June Khanacross

The weather turned up a brilliant show for our June Khanacross. A chance to do some rally driving on warm and sunny day with a hint of breeze. It was just what the doctor ordered.

Round 3 of the Light Car Club Championship attracted a good field of 25 drivers. The make up included five families, three scout groups and 12 juniors. It showed that Khanacross is truly motorsport that young and old can enjoy together.

Racing begins and the fun starts early

With the competitors split into two groups, two tests were run at the same time. Running the tracks in both forward and reverse directions gave plenty of challenges and fun for drivers.  Whitlam Tyrrell (Hyundai Lantra) and Jim Fraser (Nissan Pulsar) got themselves wrong ways early on. The former when he managed to perch the car on a bank that required a tow out.

Penalty brings a grin

The juniors were finding their feet with the event. By the fourth test several had clipped markers or partially overshot the finish garages. Perhaps the most entertaining was Dave Leighton in his V8 ute. Blasting through one test Dave was set for the fastest time. That was until he stopped completely outside the garage and gained a wrong way instead. The grin on Dave’s face however seemed worth the penalty!

Drifting like a Boss

After lunch the scenery changed. We used our salt flat to set another couple of tests. Both have proved favourites in the past and this Khanacross was no exception. One of the tests was fast and flowing. There was plenty of space to drift around and some tried for style points rather than the fastest time. Dave Leighton would steal the show hanging the tail out in the V8 Falcon like a boss.

Eight tests, 25 drivers and the results

Neil Trethowen took his “Kangaroo” Nissan Pulsar to tenth place. Without the two cones he hit in test three, he’d have been ninth. Georgie Thomas had a solid drive and took her shared Ford Laser to ninth place. Karen Russell returned to competition after a few years sabbatical and took her 2WD Subaru Impreza to eighth.

Split by a second

Junior Tiana Chapman found a big improvement in speed at this Khanacross. She drove solidly in her Hyundai Excel beating her Mum by nine seconds. The reward was seventh place. Graham Mogg had a good event in his shared Hyundai Lantra. He fended off Tiana by a slender 1.8 seconds and took sixth.

Close shave

Kelly Thomas (Laser) was a force to be reckoned with at this event. She won four of the eight tests. Overshooting a finish garage on the fourth test however cost her ten seconds. Kelly finished the Khanacross; first lady, first junior and fifth outright. Neal Johnson slid into fourth place by the blink of an eye. He’d edged out Kelly by just 0.64 seconds in his Hyundai Lantra.

First to third in one fell swoop

At the lunch time break Aarin Hahn led by three seconds. He was driving quickly in his Toyota Corolla and looked a good chance for the overall win. On test eight Aarin missed a turn and had to reverse back. It cost him 12 seconds and dropped him to third.

Runner Up

Bob Percival was one of the quiet achievers for the day. He was never far from the pointy end keeping it neat and fast. By the end of the event he got his Hyundai Excel into second place. The gap to third was 1.5 seconds and the gap to first was just over one second.

Grabbing top spot

Dave Thomas pedalled hard in his Falcon Ute all day. A fastest time on test one helped however rear wheel drive was a challenge on the tight tracks. With others falling back with penalties, Dave’s consistency paid off. He won the June Khanacross from Bob by 1.02 seconds.

The last two events have seen very close racing. At this round the top five places were separated by just 3.3 seconds!

Special Thanks

Special thanks to our officials: Geoff, Andrew, Bec, Oakley, Maureen, Nick and his family for helping with the timing. It was great to see a lot of families participating.

Results

Click Here to download the Results

Next Event

The next Khanacross is on Sunday the 29th of July. Event details, regs and entries can be found by clicking here