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Italian cars
shone in the classic categories with strong
representation from Alfa Romeo, Ferrari and
Fiat. However neither of the two Ferrari 308
GTB (above) entries reached the finish line. |
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Lamborghini
agonisingly missed out on victory as the Targa Tasmania
came to a dramatic conclusion this afternoon. Kevin
Weeks spectacularly crashed out of the lead battle
having been in charge going into the final day although
Jason White in a similar Gallardo Superleggera salvaged
Raging Bull honour with second place.
However it was
Queenslander Tony Quinn, driving a Nissan GTR, who run out a
comfortable six-minute winner of the modern section of Targa
Tasmania after his major rival crashed out of contention on
the second stage of the final day. It is the 51-year old's
first victory from 11 starts in the six-day tarmac classic,
with second and third positions going to Burnie drivers
Jason White in a Lamborghini, and Jamie Vandenberg in a
Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9.
Victorian Rex Broadbent has made it a hat-trick of wins in
the classic category, taking his 1974 Porsche 911 RS to a
clear win over the similar car of Bill Pye, with early
pace-setter Ben Wooster third in a 1990 Nissan Skyline GTS.
Greg Johnston has given Tasmania a home win in the Showroom
class, easily defeating the similar Lancer Evo 9 of 2008
champion Tony Warren, with Brendan Reeves third in his Mazda
3 MPS.
The final day of Targa Tasmania left the west coast town of
Strahan in wet and damp conditions, with Kevin Weeks holding
a slender eight second advantage over Quinn. Quinn, a former
Targa New Zealand winner, threw down the gauntlet on the
first stage just outside Strahan, beating Weeks by 11
seconds to reclaim the lead. Weeks set off in pursuit, but
he and co-driver, Bec Crunkhorn, crashed their Lamborghini
Gallardo Superleggera into trees near the end of the
Queenstown stage. Medical crew were quickly on the scene to
assist Weeks and Crunkhorn. Both were conscious and talking
to the rescuers before being airlifted to Hobart General
Hospital for further medical assessment; their dream of a
first Targa title in tatters.
Quinn’s lead was then out to nearly four minutes and, with
the Lamborghini of Jason White behind him experiencing major
brake problems, he was able to cruise in to Hobart to
collect the spoils of victory. “Our strategy was always to
keep up with the others and if we got the wet weather over
the last day or two, just to have a lunge for it,” Quinn
said. “I’ve always been bridesmaid to Jim (Richards) or the
Whites or somebody else, and we’re very pleased to finally
win it. It hasn’t sunk in yet and it feels like it’s been
the toughest and most competitive week there’s every been in
Targa. The top five or six guys have just been going hard at
it. The proof in that is that Jimmy (Richards), for the
first time ever, had a crash.”
The battle for the minor placings intensified as the day
progressed, with White being chased by Vandenberg. White’s
brake problems meant he had no confidence in the stopping
power of the big Italian sports car, and he was soon within
Vandenberg’s grasp. Going into the final 6.6 kilometre
stage, they were separated by just four seconds, but White
held on, finishing 10 seconds ahead of his fellow-Burnie
resident. “We’ve had more brake problems today and it was
too risky to push on and do anything, and there wasn’t much
point anyway,” White said. “We started the day deciding just
to defend third place. A podium result at any time is always
great; to stand on the podium after Targa, with all the
stuff that unfolds through an event like this, is still a
hell of a reason to celebrate.”
Vandenberg was equally as happy. “To get on the podium is
fantastic;” Vandenberg said. “We set our aim to finish in
the top five, and we thought that if we have a good run that
the top three would be possible if others had problems. We
were counting on some falling off the road or having
mechanical problems. Targa is the event that you aim to do,
and do well in, so third is just fantastic.”
In the classic competition, Rex Broadbent’s dominant display
in wet conditions on day four proved pivotal in securing his
third straight win. Despite suffering from a head cold early
in the event, Broadbent was clearly the class of the classic
field and took a commanding one minute 54 second victory.
“After the first day I was embarrassed about being 50
seconds behind the leader,” Broadbent admitted. “We lowered
our expectations significantly. A podium was all we were
likely to get, but weather conditions changed. This year
we’ve all had our moments,” Broadbent continued. “I
certainly spent a lot of brain energy in Melbourne thinking
about all the options that the weather was going to throw
up, and I thought our choice of tyres was the smartest one.
I thought we had a pretty good compromise that would last
the distance. We worked really hard for this one and we
virtually snatched it from oblivion.”
Behind Broadbent, Ben Wooster and Bill Pye were fighting
tooth and nail. Pye’s Porsche enjoyed the wet conditions
more than Wooster’s Nissan, and he came away with second
place. “We’ve had a good day today after a shocker yesterday
afternoon,” Pye said. “I was very confident the car would be
quicker in the rain, but this is the first time we’ve ever
run it in the wet and it was very edgy yesterday,” Pye
explained. “We mucked about with the suspension this morning
quite a bit and it was good, and I can’t help thinking that
if we’d done this yesterday we would have been a lot better
off. We also come here looking for a podium. It’s a long and
difficult event, and strategy comes into it, but Rex has
outsmarted us once again, so we’ll have to try again next
year.”
Wooster was a happy man in third, having not expected to be
as competitive before the event started. “It’s been a
fantastic event and we’ve had a ball,” Wooster said. “We
came into the event thinking we might be a contender for
late classic on handicap, but to find ourselves where we are
and competing for the outright classic win has just been a
massive effort from all involved.
Tasmanians had plenty to celebrate in the Showroom class.
Greg Johnston from Launceston, with his Burnie co-drive Mike
Stoneman, were the runaway winners in their Mitsubishi
Lancer Evo 9 over Hobart’s Tony Warren. The pair finished
three minutes 26 seconds clear of last year’s winner Warren
and his co-driver, Natasha Deneise, who were also in a
Lancer. Third was 20-year-old Victorian, Brendan Reeves,
driving the factory backed Mazda 3 MPS. “Anyone who has any
idea of how difficult these events are, knows that just to
finish is pleasing, but to finish at the front is pretty
special,” Johnston said. “As a racer you always turn up to
win, but in reality we thought we had a chance to be on the
podium, and that’s why we came. That’s why you spend all the
money. At the end of the day it’s the challenge of the
event. We have guys in different model cars, on different
tyres and with different strategies, so it’s not just what
you do on the road, but what you do after hours that counts.
We’ve very pleased. The Showroom category is probably the
way forward for the event. I think it should be somewhere
where the privateers get a chance to buy a car that’s
relatively undeveloped and develop it more in the shed,
rather than the factory.”
Targa
Tasmania final results
MODERN (Provisional)
1. Tony Quinn (QLD), Naomi Tillett (SA), 2008 Nissan GTR,
+8s
2. Jason White (TAS), John White (TAS), 2007 Lamborghini
Gallardo Superleggera, +6min 00s
3. Jamie Vandenberg (TAS ), Simon Vandenberg (TAS ), 2006
Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 9, +6:10s
4. Klark Quinn (QLD), Toni Feaver (WA), 2006 Mitsubishi
Lancer Evo IX, +6:28s
5. Dean Herridge (WA), Glen Weston (QLD), 2008 Subaru
Impreza WRX STI, +9:41s
CLASSIC (Provisional)
1. Rex Broadbent, Michael Goedheer, Porsche 911 Carrera RS
2. Bill Pye (NSW), Grant Geelan (NSW), Porsche 911 RS,
+1:54s
3. Ben Wooster (QLD), Tim Kulhanek (QLD), Nissan Skyline GTS-t,
+2:12s
4. John Ireland, Micheal Ribot, Prosche 911 Carrera 3,
+11:56s
5. Paul Batten, Mike Batten, 1961 Volvo PV544, +16:59s
SHOWROOM (Provisional)
1. Greg Johnston (TAS), Mike Stoneman (TAS), 2007 Mitsubishi
Lancer EVO 9
2. Tony Warren (TAS), Natasha Deniese (VIC), 2006 Mitsubishi
Lancer EVO 9, +3:26s
3. Brendan Reeves (VIC), Rhianon Smyth (VIC), 2007 Mazdda 3
MPS, +6:12s
EARLY CLASSIC (Provisional)
1. Paul Batten (NSW), Mike Batten (NSW), 1961 Volvo PV544
2. Peter Ullrich (NSW), Sari Ullrich (NSW), 1963 Jensen CV8,
+9:46
3. Andrew White (NT), Ashley Yelds (USA), 1961 Volvo 122S,
+13:54
LATE CLASSIC (Handicap) (Provisional)
1. Rex Broadbent, Michael Goedheer, Porsche 911 Carrera RS
2. Bill Pye (NSW), Grant Geelan (NSW), Porsche 911 RS,
+1:53s
3. Ben Wooster (QLD), Tim Kulhanek (TAS), 1990 Nissan
Skyline GTS-t, +2:12
EARLY MODERN (Provisional)
1. Ric Shaw (NSW), James Parish (NSW), 1997 Mazda RX7
2. Jeff Beable (VIC), Nerida Beable (VIC), 2000 Nissan
Skyline GTR V-Spec, +3:33
3. Matt Walsh (VIC), Patrick Bourke (NSW), 1994 BMW M3,
+7:52
4. David Ayers (TAS), Robbie Bolton (NSW), 1995 Nissan
Skyline GT-R V-Spec, +7:56
5. Paul Freestone (VIC), Christine Freestone (VIC), 2002
Holden Monaro CV8 T3, +11:02s
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