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...
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