Tough weekend for Reeves in Western Australia

Victorians Brendan Reeves and Rhianon Smyth have endured a tough weekend in the Quit Forest Rally, round two of the ECB Australian Rally Championship, held in Western Australia.

But despite problems, their Mazda2 showed good speed over some of the event’s 19 stages, which saw them finish the first day in fourth place, and the second day in fifth – an overall result of fourth outright for the weekend.

The brother and sister combination suffered coil problems on Saturday, but bounced back with two fastest stage times late in the day, and Sunday was looking even more promising.

While their power-sapping coil problems from day one returned, a string of top three stage times saw them in third place at the end of the fifth stage. However, a puncture on the 19 kilometre Brockman stage saw them drop over two minutes to the leaders.

“We fixed the coil, then punctured a tyre which also knocked a brake line off,” a disappointed Reeves said.

“With that repaired, we were hopeful of making up lost time, but another brake line then came loose and we had only rear brakes until the end of the event.

“It’s hard to take too many positives out of the weekend, but the fastest times in Heat 1 certainly showed what the RallySchool Mazda2 is capable of.

“We’ll build on this experience for the next round, where we hope that we’re due for some good luck.”

Day 2 of the Quit Forest Rally was taken out by the Renault Clio R3 of Scott Pedder and Dale Moscatt, 19 seconds clear of Heat 1 winners, Eli Evans and Glen Weston in a Honda Jazz G2. Pedder’s team-mate, Tom Wilde, was third in the second Renault.

The third round of the Australian Rally Championship is the Scouts Rally SA from May 24 to 26, where Reeves and Smyth will be hoping to further improve their Mazda2 and secure their first championship win of the season.

Quit Forest Rally – Heat 2 results

1. Scott Pedder / Dale Moscatt, Renault Clio R3, 1h04m42.6s

2. Eli Evans / Glen Weston, Honda Jazz G2, +19s

3. Tom Wilde / Bill Hayes, Renault Clio R3, +1m50.0s

4. Michael Boaden / Helen Cheers, Volkswagen Polo Vivio, +3m41.5s

5. Brendan Reeves / Rhianon Smyth, Mazda2, +3m56.8s