Season-ending victory for Reeves

Brendan Reeves and Aidan O’Halloran took the honours at this weekend’s Southern Classic Rally based out of Marysville in Victoria.

Competing in Reeves’ Datsun 1600, the pair were amongst a list of 80 competitors spread across three different categories, including the Classic category in which they were entered.

 Reeves contested the Marysville-based event two years ago although the conditions this time round were totally different.  On his previous outing, the rally was held in May and crews had to deal with snow, but for this year’s edition, it was hot and dusty.

Reeves and O’Halloran ran as the first car on the road all day.  This proved to be an advantage on the day’s final stage when dust started to cause visibility issues.

Originally slated as a 230-kilometre-long event, various reasons saw the rally reduced to around 160 kilometres of competition.  The rally’s seven stages were mostly held on up and downhill mountain roads, and the hard, loose surface resulted in heavy tyre wear. 

In the 32-kilometre-long Stage 3, Reeves started on brand new hard tyres and by the 30-kilometre mark had suffered a puncture whilst another tyre was worn down to the steel belts.  Incredibly, he still managed to win the stage.

Reeves was rapt with the performances of both the Datsun 1600, which didn’t miss a beat all day, and his co-driver Aidan O’Halloran. It wasn’t the first time O’Halloran had sat alongside Reeves but their first pairing ended prematurely when mechanical issues forced them to retire from the Ada River Rally in 2021.

As the event was route charted, and therefore a ‘blind’ rally, Reeves had to read the road well, and having a capable co-driver like O’Halloran alongside gave him the confidence to push hard.

Finishing the year with top spot on the podium was just reward for Reeves and his team of loyal supporters.

Final standings still to come.

Photo by Browne Bear Photography