Brendan leads after day 1 of Lake Superior Performance Rally

The Australian rally pairing of Brendan Reeves and Rhianon Gelsomino have had a good start to the final round of the 2013 Rally America Series, the Lake Superior Performance Rally. After nine stages on the opening day of the event, Reeves and Gelsomino hold a 13.4 second lead in the 2WD class and sit in fourth place overall.

Day one's competition covered around 50 miles of stages in muddy, slippery conditions and Reeves fought a battle with current series leader, Andrew Comrie-Picard, all day. Whilst Reeves held the lead for most of the day, he did temporarily lose it when a rock jammed in one of the rear wheels of his Ford Fiesta R2 and slowed him down. His determination and speed saw him take back the lead on the second last stage of the day, and he holds a handy break going into the final day of competition.

Reeves didn't contest the first two rounds of the seven round Rally America series, but after securing a drive with Team O'Neil Rally, he and Gelsomino have contested every rally since, winning each of the four previous events they have entered. Prior to this weekend's rally, Reeves was just three points adrift of Comrie-Picard in the championship standings and he needs to win this weekend or finish second with Comrie-Picard finishing lower than him, to clinch the 2013 Rally America 2WD title.

"It's been a great day and night for us," Reeves said, "and we were changing the lead all the time with ACP.

"We had one small incident when our wheel scrapers bent and we got a rock jammed between the rim and rear brake caliper. Luckily it only locked the wheel for a short time before it came free again.

"The boys from Team O'Neil Rally now have the car and are getting it set for tomorrow's stages."

The final day of the Lake Superior Performance Rally covers another eight stages and around 45 miles of competition. Reeves and Gelsomino are hoping they'll be holding aloft the Rally America 2WD trophy come day's end.