News June 5 2006

Lamborghini whitewash at Lake Mountain

A Lamborghini Gallardo has taken outright honours in Australia's newest tarmac rally, the Lake Mountain Sprint [May 27-28]. Tasmanian nephew/uncle duo, Jason and John White dominated the event, held in Victoria's high country, posting top five fastest times on all but one of the eight timed laps up the access road to the cross-country ski resort.

Second outright and second in the modern division was touring car legend, Peter Brock, proving that he has mastered the tarmac rally game in addition to his circuit expertise. Brock was partnered with Mick Hone in a Daytona Coupe. Third outright went to Paul Blackie and Mike Stoneman in a Porsche 911 Turbo.

"It is a fantastic event," said winning co-driver, John White, after the presentation. "It's a nice piece of road but it's very challenging. It was different every time we went out there, depending on the time of day and what was happening with the weather." His nephew was more succinct: "great road, great people and great fun!"

The Lake Mountain Sprint is also open to classic (pre-1981) cars and the competition was just as tight as the modern cars. At the end of the weekend, the final honours went to Mark Bryant and Michael Pinder in a 1969 Chev Camaro. Second outright went to Michael Arundel and David Connolly in an immaculate 1963 Ford Cortina while John Keating and Joanna Price grabbed third in their 1975 Alfa Romeo Spider.

Thirty cars were entered for the event, which was only devised in February this year. It has been put together by Melbourne businessman and competitor, Peter Washington, and his team who also run the highly successful Mt Buller Sprint. Only four of the 30 had problems which prevented them actually finishing, but there were no serious accidents and no injuries. Among those who failed to finish was Richard Bendell, the brains behind the Motec engine management system and the creator of the Daytona Coupe. He and his son were competing in the twin Daytona to Brock's car, but an off-road excursion on Day One put an end to their plans.

The Toowoomba-built Skelta G-Force of Ray Vandersee and Jahmeil Taylor was running faultlessly and on course for a podium finish in the modern division until it headed out for a start in Special Stage Six (Day Two) and broke an axle in the staging area. The crew was able to fix it in time for the remaining stages, but the resulting time penalty pushed the team further down the order.

The Lake Mountain Sprint is made up of eight timed laps up the access road to Lake Mountain (closed for the duration of competition), with event headquarters in the nearby town of Marysville, 10km from the start, and 90 minutes north-east of Melbourne. Organisers would like to thank the Lake Mountain Resort management board, Murrindindi Shire, Mazda Australia, MDB Consulting, Mitsubishi Motors and the CFA for their assistance in running the event.