London to Sydney Marathon

5th June - 4th July 2004

Day 27 - Roma to Noosa

McRAE BACK BUT NO CHANCE OF A TOP 10 PLACE

Today the event climbed from the oil and gas town of Roma where the Mayor flagged off the cars to the posh holiday resort town of Noosa. A stark contrast where the warm ocean, the glamour of Hastings Street and balmy sunshine make a welcome change for the hard worked crews as they count down the days until they reach Sydney.

The good news is that Jimmy McRae finally found a machine shop capable of skimming the head of his Toyota engine and re-fitting the head gasket. "It will good to run the last three days of the marathon," said Jimmy. "But with the penalties we’ve got we’ll be lucky to get into the top ten. But I really want to be a finisher."

McAndrew did it again topping the times on both of today’s 20 km stages. But now it’s Montgomery and Lorimer who are trading identical stage times – they were equal third on the second stage today. With Toyota man Steve Blunt making a charge from the rear to record second fastest time and a solid third fastest on the first stage.

Meanwhile McAndrew holds a 14m 10s lead over team mate Montgomery almost 2 minutes ahead of Lorimer. Anthony Ward creeps up the leader board in his Escort and is now in 5th place.

Tomorrow is the biggest stage day of the rally – three stages totalling over 100 kms of flat out racing over forest tracks on the way to Glen Innes, a town fiercely proud of it Scottish heritage.

"This could be a decider in the final stages of the marathon," said Toyota driver Steve Blunt. "These really are sting-in-the-tail stages." more...

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5th June to 4th July 2004 day by day