Second outright for Brendan at Marysville Stages

Cold and wet conditions were forecast for the Marysville Stages rally but it was snow - and lots of it - that created a major challenge for competitors.  It wasn’t enough to affect the performance of Brendan Reeves and Kate Catford, though, with the pair bringing their Datsun 1600 home in (provisional) second place.

The event was made up of seven stages with the third stage, 30 kilometres in length, to be repeated twice. Unfortunately, due to heavy snow, stage three was deemed unsafe and was cancelled.

Starting as fourth car on the road, Reeves and Catford put in an impressive performance in the 2WD Datsun, with just seconds separating them from the more modern machinery ahead of them.  Throughout the rally they improved their position, eventually finishing second, less than a minute behind the all-wheel-drive Subaru WRX of Darren Windus and Joe Brkic.

Reeves was happy with his pace from the outset and recent changes to the car - including improving the brake balance between front and rear - were beneficial in the tricky conditions.

“Today’s conditions were tricky but it was a lot of fun,” Reeves said.

“The car performed really well, our pace was good and once again Kate did a great job in the co-driver’s seat.  She has competed in this event many time before and knows it well, so that is always beneficial.

“Now we’ve got a two month break before the next round of the Victorian Rally Championship so we’ll continue to make improvements to the Datsun so we can step up our pace even more.”

Round 4 of the Victorian Rally Championship, the Gippsland Rally, will be based out of Heyfield on August 7.

Photo: Wishart Media