Round 4 2019 Zestino Rally Sprints was a lot quieter than round three. We had 23 entries for the previous round and only nine for this one. We think the weather had a big influence on the numbers. Perth had an absolute shellacking with 27mm of rain falling in the three days prior to our event.
Where we were we got a much lesser amount. The light rain actually helped really well with the roads. It gave us near-perfect conditions. So with the compact field we ran four stages. There was an opportunity for those that entered to pick up some extra points and move up some places in the series too.
Kicking off the last round
We kicked off stage one of Round 4 Zestino Rally Sprints in the late afternoon. The other three stages ran in the dark after a dinner break. Thankfully after the last couple of sprints we had we had no dramas and everyone had a great day of racing.
Crunch bang
Entering Round 4 Zestino Rally Sprints as a first time driver Angela Hewer has having a ball. Co driven by by her husband Stuart, halfway into the last stage the gearbox in their Excel let go. Unfortunately they didn’t finish that run and were allotted a time.
Top ten with ease
With the small field it meant that all finishers gained a top ten position. In eighth place was Paul “Hutchy” Hutchinson and Jared Sewell. It was Hutchy’s first drive in a four-wheel-drive car and their Liberty RX was the only all-wheel drive car entered at this round.
Seventh place in Round 4 Zestino Rally Sprints went to Jason Whelan and Brad Prentice in their Hyundai Getz. Sixth place went to Dale hands and his awesome sounding V8 Ford Fairmont.
Top 5
Stuart Hewer with wife Angela alongside co-driving had a great day finishing fifth in the Excel. The gearbox held on long enough and didn’t expire until Ang’s last run.
The young and the restless
Junior Jarrod Sewell in only his second sprint finished in fourth place at Round 4 Zestino Rally Sprints. Hutchy gamely co-drove the youngster. Jared did say however that it took a bit of getting used to with the four-wheel drive car. He also discovered that pulling the handbrake resulted in locking all four wheels!
On the podium
Third place and two-wheel drive honors went to Graham Mogg and Karen Russell in their Hyundai Excel. Dale Faulkner did very well in his Impreza wagon as a single driver. He finished very well in second place.
That left the top spot for Round 4 Zestino Rally Sprints. That went to Chris Reynolds and Sam Clarke in their Can-am side-by-side.
2019 Zestino Rally Sprint Points
Rookies
So let’s take a look at the 2019 Zestino Rally Sprints Series points. Starting with the rookies it was Tiana Chapman and Graham Mogg that took a solid win to Nathan Adey and Dave Thomas. In the single driver category Dale Faulkner edged out Neal Johnson for the top placing.
4 wheel drive
The well represented four-wheel-drive class win went to Kelly and Dave Thomas. Equal second was shared between Barry McGuinness/Glenn Alcorn (WRX) and Paul Hutchy/Jarrod Sewell.
2 wheel drive
Graham Mogg had a fantastic year sealing the two-wheel-drive series with Karen Russell and Tiana Chapman alongside during the year. Second two wheel drive went to Jason Whelan with Brad Prentice alongside.
Outright
That leads us to the outright positions. In third place was Kelly and Dave Thomas. Unfortunately they missed round four because Kelly had an impending trip to China to represent Australia in a Gymkhana series.
Second outright in the 2019 Zestino Rally Sprints was taken by Paul Hutchy. Jarrod Sewell and Michael Lloyd co-drove during the year and they used a combination of both their Can-am and the Liberty RX.
The top spot for 2019 was taken by Chris Reynolds. He had a combination of co-drivers during the year including his wife Tracy and on the last round Sam Clarke. Of course Chris also took the side-by-side buggy class as well.
So that wraps up our 2019 Zestino rally sprint series. Special thanks to Tim from Better Value Tires and Zestino. Also to everyone else that either; participated, helped out as an official or even watched online. The support is very much appreciated. Rally Sprint points here
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