Josh Redhead and Ray Winwood-Smith won the Quality Accounting Coffs Coast Rally by 1:41.2 in their Hyundai i20. Brad Hardaker and Peter Hellwig (Mitsubishi Evo 5) were second with Ian Menzies and Robert McGowan (Toyota Yaris AP4) third 33.9 seconds further away.
The outright victory for Redhead/Winwood-Smith won them the Shamrock Haulage NSW title while Menzies/McGowan were able to secure the Queensland laurels.
Run by the Cos Harbour & District Sporting Car club, the rally was based out of the coastal town of Woolgoolga with competition in the Wedding Bells and Bucca state forests over 10 special stages.
In all there were 51 entries where Menzies won the opening stage before Hardaker and Redhead had alternate wins over the next four.
After five stages Hardaker in only his second ever rally, clung to a five-second lead over Redhead with Menzies in third place. Mal Keough and Pip Bennett (Audi Quattro Replica) held down fourth over Tom Clarke/Ryan Preston (Evo 3), Tony Sullens/Kaylie Newell (Citroën DS3) and Dean Ridge/Muireann Hayes (Ford Fiesta).
Nathan Quinn and David Green in the venerable Mazda RX2 were recovering from a Stage 1 puncture to be eighth. They were ahead of the Jody and Brody Mill Evo 8 which completed Stage 4 on two cylinders after the coil pack failed. Erik Jonsson and Morgan Byrne (Subaru Impreza WRX STi) limped into 10th with a broken rear driveshaft.
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The second half and remaining four stages (Stage 9 was cancelled) were won by Redhead and that included the 30-kilometre night stage.
“It was so challenging, that’s for sure. It’s a completely different characteristic tonight to what we saw this morning. There wasn’t much grip in there to start with, but we’re really happy to take the win,” Redhead said.
Quinn progressed to fifth overall behind Keough after a string of thirds while Clarke was next from Sullens who was a great chance to win the NSW title before a blown turbo hose. Ridge, Kristian Sprenger/Jarrad Vanderhor (WRX) and James O’Malley/Jono Forrest (Toyota 86) completed the top 10. Mill had a broken rear brake lining and finished 11th.
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