 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 Ball Bar's Australian Rally Championship. Welcome to the Coats Hire Cops Coast Rally Australia. This is round four of the championship and round ten of the World Rally Championship. Now with the rally fans jammed into the CVD for the ceremonial start, you could be forgiven for thinking we were somewhere in Europe. This is not Finland, not even Monte Carlo, but it's Cofs Harbour, northern New South Wales and this is the WRC, the world's best drivers, teams, engineers all here as well as Australia's best. Look at the line up in the crowd and in amongst it, first and second in the East Coast Ball Bar's Australian Rally Championship. This is our penultimate round of the series, a really important and crucial endurance round and we cannot wait for a huge weekend of rallying. In our national competition, all eyes will be on Eli Evans and Glenn Western. The championship leaders crashed heavily in the Armoral STP power stage earlier today and they're in for the race of their lives just to get to the start line. It's not the position they wanted to be in but they do leave the championship in spite of giving away the early bonus power stage points. Still, last round, Evans managed to secure good points to grab the championship lead from Molly Taylor. Simon Evans charged hard but an off in the longer stage, speedy contractors stopped any chance of catching his younger brother. Water was a drama for the Citrins and Tony Sullins was the biggest loser, drowning the DS3 on more than one occasion. Hoppin, in the other DS3, was drowning in his sorrows, unable to make an impression on the outright pace but consistency did reward him with points in the end. Steve McKenzie never recovered fully from landing heavily in SS1, forced to nurse the Opticope Fiesta throughout the weekend. And Ashley James finally got his AJE Rally Sport Polo up to speed, just as the rally came to a close. Eli Evans leads by just eight points but after the events of the power stage this weekend, that might well change. Adrian Coppin will need to watch Steve McKenzie, with a more measured approach to his rally this weekend he could threaten for third. With eyes on the championship though, it's Eli Evans who wants the top spot. But he needs a car and he and Glenn Weston won't know whether that's happening until Scrutiny is tech-checked the rebuilt Citrins in the morning. Molly Taylor and Bill Hayes know they are a chance. They finally scraped into the power stage for the first time to grab a point for third in the high-tech All-Stone Polo. He might have missed the power stage but a revitalised Adrian Coppin is confident this will be his and Erin Kelly's weekend. Tony Sullins and Julia Barclay would suggest otherwise after they nearly knocked off four times ARC champs Simon Evans in the final, suggesting Sullins might have bound the speed to match the Evans brothers. Simon might be languishing behind him on the championship leaderboard, but that will only spur Kim and Ben Cicillon to perform here at Rally Australia. Steve McKenzie missed the power stage, often to sit all important uni exams, but he will line up in the morning alongside younger brother Brent in the Optico Fiesta. In the Australian four-wheel drive series, McPatten maintains his lead over Justin Dowell and Mark Pedder, but both Gerald Schofield and Marcus Wolcombe are still in the hunt for a series win. McPatten and Bernie Webb would have to be considered the title favourites. Consistency has been their friend all season and another good showing this weekend to stand them in good stead. Marcus and Scott Wolcombe return to Rally Australia after victory in round two and are possibly the best chance at challenging the Revco dominance, beating them back into third in the Armour All STP power stage. Peter Roberts and Andrew Crowley are here in their first ARC for 2015, but they have good car speed and could easily be the upset this weekend after monstering the power stage final. There's a long list of hopefuls including Justin Dowell, Mark Pedder, Michael Bailey and Schofield who already have runs on the board this season. It's a huge weekend with several of the ARC teams cross-entered into the WRC. In addition, there are a couple of notable competitors in the WRC this weekend. Koff's own Nathan Quinn and his hastily rebuilt and locally supported Group N Evo 9 and the current Australian Rally Champion who's now entering his fifth rally on the world circuit this year and is about to do it right here at Rally Australia. Dean Herrich caught up with Scott Pedder for our ECB Insights. So it doesn't get any bigger than this, the World Rally Championship Service Park and there wouldn't be an Australian driver in the field that wouldn't want to be in this position in a World Championship Garage. Our last year's Australian champ, Scott Pedder, has done exactly that. So what does it feel like to live out a dream? Yeah, it's sort of gone to another level here, obviously, it's fantastic. You know, the whole year this year has been amazing, but to come to Rally Australia and be part of the M-Squad, the squad is ridiculous to be honest. Oh look, it's tough as I thought it would be, you know, like the best in the world for a reason and you know, particularly this year, I picked the probably the hardest year in production in the Championship history. So you know, to have the guys just go to there and obviously, regional cars are very, very difficult to beat on the top, on the Ruffer rallies as they will be here. So, but you know, next season we had a great run in Finland and hopefully Australia is a follow-on from that. But to be honest, I think it was the easiest event of the year, you know, it was just, it was, there was gaps after the first four or five stages. So you sort of you knew where you were and it was, we weren't cruising towards the end, but it was, you know, nine and a half tenths to the finish. And talking about those finish roads that are unbelievable, roads here and changing, this rally's changing a little bit in regards to road surface as well. Yeah, look, full credit to the rally organisers here, they've done a fantastic job. I was a bit critical of the first two stages last year, but the three on the ferrata, just magic, you know, you've got three shy stages and then going to Nuri, which is totally different. So I think it's probably one of the most strategic rallies of the year and certainly the guys at the top are saying that, you know, tires and weather and different types of stages, it's going to throw up all sorts of things. And all sorts of things will be happening tomorrow. No doubt when the East Coast Bullbars Australian Rally Championship kicks off from Coffs Harbour in just a few moments. Welcome back to the New South Wales North Coast home of the Coats Hire Coffs Coase Rally, where the East Coast Bullbars Australian Rally Championship begins in earnest today. It's been a long night for Team Citroen after the events of the Armoral STP power stage yesterday. These things happen and we just got to move forward with it. I think it's, you know, he's been very fortunate in the power stages. It's always been tight. It is a battle and the points are good to have if you can get them. It was just unfortunate yesterday that happened what it did. Now I'm thinking about getting the car to the first service and just really focusing on those first group stages, which is, they're going to be tough. We've got Neary Long, which is a 30k stage. So I think as the rally goes on, the car's going to improve and hopefully my pay starts as well. A shift in priorities for Eli Evans and also for Steve McKenzie. Apparently, union exams come before any rally commitments, so missing the power stage yesterday was no stress. Just have to take the first morning stage is pretty steady. I haven't even sat in the car since Queensland, so even yet today will be again getting a feel of the car and getting it set up to these roads. Our most prominent rally export in recent years is relishing the chance to compete in a world rally on home soil. I've never done this rally before. It's my first WRC in Australia. It's, you know, I know more about Finland or rally GB than I do Koff's Harbour. So yeah, a little bit ironic, but obviously very excited to be able to compete in a WRC this year and it being out home. Boyd by a very close final in the power stage, Tony Solins is ready to get down to business. The car was missing in part in carrying on, so I really, we probably could out of win if we'd have tried. You know, if the car was a little bit bigger, so I hope we fix that problem. I haven't had a chance to test it, but yeah, I'm happy with my speed. I'm happy with the car at the moment, so it's all confidence from me. If we're fifth or sixth in the championship, we really need a good result here to put us back into the fight. So we just got to, you know, do the job and focus on, you know, just the one corner at a time and doing the best job that we can. Simon Evans' best is good enough through the opening stage of the Tungan. Nearly eight kilometres of sweeping country roads reminiscent of the surface that made Kiwi roads such a favourite for rally drivers. And left three and a half plus very long hug. Tony Solins is four off the tank, former's Honda, but comfortable with the car. Eli Evans completes the stage just a second behind the other Citroen after a tentative start, half expecting Gremlins from the hasty rebuild. It was tire wear though he didn't expect. He and Glenn Weston will need to take even more care through SS2 to preserve the kumos. Steve McKenzie is shocked by his tire wear. They are fifth behind Adrian Coppin, but with half the rubber gone in just eight kilometres, tires are their issue. Tony Solins is quick through the longer Baker's Creek stage, but his tire choice of 900s suits sweat roads and it's not inspiring confidence. Still, he's home in 11 minutes 18.6 seconds. Simon Evans, point one behind him. Solins celebrates his first stage win. The last stage, the first K and a half I was all over the shop and really didn't have any rhythm and it sort of come to me at the end. I put 900s on the car and that was probably a bad tire choice I think because it's not a swept line at all out there and it's really slippery, but they're probably held up all right. Considering the Citroen driver's reputation for looking after his tires, that could well play into his hands. I'm just driving normal, so I get lots of, it's a crowd reaction out there, so they're enjoying the jazz and enjoying the way I'm driving it, so I'm enjoying the reaction as well. It's good fun and like I'm having a ball, it's just nice to be rallying. It's brakes, not tires, that are on Molly Taylor's mind. She slips to eighth in stage. We basically lost brakes in the last stages there, so we can't really see why yet. She and Bill Hayes discover a leaking brake union that's letting air into the lines. There's very little time to fix it and no outside help allowed. Eventually she gets enough pedal to continue through SS3 after regroup. Steve McKenzie meantime has surprised himself. He's only a third of a second per K behind Simon Evans and well ahead of the championship leader. Eli Evans tries to drive conservatively after so much tire wear in the first stage, but there is a penalty attached to conserving tires and he drops to sixth in stage and two places outright to fifth. This cove's tire was always tough. I did it two years ago and I didn't quite remember how tough it was, but we pushed through early on and the tire topped a big hit, so that's done 25ks now. I've got to ask another eight kilometres out of them, fingers crossed. Taylor's arm is the start of SS3, just down the road from the pub with no beer. It harks back to a legend where the pub here was once cut off by floods and ran dry. Perfect story to write a song and thanks to the late great Slim Dusty who did, the legend took off. Today it's just a great vantage point. With her brakes sorted, Molly takes off, but she's still well off the pace and makes no impression on the top order. Eli bounces back with his first win for the rally. Conserving tires last stage means he can now push, five seconds clear of his brother Simon who's running on canvas after another eight kilometres of competition. A great start to Tony Sullen's best ARC performance yet is thrown away in a heartbeat when he turns in too early. And it's spun us round, no big deal. Went to put in reverse gear to back out and because it's in a ditch and it was stuck, it's broken reverse gear so I can't get out of the ditch and that's pretty much it. If Sullen's was the biggest loser then Ashley James was the biggest winner. After struggling with handling and mechanical issues all season, he seems to be on top of them now. Just two seconds behind Simon Evans in third, a PB for 2015, he still has an engine oil leak to deal with. A bend control arm and turbo bolts coming loose causes drama's first Steve McKenzie through SS3, but it's Aero that's the issue through Nuri SS4. We've done a Scott Pedder and left the boot open. I thought that was a really good run. At the end there, yeah, the eyes were starting to play havoc, but Brent was on the notes really well and everything just seemed to be working, even though there was a lot going on. And it was a good run. The brothers from Bendigo are second quickest behind Eli Evans, who has bolted on two new hard tyres for the final run before service. Things are different in the Honda though. After using the bulk of his rubber to this point, Simon drops time running down to the canvas. Three tyres of bull, we did the front to rear before this. There was already a little bit of canvas hanging out so I just thought I'd look after him and just try to be as clean and as fast as possible and I'm happy with that. Adrian Koppen is happy as well, fourth this stage and holding down fourth outright. That was awesome. That was really good like cars. We got a few moments but obviously we're fine on that limit a bit, but got away with them so let's go get this done and go again. Right from the start of SS1 in the four-wheel drive national series, Mark Pedder's rally was spluttering. He and Glenn McNeill retreating to the safety of service and more analysing of the engine's computer. The Hastings concrete tank's entry of Peter Roberts had dominated the power stage and he made a solid start in the opening two stages. He kept Justin Dowlett Bay and the Hyundai Proto who wasn't suffering anything like the issues of Pedder setting up his new generation four-wheel drive. You know I expected the roads to sweep up a lot more but they're very very loose and slippy so we've got to be very cautious and careful to make sure we get through the whole rally. McPatton had the Repco rally car in touch as did Marcus Wolcombe in the Trigonia Seafood 09. Both title contenders stayed in touch but the kid from South Australia who struggled in past years in an underpowered two-wheel drive was making a name for himself. Guy Tyler beat Patton in SS2 to claim third outright. A moment in SS3 nearly brought the four-wheel drive leader unstuck but running the 900s on the tighter twistier stage wasn't right and Peter Roberts was happy to make the end without surrendering much more time to stage winner Justin Dowell. Marcus Wolcombe hadn't featured the way he wanted after clipping a bank in SS1 and ripping the intercooler pipe off resulting in no turbo boost pressure. The temporary repair before SS4 didn't last the whole stage but still they smashed the opposition by 20 seconds. A faulty pump failed to deliver fuel or results for Peter Roberts forced to nurse the Evo 6 right from the start and eventually he and Andrew Crowley had to pull over. Mike Bailey was on a blinder the morning had been pretty average but a very tight check-in to start control on Murie had the BP Ultimate Entrant keyed up and he quickly caught and passed Roberts. Roberts and Crowley were out for the remainder of the day but everyone else repeated the morning runs after service. Pull back right after the break. Welcome back to the East Coast Bullbars Australian Rally Championship coming to you from the COFS Coast Rally Australia. After a great display of high speed driving in Finland Scott Pedder hadn't been hoping to cap it off with a similar result here in Australia but it wasn't to be. Almost got through the gate backwards but just took the right hand front wheel literally coming backwards onto the gatepost so ripped the wheel off and unfortunately that's the end of our day. No further rally action from Pedder and Dale Moskut for day one but they would be back in the WRC field tomorrow. For our ARC crews though it's a repeat run across Utungan, Bakers Creek, Northbank and Murie. Eli Evans sets the pace any issues he was expecting in the DS3 after the accident haven't materialised and he leads the outright field home. Adrian Coppens positive attitude this event is starting to pay off. He's third through Utungan taking time out of Steve McKenzie who's struggling with boost issues. A loose turbo doesn't help matters getting off the line and the rest of his day is spent dealing with slow starts while the car gets up to speed. Simon Evans might have given time away to his younger brother in SS5 but he takes the longer Bakers Creek stage by two seconds. McKenzie gets the better of Coppen by two both pushing Molly Taylor and her Renault Clio down to fifth. Molly and Bill Hayes finish seven seconds clear of the next competitor Harry Bates. While not registered for ARC points, Harry has previously proven the importance of finishing rallies and the rookie from Canberra demonstrates why a little rally pedigree doesn't go too far astray. A good save, another lesson learned and a bundle of experience under his belt. Taylor forces him down to sixth outright but he's punching well above his weight. Eli grabs back the top position through North Bank. This time though it's not his brother on his tail. Steve McKenzie is five behind but his issue is keeping the car together. The control arm continues to come loose every stage despite being re-tightened. Again through the long new re-stage it's Evans McKenzie 1-2. The Citroen has the measure of the fiesta by half a second decay. Dust is a big factor through this stage. It hangs without wind to clear a path. Even with two minute gaps it's tricky and Molly Taylor is thankful to make the finish. It's Simon Evans though who elevates McKenzie and Taylor into second and third respectively. And John, we are kaput. Reese Pinter had been circulating mining his own business in a slower entry level R2 spec Ford Fiesta at the back of the field along with another ARC with Eastie Raymond from Victoria. Their battle is not to win but to gain valuable experience in an international event and all that's okay until a faster car has a problem and starts behind you. The frustration of the dust is nothing starting seven minutes late has cost Coppin over one minute in penalty time and he slips down the leaderboard. Justin Dow changed the ride height in the proto at service and while the roads were swept it was others who took the advantage the 2011 rally champ having to settle for third in the first two repeat stages. Marcus Wolcombe took the honours in Utungen four seconds ahead of Guy Tyler in the earlier Evo. JJ Hatton was up to fifth for all the afternoon repeats. For a bloke who entered his first ever rally here last year the crazy Irishman had plenty sitting up and taking notice. He'd been on track for a top five finish this morning until a moment on the slippery surface that squashed the intercooler pipe. But he was back on the game and on the pace leading many of the regulars including Gerald Scofield the fibre tech medical boss. SS6 and Guy Tyler won his first ARC stage and sat just nine seconds behind Dow. Dow and co-driver Tony Feather hit back through the final stage to win by 0.9 of a second from the Wolcombe brothers. Importantly the proto would increase its overnight hold on the 777 rally sport Evo 5 by 15 seconds. The second of the three days competition from the Coats higher Coffs Coast rally coming up right after the break. Welcome back to the East Coast Bullbars Australian rally championship being held at Coffs Harbour. It's day two of a three day endurance competition for our competitors and yesterday's times continue to count finishing every stage and every day is paramount and Simon Evans knows that all too well. We'd set ourselves up and have good ties and have a real crack on the 30 kilometre stage and eight K's in and just dropped the valve and yeah she ended up destroying the piston putting the leg out of bed so no more. And John. Tony Sullins is back and full of confidence about his experience on day one. Those three stages were virgin stages to all of us. We just rode our nades and drove on them so it was a good indication of how good I could be if I with no experience and no one else had any experience on those stages so oh yeah the positives are awesome. Eli Evans is surprised to be leading the rally after his huge crash on Thursday. It was a proud moment for myself and to basically repay the boys so you know we're only 33% of the way through we've got two more days so but yeah it was a load off my shoulders and I could take a deep breath then and actually relax like I am now and refocus again. Molly Taylor can't work out her position after a frustrating day one. We were lucky to be in third really considering the day that we had but you know we just need to keep our head down and focus on what we're doing today you know the driving in the afternoon felt really good and and the car feels good but we're just struggling a bit on pace for some reasons so I don't know what we can do about that right now. Today is the mother of all stages for this event 50 kilometres across Nambucca that many consider to be one of the best roads in rallying. It's rally Australia's signature stage and everyone will be concerned with one thing tire management. That's the big question isn't it so yeah much like the other guys I'm sure would just be taking the first half of the stage reasonably easy and seeing how the car feels from there. Mackenzie takes 32 minutes and 52 seconds to complete the 50 kilometres. He's not sure if he was on the right tire but he's still second fastest 20 seconds off the pace and that despite the car stopping mid-stage. Eli Evans experience here two years ago saw him finish with tyres down to the canvas but he accounts for himself well fastest on the road to take the stage. Look I took it easy probably the first 25k and then I said to West I'm going to push on a little bit now but it was probably in the wrong areas in a tight section so I had to back off again so maybe I left my sprint a little bit late. I don't know how much tyre we got on the front but my hat gripped the whole way through which is disappointing because it means there's still a little bit left in the tyre. Tony Sollins matches Evan's time over the opening five kilometres but then his luck gets stuck for the remaining 45 kilometres somehow he manages to only lose 40 seconds but it's not the start day two he wants. A spin for Adrian Coppin doesn't stop him being third fastest but heat is having an effect. I think the tyre that shot like it was a struggle massively in that probably last 10-15k to put power down as a wheel spin city. By contrast Molly Taylor is upbeat in the high-tech oils Renault Clio. Yeah I really enjoyed it actually it went faster than I thought but yeah we made a few changes to the car in service it feels a bit better we still yeah got a long way to go but you know at least our gap's coming down a bit so at least it's a positive sign. In regroup at Bowerville there's time to reflect on tyre choice and a bit of kumo tech tour with Dean. Every round we talk about the challenge of our kumo control tyres at each event and this one is no different teams have capped 22 tyres over the course of the weekend which sounds like plenty but when you've got 300 competitive kilometres and particularly when the teams have just come off the Nambaka stage over 50 kilometres have a look at this one Steve McKenzie and Brent McKenzie they're changing their tyres now before they go into next regroup and service the stages they've got to make a choice between what they've taken off which look at this one here well worn there's absolutely nothing left on that tyre at all so they now have carried two spears in the car they're going to use them their second hand from yesterday we can see way better than what they've had on the car currently so tread block born right down no traction he said to us at the end of the stage that he wore them out a bit early so you've got to try and manage them through the stage temperature plays a part the pressures and of course because they're not at service the service crew can't help them here they've got to do all the work themselves with the tools they have in the car so it's not just about driving and co-driving got to do a little bit of work as well I don't know if I drove fast enough but when we got out to change our tyres it's proven that we've got canvas coming out on the left hand side and the right hand side the tyres at about five percent so that's a challenge but looks like we absolutely nailed it so if I can repeat that this afternoon I'll be very very happy the fibre tech medical citron is now selecting gears and while tony sullens doesn't have a definitive answer he's pressing on with new tyres if the car's right I don't want to go to the next stage with the disadvantage so I put the tyres on anyway if the car's not right we've already lost time in the last one now we can't make things up so we just drive as fast as we can it pays off just one second off Eli through valour but the gearbox issue is peak related and the car jams in second for the final two kilometres an amazing result but the hydraulic pump for the selector is getting worse and with no replacement available tony sullens and julia barkley take early leave from rally australia adrian coppin is 15 seconds off sullens time but it could have been much slower saw it come I think we're just too fast so it just jumps up too much and we sort of well if there was no gun on the outside right directly we would have come back down on our wheels and kept going but the gun had gone out of road and she tripped over good tv molly taylor has been struggling with pace each stage feels okay but the times aren't reflected on the leaderboard second stage we really wanted to test the changes that we made and we made a good step forward we're still you know still scratching our head for that the last bit because you know we were we're trying hard but uh we've just got to keep keep doing that and if we've made it again that that's one more positive step not much change for the repeat of nambucka she's still just over 30 seconds behind the fastest car on the stage but there is a change in who is fastest steve mckinsey demonstrates that without his engine dying first pass he might well have won the stage both times this time six seconds in front of elie evans and still dealing with a loose bolt in the control arm the final stage of the arc outright competition is valour under lights and mckinsey's troubles get worse the bolt in the control arm has snapped in transport he's forced to nurse the car through to the end of the final stage elie's hunting posh ones in the trees the light bar brackets were damaged in the accident and they're pointing everywhere but the road i can't keep doing this driving is almost standard toyota corolla harry bates is home just point nine of a second behind the championship leader in a brilliant display of night driving certainly a glimpse of someone we'll expect to see a lot more of in rallying there was no night stage for the four wheel drive national series but the two passes of nambucka were game changers for everyone leader justin dowell's chances of winning were dashed when he caught the dust of ashley james who was traveling on the road immediately in front for some reason the rally safe push to pass either didn't work or wasn't seen and the frustration builds to boiling point in the hounday proto the walken brothers win the stage 13 seconds in front of guy tyler now with dowell's demise tyler is leading the four wheel drive national series rally pedder brought the maxi car out for what was another test session but bailed at the spectator point after losing confidence in the car mcpaton held down third outright after a typically consistent fifth but over such a long stage the repco evo 10 was one minute 20 behind walken gerald scofield was jumped by michael bailey who was almost a minute quicker in the bp ultimate entry jj hatton was also a winner up to four outright in refuel things only got worse for dowell dealing with his issue of a slower driver failing to pull over 12k's we followed him for and and had a couple of really serious new misses with officials in their cars because we just couldn't see the road and there's barriers and stuff and just not acceptable amidst the distraction he and co-driver tony fever check into refuel 10 minutes early if their dust penalty wasn't enough the penalty for checking in early was minute for minute and they plummeted to 12 dowell elected to pull the pin on what up until then had been another successful outing for the new proto but he couldn't help but prove the poor first completing the repeat of nambaka in record time to demonstrate the time he should have got previously it was a win by five seconds from marcus wolcombe but it was the last time that he under proto was seen at rally australia nambaka too was unkind to our rookie from south australia and his fairytale run ground to a halt when the headgasket but andrew pennies wide berth through the early part of nambaka doesn't stop him fifth fastest time wolcombe assumed the lead from mic pattern with jj hatton up to third nothing would change through the final stage of the day in the four-wheel drive national series the final day of competition in east coast bullbars arc coming up welcome back to the east coast bullbars australian rally championship this penultimate round of the series is being run at coughs harbour at coats higher rally australia after two drama filled days of action all competitors in the outright competition were nursing various injuries elia evans didn't expect to be fastest he was nursing a bruised and hastily repaired car from the power stage that was not backing himself for a round win after a cracking day yesterday steve mckenzie was all about getting the opticoat fiesta to the end without the control arm breaking molly taylor was lamenting the lack of speed in her high-tech oils entry but she did sneak in front of the fiesta through ss-13 buck along by point seven the battle scar ds-3 citron of coppin was fourth with brakes fading midstage that never recovered for the day and buck along was short-lived for harry baits clipping a stump spelled an early end to an otherwise very successful debut in rally australia no positional changes through wedding bells but in the short 6k stage that is settles molly taylor and bill payes have their moment in the spark light it wouldn't change the outright result but a stage win is a stage win and it's theirs by 1.6 seconds after more work on the maxi car mark petter and glenn mcneal rejoin for the final day and even with ongoing issues that need some serious consideration they won all but the last stage jj hatton hung on to four through bucker but a second turbo blew slowing his progress and michael baili's rally was on track up until he caught jj and then it was decidedly off track ironically he and matt harriott were up into third outright when they passed hatton but then promptly handed it back the irishman had blown his chance at retaining a podium position but gerald scofield ever the consistent and persistent welcome the mover if ever there was a story of persistence it was mark beard driving a naturally aspirated sugru rs to fourth displacing jj hatton and his blown turbo even further down the leaderboard mark beard and sam hill also won the p5 category against turbo versions of their own sugru while the major places were locked down before the final stage repeats paul newman and tom clark fought out the positions right to the end by bucker long two newman and son sure were two seconds in front but clark managed to drag his failing clutch up enough to pip the father son combo by one second at the end of the day adam bench was as rookie as they come having won a prize to drive in rally australia he'd been coached by the masters at rallyschool.com.au and had one of the best sitting alongside in co-driver instructor darren masters for adam this was a long way from home in deniliquan and he only had one thing on his mind i wasn't looking to say the fastest stage times or anything like that just wanted to finish the round slowly pick up the pace um yeah if i could get off the last place fair enough i'd be happy with that you know but sort of the state steven bravery approach i guess yeah for the record he wasn't last and in fact was an impressive 15 stage on the final stage of the rally so mchatton continues to lead the four-wheel drive national series but keep in mind it's the best three events from the season which mathematically leaves the competition wide open to the final round still to come the run to the finish for the outright contenders the east coast warbars australian rally championship coming up just a few moments welcome back to the coach's higher coughs coast rally while eyes were on the 10th round at the wrc elie evans has been raising eyebrows he still leads the national championship in a great comeback after crashing pre-event yeah i think we're 20 something seconds up on molly but she's up the pace in the last two stages i think she's found herself in a battle with steve mccansey for today's heat so i'll be interesting i'll see if i i'll do try and do the same thing through through bucker again and see if we win it molly taylor's frustrations in the last couple of days have left her perplexed but this morning hasn't been all bad and a win through the last stage has lifted her spirits you know one of the main differences is the stages are just so fast this afternoon and we're not having to you know slow down accelerate out of corners that that's the only difference and i'm driving the same in the times of better so there is a fight on for leg honors today and molly is in that fight with steve mccansey but he's got other things on his mind now the leg points for us isn't worth the risk because the event points are obviously far more valuable than a single leg so yeah definitely just staying in it for the rally he gives 10 seconds away to molly through bucker long too but with well over a minute lead in the rally mccansey is about protecting his second outright reese pinter arrived from canberra eager to do his best in an international event along the way he's had his fair share of frustrations but he's very excited now the end is in sight pretty proud um in canberra we're a lot further away to the bigger guys and then yesterday through down bucker we're just we're under five seconds okay off elie so we're making inroads very closely so given my limited experience i'm pretty stoked especially with shift problems we had the starter motor blow last night so we've had everything and we've got one to go so we'll just try and get through that just when we thought we'd seen enough upsets from one event ashley james pokes his head up in the volkswagen polo to claim second in stage behind elie evans even with oil dripping onto the clutch he is just five seconds behind elie after 10 kilometers take nothing away from elie evans though no team this round is more deserving of a victory after the events of last thursday elie evans and glenn weston do the team proud bringing the citron ds3 home in first place so it's fitting that this round's kumo's spirit of the rally award goes to boss ron krimman and team citron for the mammoth task in getting their ds3 back in the game in less than 24 hours there it is elie evans on top again a great reward for steve mckenzie as well though in an international event molly might have collected some bonus points for the final day's win but she settles for third in the rally adrian coppin and ashley james finished fourth and fifth respectively our stp standout for this rally let's see what triple australian rally champion kody crocker has to say on that and rally australia is always a really tough event and it brings out the best in so many people and the stp standout award this weekend goes to a young guy guy tyler who's actually stepped up from tool drive and had a lot of battles over the years and this year in the four-wheel drive series was actually leading the national four-wheel drives unfortunately went out with a with an engine problem but to do that i think is a standout award so the stp standout award goes to guy tyler how does everything pan out in championship terms well elie evans has now extended his lead over molly taylor to 31 points third place will no doubt be a battle between fort and citron come the final round and that round is just weeks away so hopefully enough time to rest bodies and repair cars in readiness for the decider that decider will be scouts rally s a from october 23rd to 25th to cap off the 2015 east coast ballbars arc season for everything you need to keep up with the world of rally just go to rally dot com dot iu for the team from greg rust bye for now today's coverage is made possible by kumo tyer and a 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