Heartbreak for Paul and Craig

After a super consistent year in two different cars the Great Lakes Rally has thrown a major hurdle at self funded youngsters Paul Batten and Craig Jones. A strong performance in Saturday’s Heat 1 with a win in the Privateers Challenge and a strong outright result saw the team step into the lead of the Privateers Challenge. But all changed on Sunday’s second stage with a major accident throwing the teams plans into disarray.

After spring changes leading up the rally, and time in the car at media day the team were better equipped than ever to perform consistently across the weekend. “With our experience at Rally SA and with some good setup advice from Will Orders and Evans Motorsport I was really able to make some gains with the cars handling. I have been playing around with the centre diff setup and have really unearthed a big area we can improve in”. Commented driver Paul.

A strong drive in Heat 1 saw the team finish 1 st Privateers Challenge crew and 12 th outright. “We were really happy with our progress in heat one, the cars handling was improved and the roads were amazing. We were sticking to our plan of improving with every heat and it was working for us”. Said co-driver Craig.

After a good first stage time in heat two despite understeer problems things went horribly wrong for Paul and Craig 12kms into stage 2.

“I had been taking 8 right corners in 4 th gear all event and this corner was called an 8 right but I knew I was in big trouble straight away when I came over the brow and saw the corner” recalls Paul “Talking to other crews after the accident the corner was definitely a 6, which meant I should have been much slower in 3 rd gear. I am still not sure how I got this corner so wrong, it could have been confusion about the bump before the corner, it may have been worry about damaging our recce car over the rocky road distracted me, but the long and short of it is I made a mistake and paid a massive price”.

“Paul did his best to make the corner but the car was setup for an 8 right not a 6. I guess you never get away with a 4 th gear accident lightly and two tree’s on the outside of the corner made sure of that for us. In rallying the punishment often outweighs the crime and we have learnt a very big lesson on how thorough your pace-notes need to be at these speeds”. Commented Craig.

As a self funded team Paul and Craig now have a massive challenge to overcome if they are to race Bruce Fullerton for the www.rally.com.au Rally Challenge title at the NGK Rally of Melbourne.

“We are tied with Bruce on 200 points leading into the decider, and we will bet our bottom dollar to avoid missing our home event. All year I have been driving within myself but a major pace-noting mistake has really made things tough for us”. Said Paul

“Early prognosis of the damage isn’t good. There are thousands of dollars just in bolt on parts. We are assessing the damage to the body shell at the moment but some early signs are pointing towards critical damage.” Said Craig. “We have our heart set on making Melbourne but we need all the help we can get if we are going to make it”.

Paul and Craig would like to thank, Brad Coghlan at Performance Group for event preparation. Russell, John, Phil, Ross, Sarah and Chris for service. Along with Stuckey Tyre Service, Dunlop Motorsport, AVO Turbo, Hubble Photografix, www.Linkecu.com, Hyon Smash repairs, Evans Motorsport, www.rallydrive.com.au, SBARU Parts, Malo Design, Performance Group, and Japanese Wholesale Spares.

All photographs © www.hubblephotografix.com