Heart
of Darkness 1999 TSD Rally -- Presented by West
Coast Rally Association
Round #2 BC TSD Series
-- Sanctioned by Rally Pacific Motorsports
Sponsored by: ABT
Communications Inc., Nokian Tyres & Wilkinson's
Automobilia
After a one-year
hiatus, the Heart of Darkness Rally returned to
the BC TSD rally calendar. On April 17/18,
twelve competitors turned up to challenge the
178 kms of regularity and 426 kms of Monte
Carlo sections; for a total course length
of 604 kms. A healthy field of novices (7
out of 12 entrants!) ensured tough competition
in this class.
During the first section,
"Over the Hill", the team of Stanely/Jang in
a Toyota MR2 made the unfortunate mistake
of following the check point crews out onto the
course, maxing their points in the process. However,
everyone else seemed to enjoy warming up
on this popular stretch of Slesse Rd and
all teams eventually made it through to the
Coquihalla transit.
Still smarting from their
off's during this year's Thunderbird Rally, the
Rally Masters toured the competitors past
the soon-to-be infamous site of their follies.
While everyone managed to make it through the
aptly named "Rally Masters' Demise" section,
a local returning from some late-night activities
saw fit to hold up the rally just
shy of the end of section.
Thanks to some hard bargaining
by rally envoy Howie Wong in the 1953 Ford Zephyr,
the course was reopened for the promise
of future delivery on a bag of potatoes!
After adding ten minutes to accommodate
this delay, the rally resumed its steady progress
towards Princeton - thanks Howie!
Leg Two began with an admittedly
long transit through Manning Park during
the wee hours of the morning, but all 12
competitors eventually regrouped for the "Shakespeare
Loves Othello" section. Unfortunately, the Stanley/Jang
MR2 suffered a puncture during this
section, dropping them from contention.
Moving steadily westward,
the aptly named "Mission Impossible...?" section
proved the undoing of half the field. A forced
left on Seux Rd. caught everyone out,
except for Lang/Bodnaruk in the Saturn SC1. This
hard lesson in route precedence resulted
in max scores for 5 out of the remaining 6 novice
competitors, leaving novice class honours
to Wiedemann/Donaldson in the Mazda MX-6.
The sure and steady performance
of Welland/Passmore in the BMW 2002 served notice
that Historic Class has a new leader (following
the departure of Ted Wilkinson's Cortina
from the series), as their second overall, and
first in class, was deservedly won. And,
finally, after 9 hours and a mere 137 amassed
points, the overall winners were Westwick/Dobric
in the Toyota Celica All Trac.
Congratulations and thanks
to all the entrants for coming out, you made this
event a success. Thanks and appreciation
also go out to the check point crews - Aart &
Pat Van der Star, Alan Barnes (it's a shame
about the truck!), Dennis Wende, John Kisela
(the RATMBLE rules!), John Rapson, Kellan Roman-Barnes,
Ted Wilkinson and Tony Latham. |