London
to Sydney Marathon
5th June - 4th July 2004
Day 28 – Noosa
to Glen Innes
McANDREW AND McRAE
OUTPACE THE FIELD – BIG TIME
Today was The Big Day in the forests with
over an hour and half of racing through three of the classic
Queensland stages.
This really was where the two action men
of the event treated spectators to some of the finest on the
edge driving seen for a long time. On the famous Imbil stage
McAndrew was just 8 seconds faster that the rejuvenated McRae
after 40 minutes of hold-your-breath action. And they were
over a whole minute quicker than Montgomery and Lorimer who
tied for third place.
The second stage - Ten Mile Road - was another
23 minutes of controlled fervour and stone clattering precision
by McAndrew with McRae just 4 seconds behind him. "This is
a heck of lot more fun than being towed," said Jimmy who had
spend two days and over a 1,000 kms on a tow rope before getting
his head gasket replaced.
On the last stage of the day it was Jimmy's
turn to sock it to Joe and he screeched in 9 seconds ahead
of the Kiwi.
McRae, back in 12th place has nothing to
lose but McAndrew holding a solid first place and a 16 minute
lead has everything to lose. But the two of them with nine
national championships between them are two seasoned racers
who only know how to go hard. McAndrew thinks that cruising
is what pensioners do on ocean liners.
One place ahead of McRae are little Aussie
battlers Bob Almond and Paul Benko in their classic Datsun
in 11th place aiming for a top ten finish.
Others were less fortunate, the demons
of the forest came out and ruined Gary Leeson's Falcon gearbox,
Phil Hooper's Leyland P76 rear axle made terminally bad noises,
Paul Darrouzet's battered Capri got stuck on a pile of road
side rocks and he collected maximum penalties on all three
stages.
Freddie Preston and
David Harrison, both veterans of the 1968 event, in the tiny
Suzuki, went off the road and the word is that Mr Suzuki wouldn't
recognise it as something he made. Both drivers are OK and
promise to get it on the road again to make the Sydney finish.
more...
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5th
June to 4th July 2004 day by day
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