Day One 

The first day of competition at the 2018 Winmax Brakes by Paddon Rallysport Ashley Forest Rallysprint began with the qualifying.  It had been several years since there had been a full field at this event and it was a class one again this year.

Following the Driver's Briefing, where a minute's silence was held in memory of Kevin Corin, the first run of the day got underway.  A quarter of the field set sub 1 minute 10 second times on this run.  As expected Hayden Paddon in the Hyundai i20 AP4, defending champion and overall record holder Sloan Cox, Mitsubishi Evo 8 Hillclimb Special, and Alister McRae making his debut, in the Vantage Subaru 98 WRC, were setting the top times.  Good battles were developing throughout the field.  The road was proving challenging for some with a number of drivers having spins at various points on the course.  The Supa Karts Indoor Raceway 0-1300cc class was strongly contested with a record 10 competitors.  The same was true of the all Toyota Southern Salvage 1301-1600cc class.  The pace setters at the end of the run were Hayden Paddon, who threw down the gauntlet setting a 57.18, Mike Tall, Mitsubishi Mirage, and Sloan Cox closely followed by Alister McRae and Neil Webb, also driving a Mirage.

The second run saw times continue to drop with Alister McRae setting an impressive 58.65.  Hayden was proving very quick and he was gunning for Sloan's record of 54.96 coming within just under three tenths of a second of it in a time of 55.24.  Sloan had mechanical issues on this run.   The road conditions continued to be challenging for the 2WD cars as a number experienced spins.  Glenn Frew, winner of the 2007 Ashley Forest Rallysprint, rolled his Mitsubishi Evo on the uphill.  Glenn would go no further in the event.

Run 3 saw the top drivers continue to set sub-minute times.  All the action was happening further down the field with Corey MacAskill, Subaru Impreza, having a spectacular lose after the finish line and spinning into the tyres.  His car sustained some panel damage and it looked like that would be the end of his weekend.  This run ended with a dozen cars still to go when Sheldon Bell, Mitsubishi Evo 1, wiped out a hay bale. 

Day  Two

Day Two began with the completion of the 3rd qualifying round.  Mike Tall, who had been a front runner all Saturday broke off the start line and was out for the weekend.  Corey MacAskill had got his car repaired overnight.  The status quo was maintained at the top of the field. 

Next up was the final qualifying round and the last chance for the drivers to get into the top 32.  There was an early exit for defending champion Sloan Cox on this run with his Hillclimb Special experiencing mechanical issues.  This opened the door for someone to get the third step on the podium.  Willy Hawes had a costly spin on this run when he was on the cusp of getting into the top 16.   Hayden and Alister were still battling it out for top honours, being the only 2 still running to go under the minute.

The top 16 round saw another top seed make an early exit from the event.  This time it was Hayden Paddon whose i20 suffered an engine failure.  Setting a quick 1.03.18 was Graeme Bjerring in the ex-Kim Austin Mitsubishi Starion.  This car was the one in which Kim Austin set the course record in1999, which stood until 2016 when it was broken by Sloan Cox.  This only left two of the top 6 competitors still running so now the 2nd step of the podium was up for grabs.  Neil Webb set his first sub minute time of the weekend.  Not far behind was Matt Summerfield, Subaru Legacy, who was leading the Brand Mechanical 4WD Rally Class.  Also making steady improvements was Garet Thomas, Subaru WRX STI, closing in on breaking the minute mark in 3rd overall at the end of the round.  

The remaining 8 competitors were largely in the same spots with the exception being Matt Summerfield who had leapfrogged Garet Thomas for 3rd overall. The pair had been trading places all weekend.  

The competition was really hotting up in the top 4.  Garet Thomas and Matt Summerfield set identical times to the hundredths of a second with the thousandths seeing Matt take third overall.  Garet set his first ever sub minute time at this event.     

The top 2 runoff did not disappoint the large crowd that stayed until the end of the event.  Alister McRae chose to go first, setting a 55.35.  This piled all the pressure onto Neil Webb.  He gave it his all setting a personal best time of 56.04.  

Congratulations to Alister McRae and the Vantage Subaru Motorsport Team for taking the win.  In doing so Alister McRae becomes the first international driver to win the event.

A huge thanks goes to all the volunteers who helped before, during and after the event.  Without all of them we would not have been able to run the event.  Thanks also to all the competitors who came from all over the country, across the ditch and back from competing in Europe to be here.  

For the full results of the 2018 Winmax Brakes by Paddon Rallysport Ashley Forest Rallysprint Click here

Article added: Monday 24 September 2018