitsi clean sweep.
Away from the Four Wheel Drive battle up front, is the hotly contested Class B (1300-1600cc 2WD). The battle on Saturday was between the numerous Toyota Corolla variants. Nicholas Tollemache from Johnsonville proved to be the clear winner, as he stayed 3.5 seconds ahead of the chasing pack. The battle for 2nd and 3rd was then between Neil Tapp from Miramar, Johnsonville man Leon Cast, and Upper Hutt based Peter Collins. With less than 3 seconds between these three, it wasn’t until the final run that Cast managed to improve by another second and claim 2nd in the class. Collins then went on to improve an impressive 2 seconds on his last attempt, to just pip Tapp by half a second for 3rd.
As they say, this battle may have been decided, but the war still goes on.