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Story by PETER MORGAN
FOLLOWING their third place in the seventh and final round of the WA State Rally Championship on November 12-13, the brothers Tom and Andy van Kann have taken a 10-point victory in the Championship.
Throughout the year, consistent navigation from younger brother Andy, coupled with faultless driving from Tom, gave the crew and outstanding result of two firsts and three seconds for their "best five scores". This provided an aggregate score of 36 points, topped only in previous years by twice ARC winners, Dunkerton and Large.
For the first half of the year, Tom and Andy had no serious challenge to their lead. However, a tenacious fight from Ron Daniels and John Poyner (Eurocars Renault 12) kept the brothers on their toes later in the year, and their second place in the Championship was a complete surprise to many more experienced crews who considered the Grade 2 crew as serious "amateur trials series" contestants only.
This year the State Championship consisted of five navigation events and two driving events. Next year, due to increasing pressures from drivers, seven rounds consisting of four navigation and three driving events comprise the Championship series. This distribution is expected to bring the super-quick local drivers such as Danny Bignell and Clive Slater further into the State Championship struggle, provided their ARC challenges permit.
The Renault Car Club, incidentally, achieved an incredible clean sweep of the four State Title Series by winning the State Rally Championship (van Kann / van Kann - Datsun 1600), the State Amateur Trial Series (Daniels / Poyner), the Clubman Series (Seward / Tollefson - Honda Civic) and the Novice Series (Van Grootel / Larsen - Renault 12). The club has dominated other series this year, too, with Ron Daniels also winning the State Autocross Series in the same Renault 12.
| Drivers | |||
| 1. | Tom Van Kann | Datsun 1600 | 36 points |
| 2. | Ron Daniels | Renault 12 | 26 |
| 3. | Danny Bignell | Datsun 240Z | 23.5 |
| 4. | Rolly Waters | Escort TC | 15 |
| 5. | Clive Slater | Toyota Corolla | 12 |
| 6. | John Neal | Gemini | 11 |
| 7. | Stuart Beechen | Galant | 9.5 |
| Navigators | |||
| 1. | Andy Van Kann | Datsun 1600 | 36 points |
| 2. | John Poyner | Renault 12 | 26 |
| 3. | Rod van der Straaten | Datsun 240Z | 23.5 |
| 4. | Adrian Stafford | 17 | |
| 5. | Steve Vanderbyl | Escort TC | 15 |
| 6. | Dave Manners | Gemini | 11 |
| 7. | Roger Polak | Galant | 9.5 |
| =8. | Dave MacDonald | 8 | |
| =8. | Jim Newell | Datsun 1600 | 8 |