Now into the fifth day of the 2024 Silver Fern Rally, the cars continued their way south to Dunedin. They soaked up 121 kilometers of Special Stages which started off in foggy conditions. Unfortunately the popular Danseys Pass stage had to get cancelled due to road construction equipment left too close to the road causing safety concerns for the cars.
James Ford and Neil Shanks (Ford Escort Mk2) continued to hold the lead overall, seven-minutes in front of the Ford Escort of Robbie and Amy Stokes. Robert Gough and Jeremy Rogers in another Ford Escort are two-minutes away from them although the Ford Escort of Roger Chilman and Patrick Walsh is only 19-seconds behind Gough and Rogers so this is a battle to watch for third position.
Kris Rosenberger and his co-driver Nicola Bleicher (main photo), who are driving one of the Tuthill Porsche cars, are currently leading the Over 2000cc class. The team’s second Porsche which is being driven by Evgeny Kireev and co-driver PG Andersson are fifth in the same class.
Steve Cox and his long time co-driver Laurie Brenssell are still going strong in the Toyota Starlet. They are having a ball of a time being able to concentrate on driving, while their amazing wives (and crew) take care of the rest.
In the 2WD Challenge, Chris Ramsay and Amy Hudson continue to lead Dave Strong and Rob Scott by 6 and a half minutes. Third place is now taken up by Phil Thomas and Chris Kremer in a Ford Escort although this is likely to be a hard fought battle.
As Richard Galley’s co-drive,r Claire Buccini, mentions, “We just pick our battles. It’s a marathon right. The horrible stuff we take it very carefully. The fast fun stuff we enjoy immensely. We have been trading times with Phil for five days and look how close we are.
“Richard shipped his car from Australia to enjoy these amazing roads and we look forward to the next few days. We are only a few seconds behind Phil which is awesome. Pretty happy with our 10th fastest o/r stage time on the last stage.”
The final stage of the day Stoneburn Rd caught out several competitors including the Lancia Stratos of Philip Kadoorie and Ryan Champion as well as Tony Jardine and Duncan Jordan who are driving the Toyota Corolla. As Toyota Levin driver Karl Celeste commented, it was a hard to see junction 5L. It was double cautioned but deceptive”.
Thursday stages will all be in the central Otago region and include part of the well-known Kauri Bush stage.
Overall Results- Day 5, 2WD Historic Trophy
(Pos, Driver 1/Driver 2, Car, Class)
1/ James Ford Neil Shanks Ford/Escort RS C
2/ Robbie Stokes/Amy Stokes Ford/Escort C
3/ Robert Gough/Jeremy Rogers Ford/Escort C
4/ Roger Chilman/Patrick Walsh Ford/Escort C
5/ Kris Rosenberger/Nicola Bleicher, Porsche 911 D
6/ Shane Murland/Kane Seymour Ford Escort C
7/ Charlie Evans/Dayna Kiekebosch, Mazda RX7 D
8/ Bonamy Grimes/Matt Edwards Ford Escort C
9/ Allan Dippie/Paul Coghill Porsche 911 D
10/ Philip Kadoorie/Ryan Champion, Lancia Stratos HF D
11/ Evgeny Kireev/PG Andersson Porsche 911 D
12/ Jeff Judd/Stephane Prevot Ford Escort C
13/ Daniel Alonso/Candido Estevez Ford Escort C
14/ Grant Shand/Rosa Shand Ford Escort C
15/ Andrew Siddall/Gary McElhinney Ford Escort C
16/ Brandon James/Dale Furniss Ford Escort Mk2 C
17/ Richard Spink/Nigel Hutchinson Ford Escort RS 1800 C
18/ Iain Dobson/Harry Stubbs Ford Escort Mk1 C
19/ Ken Macdonald/Daniel Johnson Ford Escort C
20/ Brian Green/Brianna Little Ford Escort C
21/ Scott O’Donnell/Craig Gerken Mazda RX3 D
22/ David Young/Douglas Young Ford Escort Mexico B
23/ Steve Cox/Laurie Brenssell Toyota Starlet KP61 A
24/ Tony Jardine/Duncan Jordan Toyota Corolla AE86 B
25/ Ally Mackay/Keir Beaton Ford Escort Mk1 C
26/ Chris Ford/Daniel Forsyth Ford Escort RS C
27/ Julian Birley/Emyr Hall Talbot Lotus Sunbeam D
28/ Nathan Quinn/David Green Mazda RX2 D
29/ Andy Martin/Matt Hayward Ford Escort C
30/ Keith Stewart/Carol-Ann Perfect Ford Escort RS B
31/ Bruce Farley/Glen Warner Datsun B510 C
32/ Ben Howlett/Nick Vandeveene Chrysler Avenger B
33/ Joshua Hilton/Rodney Vanderpoel Toyota Celica D
34/ Merv Hatcher/James Cowles Mitsubishi Starion C
35/ William Midgley/Geoff Maybank Toyota Corolla 1600 GT B
dnf Deane Buist/Tim McIver Ford Escort Mk2 C
dnf Meirion Evans/Gwynfor Jones Ford Escort C
dnf Marcus van Klink/Toby Marsh Mazda RX7 D
dnf Darryn Snooks/Steuart Snooks Datsun Stanza D
dnf Peter Scharmach/Nikolaus Arkenau Ford Escort C
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