THUNDER ROLLS- Western Australia’s Forest Rally “Wetter than an otter’s pocket”

Glenn Cawood and Murish O’Connell’s took second place in the Clubman’s Cup section of the Make Smoking History Forest Rally in Western Australia over the weekend

Their event could not have started better, setting the fastest time on all four stages in their Mitsubishi Lancer, on Friday night.

“The super special at the Bunbury Speedway was a fantastic start to the event,” the Kenmare man told Kerry Motorsport News. “We were fastest on all four runs, to lead into the Saturday stages”

The promised thunderstorms arrived on Saturday morning and turned the rally on its head.

Tom Van Kann and Stephen Procter mounted a serios challenge in their Datsun 280B as did Michael Connor and Eden Hughes (Hyundai)turned a 14.4 second deficit into an 18.7 second advantage over Saturday’s four-stage loop.

“The first runs of the Dugite and Snake stages were dry, and we exchanged fastest times with Van Kann and Proctor to extend the lead,2 added O’Connell. “By lunchtime, the predicted thunderstorm rolled in and the next couple stages were wetter than an otter’s pocket.

“We had an issue with visibility and trying to demist the windscreen on stage, but luckily we got through ok and in pretty treacherous conditions.”

The weather continued to cause disruption and the organisers elected to cancel the final loop of stages to protect the volunteer marshals who were standing out in the monsoon conditions.

With the results declared at this point Cawood and O’Connell were in second position to their Hyundai rivals.

“Massive thanks again to the marshals and volunteers,” he added, “Particularly those who stood in the pouring rain for several hours so we could send a rally car through a forest as best we could.”