 It's uncompromising, addictive and often unforgiving with an adrenaline rush like no other. There is no practice, no second chances. It's the ultimate motorsport competition on gravel. It is Rally and this is the East Coast All Bars Australian Rally Championship. Welcome to the 2015 season opening round coming to you from the Quick Forest Rally in Western Australia. In today's show, we'll preview the season ahead with our resident rally experts Dean Herridge and Ross Duncan, bringing you the highlights of the cars that won rally championships 40 years ago and feature the Armour All STP Power Stage this year, including both two and four-wheel drive. Five bonus points on offer for both categories are the great way to start the championship points haul here in Busselton, three hours south of Byrd. Ross Duncan, what a fabulous part of the world to start our championship off. It certainly is and look at the weather, spectacular. You know, Dean, this event is the longest running event in the ARC. You know, there's a lot of heritage here in West Australia. This is where it really all began and for me, it did anyway because, you know, I managed to win a couple here. You did manage to win a couple, which gives you great experience, while we're great to have you back on board. Let's go back 12 months to last year, you're at every round. What was your take on the series? Two guys really fought it out, but there was a couple of guys coming up through the ranks as well. There certainly was Scott Petter and Ben and Reeves and of course Scott is not going to be with us this year. He's got to deal with the World Rally Championship, but the guy that stood out was young Mackenzie, like he was on fire towards the end and he's going to start here. He's going to have a lot of competition. So he might have been part of that new history talk about starting here in Perth. When we go back and talk about this year moving forward, Eli Evans, Simon Evans, brothers, both former champions, they're here in very similar cars. This is the big match-up that we've all been waiting for. It certainly is and, you know, people that are involved in rallying know just how quick Simon was, you know, and it still is, I reckon he still is, and the two brothers together. Oh, that's going to be right on. So, Duncan, with, you know, Eli in the car, do you think he's going to help that team move forward and develop that car to be more competitive? I think he will because he's a very good driver and he knows how to set a motor car up, so he will be up there. And of course, we've got, you know, his brother in the proven Honda, which Eli used to campaign a couple of years ago, that's proven, has plenty of power, and you spoke about how good Simon is, but we talked about Mackenzie at the start last year. You know, he was one of the fastest guys taking on the guys chasing the championship. What do you think he's going to do here? First time to Perth, we spoke about it, you know, the history here. Is he the dark horse in the field, or really the guy who's coming through? Well, as we all know, it's very difficult to driving in West Australia because of the ball bearing gravel. It'll take him three or four stages to settle in, but I think he's got huge potential, and of course we've got Molly Taylor showing the mix too, of course, with the Renault. So, and that car is very well developed. And what you're talking about there, she's taken over the championship-winning Renault, a Scott Petter campaigner won his first Australian championship, a dream for him. She takes that car on, so that is the proven package. Now, this is a big test for Molly herself, isn't it? She's got a lot of international experience, but here, once again, in a real big fight for outright. It certainly isn't. And of course, the four-wheel drive national series, big change. Big change. It changes in the rules, and a matter of fact, we're going to allow Maxi cars in, and we may see that at the next round. Mark Petter's got one of them lined up. We've got a former champion, Justin Dourock up in four-wheel drive. And we've got Mick Patton, who was in last year's outright championship. He's stepping into the national series again, four-wheel drive, where he's come from, and a whole heap of locals. You're a local. You won on this event. It's a key event for that point of view, isn't it? It certainly is. And of course, the young gun from here. Dylan King. We've got Brad Markovic, John O'Dowd, last year's champion, Doug Tostavan. And when we speak about the unique roads here, those guys can really take it to the ARC regulars. And you have a feeling about, if you can win here, you can win anyway, don't you? And talking about champions, we've got the Hall of Fame again this year, which is a great show to go to. One of the highlights, of course, last year, Ari Barton, this year, another, you know, big world name, four times champion. Thanks to Finair. He's coming across to be our special guest speaker. It's a fabulous night, isn't it, Duncan? It's something not to miss if you're a rally fan. Even if you're not a rally fan, anybody who's involved in motorsport, you've got to come and listen to this guy. It is a great night. Talking about great, this event should be great, Duncan. I know you're excited. We're in for a big championship, and it all starts here with, of course, the STP and Armour All Power Stage. It's going to be great. I am excited. We're looking forward to it. A big change in 2015 with both outright and four-wheel drive getting the chance to bag extra points. Just three places are on offer for a maximum of five bonus points. Only one qualifying run is allowed, so there's just one shot. The fastest three will then line up for the one-off chance and grabbing the points. This is the same venue as last year, but after significant changes to the foreshore area by Busselton Council, the Armour All STP Power Stage, now encompasses some of the main street surrounding Barnard Park. From the start, it's a 180-degree left, leading to Marine Terrace. Navigating the traffic islands will be top priority before cars return through the park and a right-hander leading to the end of the first sector. From the Can-Am split, it's a flat-out sprint through the coach's higher speed trap back to where they started. A further pass on the same road, over a kilometre and a half, marks the second split at the Polaris Farrill. Crews will need to execute a handbrake turn, returning in the other direction. The final sector comes up midway along the Armour All STP, a total distance of 3.76 kms. We've crossed Duncan's out on the circuit right now. We'll catch up with him after the break about just what it will take to win this first-ever Armour All STP four-wheel drive power stage. Welcome back to the East Coast Bullbars Australian Rally Championship. It's a stunning day here in Busselton and Dean Herridge is with Ross Duncan, who's been checking out the power stage. Ross Duncan, the five-times national champ. No one better to speak to about our Armour All and STP power stage than the first one of the year, mate. How was it? Accelerating. This stage has been run many, many times. They have altered it slightly and there's still that tricky round the barrel. There's a hairpin and a lot of square corners, but the guys are going to win this, as you know, are the guys with the tarmac experience. The technique is to come up, brake heavily, get off the brakes, turn it in and then gun it. Trouble is the rally guys here just drive it like me. Coming to the corner, understeer, that's a drama. Fastest brake will be the guy with the most experience on tarmac. And you've got to be smooth, don't you? You're not going smooth. There's the guy. Rusty, it's over you. You've got the four-wheel drives for the first time competing in the Armour All and STP power stage. Over to you to recap the highlights. The highlight of qualifying was the last spot available. Locals Robert Webber and Brad Markovic were split by a couple of imports. Henley Knot and South Australia and Marqueta from Victoria. All four separated by less than half a second, but none could make the cut. Nick Patton stepped back into a four-wheel drive for the first time in two years, again, for Repco. It wasn't yet up to the pace. John O'Dowd suffered engine failure, sending his team back to Perth in search of a piston. And Scott McKenzie couldn't match the speed of the others in his freshly rebuilt Impressor WRX. No such problems for Doug Tostovan and Dylan King though. Both locals always quick, but this time separated by former Aussie rally champs Justin Dow and Matt Lee on their return to the top competition after two years away. So our three finalists were assured of points. They are Doug Tostovan, Justin Dow and Dylan King. And they're about to face off to see who will take maximum points in the Armour All STP power stage. So our third fastest qualifier in the four-wheel drive series is last year's West Australian champs, Doug Tostovan. It's a nice work to get in, right? Yeah, I'm very happy to have qualified and get a shot at this stage. It's great fun. Now you're known to be very flamboyant and around here is a bit of a balance between speed and being neat and tidy. Ross Duncan's around here earlier. What's your attitude now you've made the final? Yeah, well my crew don't like the flamboyant style of strict instructions, do not damage the car. Well you've made it in, congratulations. Have a real clean and tidy run. Thanks guys. Nice words from Dean Herridge as we are good to go. Nice start by Tostovan. Slides through there, beautifully done. The fourth year of competition for this pairing, they've been good friends for a long time. Doug Tostovan, Tammy Adams, little mutual of the car. They're a bit of understeer on entry, tidy on the exit. Dean said, reigning WA rally champions. They clinched that in October last year after a busy and exciting season there in WA. Fierce competition winning two of the six rounds at Can-Am. On the power, nice and early, with the coach's speed zone they come now. And that's the attitude that Doug was talking about with Dean before they got going. Again, tidy, neutral through there, looks nice. He began rallying back in 1988 when he was just 18 years of age. That was in a Datsun but he's been very loyal to Subaru since 1995. No issues with the radio, we should point out too. There's just minimal, little bit of, as you can hear there, little bit of comment from Tamara but she's effectively letting Doug just get on with it. Back at Can-Am once again. And again, very early on the power. Bit of tire smoke coming from those buff tires into the coach's speed zone. Look at the car there, beautiful. And big lock up, big lock up. He goes very deep at the Polaris hairpin. There when you go the reverse way around Can-Am. Yes, Technics Subaru team. Back there from some of our crew on that point. The car may have coughed at the hairpin so is there an issue here for Tostovan as we work towards the finish of this power stage. Almost inside of the line. Over the line finish. Oh he's missed the gear. Tostovan's missed the gear there. We get the benchmark time though at 2.36. What happened? Low on fuel when we handbrake. Doug Tostovan, very spectacular from what I could see. Yeah, well look it was all really good up to that point and then I might have just had a little bit low on fuel and picked up some air at the last hairpin and just cut out for a second. Just a little bit disappointing. It was other than that, pretty good. It was a good run. These stages get your adrenaline going. I can see you already got a bit of a shake on this pressure you're driving well. It's unbelievably fun in here isn't it? Oh look you can have all the plan in the world before the flag drops and then once you start it's anything goes. It's all straight. You've got a time on the board. Good luck eh? Thanks guys. So no issues on the intercom as we said but Doug's suggesting some sort of fuel pick up issue maybe not quite enough in the tank and the missed gear, the miss shift gritting his teeth and willing the car to the line. We have a benchmark but the two fastest qualifiers yet to come will Justin Dowell be able to knock Doug Tostovan out of the Armoural STP Power Stage. We'll find out after this. You're watching the Armoural STP Power Stage coming to you from the Quit Forest Rally in WA. Dean Herridge is with our second fastest qualifiers taking part in their first ever Power Stage. Former national champs here, Justin Dowell and Matt Lee mate you made the qualifier here, fantastic run. Yeah no mistakes yet so keep it nice and smooth here and we should be alright. This is sort of your debut here for a Power Stage and you've sort of wedged between a couple of locals so what's the plan? Not to get sucked into the race and end up in the concrete barriers like I normally do. Like you normally do. Don't talk yourself out of it but good clean run you need around here and you've got the speed but it is hard around here particularly with those buff rally tyres. It's not a natural feel for a tarmac stage is it? No not at all not a natural feel tarmac for gravel rally drivers at all but look you know we'll go as fast as we can without taking any silly risk. It's good that Mark and Henry are in it so at least we'll get some point of advantage. Yeah exactly right mate that's what's all about the points good luck. Thank you. Former national champs splitting some fast west Australian drivers awesome to have Justin Dowell and Matt Lee back in the game we're away and he wanted to keep it off the walls away from those barriers but the eyes suggest a different approach right now. Great combination these guys they won the title in 2011 and triple Victorian rally champions as well 05, 06 and 07. Tidy there maybe a little on the conservative side let's check the split here as they come around Karen Ann relative to Tostov and it's down but not by much. 200 200 break free left. Not sliding so much there through the coach speed zone. A bit later under brakes at this point he's starting to warm up you get the feeling Justin Dowell really beginning to push now. A little bit of smoke under brakes there maybe just too deep didn't quite arrest the speed into the left hander. Active rally sport crew they've been together for years here Matt Lee. Matt Lee born into a rally family first competed in an historic rally in 93 and has done things like the Australian safari and the round Australia rally too at Karen Ann now as he goes much wider this time down. Through the coach speed zone once again look at the attitude of the car not quite as wild as Tostov and he's taking a very different line of the Polaris hairpin he's down though that's the significant thing in this final sector can Justin Dowell and Matt Lee find a way to move to the top of the board in the car by the looks of it you can see him oh just catches it there he's pushing Dowell he's pushing here but it's as though he's grappling with the car for some reason almost inside of the Armoral finish line now for Justin Dowell and Matt Lee in the Mitsubishi there's the marker and it doesn't look like it's going to be enough but he does get some time back just a doubt you're not going to believe you missed it by 0.4 of a second just yeah i made a bit of a mistake i left the diffs open thinking it would help with turning but uh under braking the car just wanted to step out on me but it's a bit of a mistake but other than that i still had fun you certainly did make the crowd absolutely loved it so well done for that thank you that explains it for you stepping out as he approached that Polaris hairpin we thought that he was just fighting it a little the key thing the main thing as they head into the forest ages they have a nice tidy car and a good chance at points so it's the young west australian guns here dillon king and lee titty mate well done fastest qualifiers and those two just had a run through 0.4 of a second apart so it's it's on for young yeah can't wait to get out there we had a great qualifying um me and charny are very surprised with our efforts in qualifying um we've had pretty bad runs here before with a pretty bad time so really good to have a great qualifying and we're looking forward to it what do you think it was about this qualifying what did you do different maybe from previous years that got the time on the board um been doing a bit of go-karting so a bit more used to the go all the whole tarmac sort of side of it and uh new engine it's going great cars wonderful so can't wait to get out there keep that form going and good luck see if you can knock them off thank you he's got great memories of this event 12 months ago as well dillon king he was the best of the fierce west australian competitors and he wants to do the same at the quick forest rally in 2015 nice start a little bit of a brake lock up there voice you hear is of lee titty and if you follow the coverage in recent years he's a familiar voice a familiar face in co-driving terms in this sport he's got a big year ahead business wise he says but he wants to focus on this first at canam look at the attitude of the car and crucially he's ahead of his rival tost oven by a fraction he's never come up some issue here by the looks of it left three the speeds down as they come through the coach higher speed zone relative to their rivals is there a problem here for dillon king the 19 year old checking the gauges as he works up through the gearbox maybe he's recovered here somehow since that victory here 12 months ago he's been a bit up and down they rolled the car at boddington and then they had engine issues at collie in the w a championship looks nice here through canam once again so he seems to have some speed some power back there was concern in that cockpit at about this point one lap ago polaris it's beautifully executed but look at the damage bottom right of your screen that's really telling so the middle sector has hurt this pairing but we're not sure yet why fuck of the course ross tapper said there is huge competition among the w a guys and so it is between tost oven and dillon king they had not come up against justin down before awesome to have the four-wheel drives as a part of this it's become a showpiece at the beginning of each round of the australian rally championship and the four-wheel guys four-wheel drive guys i should say are really enjoying it he's down but clearly hamstrung by some sort of problem dillon mate you just missed it by a couple of seconds talk us through your run we had a terrible run we had a good start i got to the hairpin came out of the hairpin the engine started like feel like it started seasoning up it was really really grubbing so uh we backed off a bit turned the anti-lag off and all of a sudden it built back up again so we got back on it but it wasn't enough to do anything so bad luck but oh well let's uh change it all on the in the stages tomorrow exactly right mate well done for getting in and good luck tomorrow smart work by dillon king and lee tini on the run to deal with that and to try and actually find a a second or a second and a half here he is here realising that that issue had confronted them and they were still able to fight back for a few points in the power stage dark toss of the tan the energy did it at your first one off but it means you have to wait yeah um i'm very happy to do that um dillon he he drove really well and i was watching him i thought maybe he could do it and then he made a meal of the handbrake turn up there so all those years my misspent use in mcdonnell's car park doing handbrake turns it paid off i knew it i told my mum it'd be useful for something there you have it the inaugural armor all stp power stage winners doug tosterman and tammy adams collecting the bonus five points the outright power stage final is coming up next we'll be back in just a few moments you're watching the armor all stp power stage here in bustleton western australia the four wheel drive competition has been won now it's the turn of the two wheel drive outright competitors ross don't get into four wheel drives and i don't know if they took any advice on board they were reasonably smooth but wow spectacular they certainly were dianean you can see the crucial part of this track is getting around that barrel those two leading cars did it it's going to be interesting to see what happens with the two wheel drives we're talking about a bit more horsepower of the four wheel drives but they're carrying extra weight so a power to weight ratio the front wheel drives should be as quick but can they get around that barrel as good as dougie well that will be yet to be seen and it is all about our outright cars now and over to you russie to recap the highlights thanks dean has expected the outright competitors couldn't launch as quickly out of the hairpins and tight corners but fastest qualifier simon evans gave it a good go it was the wall though that slowed molly taylor breaking the steering in her first competitive outing behind the wheel of the reno it's obviously not ideal but you know the car was actually feeling really really good i just got on the power a little bit too early coming out one of the corners and um glanced the the concrete wall we were close i thought we were getting away with it if you drive around this stuff too easy you don't learn anything so now we know that we learned that lesson and now we'll be right a clean run for steve mckenzie in the opticoke fiesta but just not quick enough despite cutting corners at every mark the big news was elie evans the number one factory driver for citrin just missed the cut to three leading teammate tony sullens and adrian coppin also in a ds3 to fight out the final so adrian coppin tony sullens and simon evans line up for the first championship points in the armor all stp power stage for 2015 adrian coppin and erin cali mate well done good job to get in star started feeling you qualify well done yeah really happy with the run everything just worked out well the car felt good and i got a lot more confidence this year second year around in the car so um it's a perfect start and we'll see what we can do here what is the plan from here i mean you got last year's teammate with you in the same sort of car and then of course a former champ back are you just going to get your run out of the way and see how it goes or you've got a little bit of this you know trick up your sleeve uh look you know i'm very lucky i got uh a bit of mentoring in between from nil to tell me what to do right and what to do wrong so um look we'll just go out and do our thing and see where we end up but you know to jag at least one point out of this would be great and head into the forest tomorrow right well done for getting in and good luck around here thanks for the no cheers yeah it's a really good result before the rally proper even begins well done to adrian coppin start 52 it's like it's struggled a little bit off the line there remember we're now in front wheel drive or two-wheel drive mode so it's a different attack a different approach from the drivers beautifully presented car and some of the stuff he's been posting on social media he's super excited about the 2015 season adrian coppin that inside curve by the looks of it but the point there was he wanted to keep the car away from the wall on the outside down to the can am hairpin a little bit of push on entry goes wide close to those barriers through the stp speed zone tidy very tidy you heard him talking about that mentoring before the start of the run and the impact that's had push push there trying to get the car through fast again he clips that inside curve tight line there deliberately so trying to straight line it as much as he can right down to the hairpin here can am once again lift that left rear wheel trying to get the car turned 130 entry one right around barrel erin kelly sounding so calm attacks the barrel the Polaris hairpin from the other side on the gas nice and early and smokes those front wheels and it pushes once again at can am but looks nice through there though into the final sector now this will be the benchmarker will it be enough for coppin to walk away with more than one point he's assured of that at least clips that bollard by the looks of it on the left so he used all of the road right to the finish line how he feels about this it seemed to build as the stage went on fluff the start up a bit and his corner over here the one near was getting stuck into me i still didn't get it right but look i don't know we'll see i think the hairpin felt okay like we ran a little bit wide but the momentum was there so i guess we'll just wait and see what these other two do it's difficult in these cars i mean talking through that handbrake you've got to go through you know you've got sequent you've got to get down the box and they're quite tall gear so they are hard at low speed aren't they yeah that's right you've got to really like get the speed washed off but keep enough momentum to get the car figure around but get on the power early enough to uh keep the momentum out or you sort of just bog down and then you start from scratch again so we'll see how we go right good job for getting there you've got the time on the board that's the beautiful thing now let's see how the other two go thanks do no cheese we'll take a look at that start again on the cuneau tire replay he's very lost it to the human but he did that typically through the left hand to clipping that curb was happy as he said at the Polaris hairpin look at him on the gas nice and early pushes off the exit but manages to keep it away from the bale can tony sullen's beat his time we'll find out after the break when we return to the quit forest rally in bustleton welcome back to the arm of all stp power stage from west australia dean herridge is on the start line with our second fastest qualifier tony sullen's julie barklay well done mate second in the qualifying run good job yeah very surprising i um i haven't done any much in tarmac as you know what happened last time we were here so um and i'm pretty happy car's good saying that that's a little bit to do with the cars and the package you do here you mean you've got great pedigree on tarmac you've won target as many before there's no mean feat so when you got the package right i think you know you can do it yes and i'm probably a little bit too stiff at the moment the car's not it's push understeering i can't get the back to give me enough front traction if you know what i mean so i'm struggling a little bit there so with that in mind what's the plan around here then you're gonna go for the time i just don't come it up so he says good luck regardless like thank you three simple words keep it tidy and don't bend it he's away once again with julie barkley alongside him for the 2015 season they're a good combination as dean said before they've had success at tarmac events like target Tasmania stages of this nature aren't falling to them pushes there goes very close to the barriers he's trying tony sullens the difference in the qualifying run between he and adrian coppin was just three tenths we'll see how he is relative to coppin as they battle for points he's up significantly it's a second the advantage is a second 100 through the coach's higher speed zone and that's speed identical incidentally to adrian poppin both of them 144 ks an hour at that point hard to pull the car up as he came through the last corner turn and that's really narrow it's just like he's tidied things up a little he was pushing on before nice line through that point as he works down again toward canam pushes right out wide toward the barrier here we go around the Polaris hairpin and beautifully executed he's dropped a little bit of time in that sector but still retains the advantage over adrian coppin is this pairing in the ds3 about to move to the top of the power stage into the final sector only a few corners to go now calm to this pairing look in the heat of competition points for the championship is what they're fighting for all bit of push bit of push julia urging them to the line they get there but look at it there's nothing in it two tenths of a second over coppin tony sullens fabulous job mate point two of a second faster good run unbelievable that's really cool point two is pretty close isn't it it's unbelievably close and that's what this is all about it's a precious stage you actually get the adrenaline going through here don't you when you're walking through yes i was having a big dip through there i was trying to start as i could tell me about under brakes where we were just need to start finish the car was twitching and moving and when you've got all this going on in a car it's not suited to this sort of package it's a it's pretty hairy from a driver's point of view isn't it yes exactly i saw what molly did earlier and i just thought oh i don't hit the wall don't hit the wall so it was all good well done mate do you think that time's been a good enough to hold off the former champion simon i think his car's got a fair bit of straight line split i might struggle to keep that i'm sure well let's see how it goes maybe well done thank you so on the kumo replay we'll take you to the point where molly crashed in the lead up and this is what he was talking about trying to arrest that speed and how squirrelly it was under brakes and just getting that rhythm is what he was looking for on the run toward the finish line ultimately to recoup some time simon evans and ben cc's fastest qualifiers mate fabulous to have you back in the championship welcome back mate thanks very much it's fantastic to be here put the weather on for us and the little honda civic is absolutely singing and to have you back this is your first real involvement in a power such how you found it so far this is sort of pressure cooker stuff isn't it yeah i guess you know but being lucky enough to win four titles i reckon that's pressure cooking stuff too so now look you know it's all about the racing for me and uh just the fact that i'm here on the start line in the civic i'm absolutely excited it says it all mate out there i know i don't even have to ask you what you're gonna be lucky i know you're gonna have a crack at it good luck okay thank you very much underline that word mr excitement back in the championship it is terrific too evans is underway on the power stage awesome through the sequential gearbox that honda singing high in the rpm range 200 you followed the championship for years you'll know that it was a great partnership between simon evans and sue evans his wife that took them to four australian titles now partnered by ben cc ben co-driving for him as we come towards the kanan hairpin awesome line through there look at the market too four hundredths of a second is all that splits them fast left three line that's the fastest top speed we've seen through there in the two-wheel drive class justin dowell was clocked at the fastest of the four-wheel drive guys at 153 k's an hour but not much in it between the two classes just pulls the car up evans on the limit equal on the time for the first stage 200 turn fast right three 200 very fast right three 200 how good is this little car sound in full flight struggling a little bit off the turn there not much turn easy right four hairpin around the barrel easy right four around the barrel through the speed zone again sets it up nicely goes very deep at the pilaris hairpin and look at the tire smoke from evans based on what we've seen so far this is going to be a good time it just needs to complete this final sector now a beautiful day here in bustleton what a way to open the first round of the 2015 championship is simon evans on return about to win the power stage tank former's car looks nice and he does it convincingly well done simon evans and ben sears he celebrates with a slide in the civic type r simon evans that's about the tidiest i've seen you drive i reckon i know how flamboyant congratulations you won the stage 1.3 faster good job thanks very much mate that's an absolutely awesome effort for all the boys you know they've worked hard with the civics an older car and we've worked really hard through the off season and tried to make it as best as we can and uh it's just a credit to the team you know the boys at evans motorsport fantastic job it's a perfect start to a great weekend so hopefully i can back it up out in the forest so i'm going to be trying my best and like i said all i want to do is beat my brother and we know that too well you're one nil so far mate well done beautiful we've missed him being a regular in the championship but he hasn't lost any of the edge as you can see here from the kumo replay the execution around the pilares hip and look at it as he gases up the civic loads of tire smoke and a huge advantage at the end to win the power stage you keep talking about wanting to beat your brother and you're one nil so far i know in the back of your head you're thinking about tomorrow as well though but good start yeah look fantastic start as i say extremely happy about it so you know Eli's the man and he'll come back and it's going to be a tough rally and you can catch that tough rally next week right here when we bring you all the highlights of the first round of the east coast bullbars championship coming up next though classic cars skidding around on classic w-a roads it's a recipe entertainment come back to the east coast bullbars a strangen rally championship coming to you from the quick forest rally three cars made the long haul across the nullar bore planes to try their luck on the infamous all-bearing road surface with the new baits motorsport engine in the silica play bad not was here to gain the only thing he didn't have experience that's what we're here for isn't it to have a new challenge so you know it might be a bit bit tricky in places but it's it's good fun all the same four times Australian rally champion nil baits knows that feeling all too well the roads over here probably the most difficult in the championship like it's um you know very very slippery very important this day on the sweat line and also very technical so uh you know for for newcomers it's probably the hardest rally in the championships for baits firm dale is his favorite and the most challenging it's got a lot of different speeds like it's got some incredibly fast sections and then it turns off into some incredibly tight sections it's got a lot of steep downhill a lot of steep uphill so you know people when they're going uphill get really confident then it starts heading downhill all of a sudden they break too late and you know and it takes some adjustment to go from really fast up back into the tight stuff so because it's got such an enormous amount of variation in the road terrain that it makes it harder for people to to manage raya myles knows just what he's talking about his restored comador is no mean feat to handle on the marbles even though it's his home rally it's pretty hard work i tell you i just really battle of attraction it's just the the the road is just so loose and dry i've never seen him like it even before myles and wife kathy don't share baits as enthusiasm for firm dale there's his health way with its sweet big corners that favor the big v8 things didn't start well for act's trevis stilling testing after the long trek over from the east revealed a blown head gasket and cracked cylinder head in the mist and stanza it was brakes though that slowed he and col trinder through the opening stages until they changed a master cylinder the second heat brought a change in attitude you just got to be aggressive and stay on it otherwise you're off the road which we've been a few times prophetic words two more spins in acs 12 chasing down clay batonok yeah we can sort of do it that way batonok was keeping the stanza at bay conscious the chances of beating his experienced opponent probably required a setback from the rally champion and that too despite the sister salika grappling with tire issues got a couple of punches today so it's been quite a few rocks pulled out onto the road and but all good good all right vintage baits in his classic car clearly retirement from the main game has only rejuvenated his passion for rallying and that main game could be seen next week at the same time same channel just check your guides for time to join us then i'm Greg rust today's coverage is made possible by kumo tire peta suspension arm roll stp co-tire can and Polaris and our supporting partner east coast bullbars world's best alloy bullbars