Some of the photos available from the MSS Safety Gorge Rallysprint run on Sunday 13/09/2020 in the Adelaide Hills. The rallysprint concept has the long Gorge Road stage normally run in the Adelaide Rally broken up into 3 smaller stages and Anstey Hill included in the event. The stages are repeated in the reverse direction also, to comprise a total of 12 stages. This event comprises 4 categories of entrants, Challenge Classic (4 entrants), Challenge Modern (10), Competition Classic (8) and Competition Modern (11). A Tour group and Spirit group are also entered.
Stage 1 (SS1 Vista 1, a run down Anstey Hill) disappeared, and so did the Competition Modern Nissan S14 200 SX of Andre and Harry Lukasz shortly afterwards, being transported on a flat bed truck through SS3 Paracombe 1. At the end of the first of the Gorge stages (SS2 Pinkerton Gully 1, SS3 Paracombe 1 and SS4 Prairie 1) the results were as follows:
Challenge Classic – 1. Cook/Richards (Ford Escort), 2. Smith/Smith (Nissan Z31 300ZX), 3. Cox/Martin (Ford Escort). Challenge Modern – 1. Carruthers/Thomas (Subaru WRX STi), 2. Auld/Barker (Porsche 911 997.2 GT3), 3. Downing/Webber (Subaru WRX STi). Competition Classic – 1. Lomman/Bainbridge (Nissan 240Z), 2. Streckeisen/Streckeisen (Porsche 944 Turbo), 3. Pryzibilla/Powell (Porsche 911). Competition Modern – 1. Calder/Glenney (Mitsubishi EVO 6.5 TME), 2. Matthews/Catford (Mitsubishi Lancer EVO VI), =3. Possingham/Possingham (Mitsubishi EVO 8 RS) and Lovell/Sarandis (Subaru WRX STi Spec C)
A run down Anstey Hill as SS5 Vista 2 and the gorge stages in the west-east ”up the gorge” direction followed, but SS6 Pinkerton Gully 2 was dropped. Placings had changed in some of the categories. In Competition Modern category, Possingham/Possingham had retired their Mitsubishi EVO 8 RS with clutch issues, and in Competition Classic category Streckeisen/Streckeisen had to retire their Porsche 944 Turbo due to mechanical issues. Placings were now:
Challenge Classic – 1. Cook/Richards (Ford Escort), 2. Borthwick/Nistico (Toyota Corolla AE71) 12.1 secs back, 3. Smith/Smith (Nissan Z31 300ZX) 20.6 secs further back. Challenge Modern – 1. Carruthers/Thomas (Subaru WRX STi), 2. Auld/Barker (Porsche 911 997.2 GT3) 13.2 secs behind, 3. Downing/Webber (Subaru WRX STi) 4.4 secs further back. Competition Classic – 1. Lomman/Bainbridge (Nissan 240Z), 2. Pryzibilla/Powell (Porsche 911) 8.1 secs back, 3. Selley/McKendrick (Hartge H35-24S) 1 sec further back. Competition Modern – 1. Calder/Glenney (Mitsubishi EVO 6.5 TME), 2. Matthews/Catford (Mitsubishi Lancer EVO VI) 7.4 secs behind, 3. Lovell/Sarandis (Subaru WRX STi Spec C) 30.3 secs further back.
The final 4 stages of the event were the 3 gorge stages run in reverse direction towards the city, followed by a blast up Anstey Hill. In Challenge Modern, Auld/Barker in their Porsche 911 977.2 GT3 squeezed out everything they had in the car to climb past Carruthers/Thomas in the Subaru WRX STi that had been ahead of them the entire event. In Competition Classic, Selley/McKendrick (Hartge) in second place overall had got the better of Prizibilla/Powell in the loud orange Porsche, having passed them on the leaderboard on SS10 Kangaroo Creek.
Final results were as follows:
Challenge Classic – 1. Cook/Richards (Ford Escort), 2. Borthwick/Nistico (Toyota Corolla AE71) 9.8 secs back, 3. Smith/Smith (Nissan Z31 300ZX) 55.6 secs further back. Challenge Modern – 1. Auld/Barker (Porsche 911 997.2 GT3), 2. Carruthers/Thomas (Subaru WRX STi) 5.6 secs behind, 3. Downing/Webber (Subaru WRX STi) 13.3 secs further back. Competition Classic – 1. Lomman/Bainbridge (Nissan 240Z), 2. Selley/McKendrick (Hartge H35-24S) 11 secs back, 3. Pryzibilla/Powell (Porsche 911) 2.9 secs further back. Competition Modern – 1. Calder/Glenney (Mitsubishi EVO 6.5 TME), 2. Matthews/Catford (Mitsubishi Lancer EVO VI) 11.1 secs behind, 3. Lovell/Sarandis (Subaru WRX STi Spec C) 52.3 secs further back.
