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Results

State Championship Point Score

Entry List

From Racing Car News, August 1977

HAT-TRICK TO GEMINI CREW IN WA "ROADWEST'

Story by DAVE MANNERS

FOR a record third year in succession, John Neal and I, in our Adams Transport Gemini, scored and all-the-way win in the 1977 Roadwest Rally, held in the wheat belt country east of Perth. The win ends a frustrating run of mishaps for us and, disregarding a precautionary alternator swap midway through the event, was our first trouble-free run for the year.

Second outright, and continuing a consistent run of high placings, were brothers Tom and Andy Van Kann (Datsun 1600), who now have two seconds and a first behind them and a pretty good claim on this year's title.

Ron Daniels / John Poyner, another consistent crew, brought their Renault 12 home in third place ahead of Rolly Waters / Steve Vanderbyl, who dropped from equal second place with a relatively slow performance through the driving sections.

As is now traditional with this event (previously called the "Rally of the Titans"), the action started with a timed run up the Zig Zag Scenic Drive, a cleanable section, but one that brings out the "hoons" with its four bitumen hairpin turns. Quickest was the 2-litre Datsun 1600 of John Macara / Glen Thorp, who retired soon after for reasons unknown.

With the play acting over, the 47 strong field transported out along the Brookton Highway to start the more serious stuff. Only minutes into the first navigation section, three top fancied crews in Johnson / Williams (Mazda RX2), Corr / Newell (Datsun 1600) and Bignell / van der Straaten (Datsun 240Z) all wrong-wayed the first passage control and put themselves out of the running. Times were basically easy, due to the open nature of the terrain, and it soon became apparent that most of the emphasis was on navigation.

A tricky passage control at Westdale had many crews turning back for another go, with subsequent loss of time, and at the first service point we were in the lead with no points lost, ahead of Torr / Smith (Cortina 250) and Glasson / Burton (Escort) both on 1.

From Westdale the route meandered north-east to Mount Kokeby, then south to Nalya where a route check signpost eluded over half the field, but it was subsequently scrubbed through lack of information in the instructions. To add to the headaches already being suffered by the navigators the very next section was also aborted when the major control at Kulyaling was set on the wrong intersection.

At Pingelly, the end of Division, we were still without loss, closely followed by Glasson / Burton on 1, Torr / Smith on 2, Waters / Vanderbyl and the Van Kanns both on 4 and Ince / York (Datsun 1600) on 5. Altogether there were 12 crews on 10 or less points. Clubman honours were shared by Anderson / Vanderbyl (Datsun 1600) and Braimbridge / Connolly (Datsun 1600) both on 8, while the novices, not fairing so well, were being led by Cotteril / Robertson (VW) on 37.

Division 2 consisted of a 14-section loop south east of Pingelly, with most of the emphasis again on navigation and only one short cleanable driving stage. Glasson / Burton started badly missing a passage in the first section and dropping out of contention. Torr / Smith moved into second place only to be forced out seven sections later with a stripped distributor drive.

Six crew cleaned the entire Division and, at Pingelly the second time round, John still had us in the lead on zero points, with Waters / Vanderbyl and the Van Kann brothers now sharing second, still both on 4. Daniels / Poyner had moved into fourth on 6 points, with Beechen / Polak (Galant) and Braimbridge / Connolly equal on 9. Ince / York had faltered slightly to be on 11.

The third and final Division was practically all driving, although Corr / Newel managed to collect their second 30W at the Dattening crossroads, and added to their horrors with a blown alternator several sections later. Five driving sections in all made up the competitive part of the division, in the east Gleneagle Forest with a final "gut-buster" at Karragullen.

Happily we continued on out winning way, dropping 8 points over the five stages and running out comfortable winners. The Van Kann brothers tried hard to bridge the gap, but could only go 1 point quicker, dropping 7 for a total of 11 and second place, with Daniels / Poyner adding 8 to their score and finishing in third place on 14.

Waters / Vanderbyl were off the pace and dropped a chunky 13, putting them back to fourth with a final tally of 17. Grade 3 crew, Seward / Tollefsen (Honda Civic), sneaked into fifth with 29 points, one point ahead of Beechen / Polak and Ince / York who shared sixth.

Driving honours over the final five stages went to Danny Bignell who, although out of the running, dropped only 4, but could only manage ninth outright.

The Roadwest Rally was an enjoyable event, competitive enough to get a clear-cut result without breaking every second car in half, but unfortunately suffering a few organisational hassles on the night. Nevertheless, a good result!

RESULTS

1st	John Neal	Dave Manners	Gemini	8 points
2nd	Tom van Kann	Andy van Kann	Datsun 1600	11
3rd	Ron Daniels	John Poyner	Renault 12	14
4th	Rolly Waters	Steve Vanderbyl	Escort TC	17
5th	Shane Seward	Ray Tollefsen	Honda Civic	29
=6th	Stuart Beechen	Roger Polak	Galant	30
=6th	Chris Ince	Terry York	Datsun 1600	30

Progressive State Championship Point Score

Drivers

Tom Van Kann	21 points
Rolly Waters	14
Danny Bignell	12
John Neal	11
Tim Corr	8
Ron Daniels	8

Navigators

Andy Van Kann	21 points
Steve Vanderbyl	14
Rod van der Straaten	12
Dave Manners	11
Jim Newell	8
John Poyner	8

Entry List

No	Driver	Navigator		Grade	Vehicle
1	John Neal		Dave Manners	1	Holden Gemini
2	Frank Johnson		Ben Williams	1	Mazda RX2
3	Tim Corr		Jim Newell	1	Datsun 1600
4	Arthur Torr		Bruce Smith	1	Ford Cortina SLE
5	John Glasson		Dave Burton	1	Ford Escort
6	Rolly Waters		Steve Vanderbyl	1	Ford Escort 2.0L
7	Garry Russell-Brown		Bob Naylor	1	Datsun 1600
8	Danny Bignell		Rod Van Der Straaten	1	Datsun 240Z
9	Tom Van Kann		Andy Van Kann	1	Datsun 1600
10	Murray Buchan		Graham Hart	2	Toyota Celica
11	John Goetze		Adrian Stafford	2	Datsun 1600
12	Stuart Beechen		Roger Polak	2	Chrysler Galant
13	John Macara		Glen Thorp	2	Datsun 1600
14	Terry O’Sullivan		Rogers	2	Fiat 128 3P
15	Ron Daniels		John Poyner	2	Renault 12
16	Terry Mann			2	Datsun 1600
17	Cunningham		Thurkle	3A	Honda Civic
18	Roger Forestier		Brian Mulcahy	3A	Ford Anglia
19	Bill Sparks		Steve McKimmie	3A	Datsun 1600
20	Rowe		Slaterly	3A	Renault
21	Bob Nicoli		Murray	3A	Datsun 1600
22	Geoff White		Phil Petersen	3A	Saab 99 EMS
23	Ross Tapper		Greg Flood	3A	Galant GB
24	Chris Ince		Ron Rigby (Terry York)	3A	Datsun 1600
25	Randall		Bryant	3A	Datsun
26	Shane Seward		Ray Tollefson	3A	Honda Civic
27	Mark Anderson		Jack Vanderbyl	3A	Datsun 1600
28	Peter Braimbridge		Denis Connelly	3A	Datsun 1600
29	Flugge		Keast	3A	Datsun
30	Legge		Greg Courtis	3A	Ford Cortina
31	Paul Evans		Pasquale Papiccio	3A	Renault
32	Gerry Ryan		Coleman	3A	Honda Civic
33	Barry Nilan		Brian D’Arcy	3A	Datsun 1600
34	Ken Joss		Leo Iriks	3A	Datsun P510
35	Ritchie Summerfield		Ross Veale	3B	VW
36	Rogers		Sinagra	3B	Galant
37	Paxman		Leroy	3B	VW
38	Rogers		Grant	3B	Mazda
39	Moran		Chambers	3B	Ford Cortina GT500
40	Rossetti		Costa	3B	Mazda
41	Van Grootel		Larsen	4A	Renault
42	Jim MacFarlane		Simon Foley	4A	Chrysler Galant GA
43	O’Dea		Evans	4B	Mazda Capella
44	Cotterell		Robertson	4B	VW
45	Mercer		Watts	4B	Honda Civic
46	Mike Keen		Hatley	4B	Austin 1800