Broadbent extends Outright lead in Shannons Classic
Victoria's Rex Broadbent and Sydney's John Lilleyman in their 1974 Porsche 911 RS replica extended their lead in the Outright category of the Shannons Classic Competition on Day 2 as the field completed an eight-stage loop out of Launceston to the East Coast.
The 2007 Classic winner began taking time from the similar second-placed Porsche 911 of Victorian Peter Eames and Tasmanian Will Logan from The Sideling first stage of the day, eventually finishing the closing Longford town stage with a commanding 1min. 21sec. grip on first place.
"We're pushing," said Broadbent at the St.Helens lunchbreak, "but we're not on the ragged edge. John and I are also getting to know each other better, so we're expecting to pick up further time as I respond better to his calls.
"We've been a little slower over some stages than last year, but we're up with some of the faster Modern cars, so we're pretty happy with that.?
Eames and Logan in turn extended their second place buffer over the Bendigo, Victorian crew of Gavin James and Neil McDonald in their 1989 Porsche 944 S2 from nine to 21 seconds, despite James's best efforts.
"We were trying pretty hard today," said James, "but we've only got four cylinders and that hurts us on the uphill sections. We need rain to be competitive."
Fourth and the first non-Porsche were the Queensland crew of Jon Siddens and Darren Ferguson, marking a impressive debut for the 1970 Datsun 240Z that Siddens only finished building a matter of weeks ago.
"It's not stopping as well as it should, but everything else feels fine," he said. We'd also like rain, but t doesn't look like we'll get it."
Fifth, just six seconds behind and rueing an error setting the tyre pressures too high in their 1988 Porsche 944 Cup for the morning stages were David Morton and Malcolm McDonald. ?We think the tyres could have cost us up to 40 seconds," said Morton.
However the Classic drive of the day probably belonged to Queensland Targa 'rookie' Wayne Park and his Brisbane navigator Graham Copeland, who muscled their big 1967 Chevrolet-V8 engined Bizzarrini GT America coupe into sixth place on a day generally suited to smaller and more nimble cars.
They now sit 2min. 49sec. behind Broadbent and Lilleyman, whose drive also took them to the top of the leader board in the Shannons Late Classic Handicap competition. They hold a 22 second margin over the ACT's Barry Faux and Therezia Mihajovic in their 1979 Mazda RX7, with the Victorian Porsche crew of Geoff Taylor and Lee Harper third, a further 17 seconds back in 1974 911.
Meanwhile in the Early Classic Handicap competition, Siddens and Ferguson in their Datsun 240Z held a 23 second lead over the NSW crew of Peter and his brother Max Ulrich in their potent 1963 Jensen CV8, with the Picton, NSW father and son team of Mike and Paul Batten in their 1961 Volvo PV544 sedan third, a further 1min. O5sec. back.
By Michael Browning
