Midnight Sun to Red Sea Rally

15th June 2002

Day 13 - Kusadasi to Antalya (Turkey)

ENGLAND 1 – NEW ZEALAND 1

Today is one of those mind boggling days - 150 kms of amazing shaped volcanic rock formations, Roman ruins, tiny villages, roads devoid of traffic.

Typical Turkish road-side cafes where they will pull the trout out of their pool and cook it for you in ten minutes while you sit sipping a cool drink under the grapevine awning. Where else would you rather be ?

Into our hotel overlooking the Mediterranean with super sea views for dinner on the terrace.

The bad news is that you have to leave in the morning. 

Ray Bellm came out fighting today making up for his earlier misfortunes and his slide down the leader board. He beat Joe McAndrew on the second stage of the day by a clear 30 seconds. Joe won the first stage to make it a draw for the day – England 1 – New Zealand 1.

But the real star of the day was Graham Lorimer is his giant killing 1600cc Toyota who finished just one second behind stage winner Bellm. “Two seconds away from a stage win in this little thing can’t be all bad can it,” said a beaming Lorimer.

Today was another marathon day of 600 kms chasing the coast line through tiny towns and ancient picturesque red roofed villages. Today’s pair of 20+ km stages were on gravel.

Steve Blunt had another fruitful day with two fourth places on the stages in his Peugeot 306. “It’s meant to be a front wheel drive but it feels as if it’s got rear wheel steering. I think we need to check the back suspension before dinner,” he said looking wistfully at the clear blue swimming pool at the HQ hotel. more...