Europeans Still Lead Rally

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31863, 16 December 1968, Page 32

Europeans Still Lead Rally

(N.Z. Press Association) i LAKE KING (Western Australia). Officials at the Lake I King (Nullarbor - Plain) check-point for the London to Sydney Marathon were staggered when the three European teams leadI ing the rally swept in i on time yesterday. The rally leader, R. Clark, of Britain, proved the experts wrong when he covered the “horror stretch” from the second check-point at Marvel ; Loeh without loss of points. Although the steering of his works Lotus Cortina was affected by a bent tie-rod, Clark maintained his fautless Australian record and still led by nine points, with’the II points lost between London and Bombay the only ones against him. The West German driver, H. Staepalaere (20 points down) in his Ford 20 MRS and the Frenchman, L. Bianchi (21 down) in his Citroen

|DS2I, also reached Lake King without further loss. They were the only entrants not to lose points on the pot-holed track from Mar|vel Loch. : But the worst is yet to come, and on the next stretch to the mid-western gold town of Norseman the drivers will strike quagmire conditions. It has been raining steadily for several days and locals say the road is impassible in places. Already several European drivers have fallen prey to the rugged conditions. The Englishman, J. Tallis, who was leading the private entries, lost heavily when his Volvo 123 G.T. rolled on a bend between Youanmi and Marvel Lqch. No-one was injured, but a broken rear axle has virtually put Tallis out of the rally. The damaged Simca 1100 of the Frenchman, P. Boucher, limped into the first checkpoint of Youanmi 55 minutes late after hitting a kangaroo. Boucher left Perth in thiryfifth place but his 55-point loss at Youanmi increased his penalty to 217 points. Captain F. Barker, of England, driving a Mercedes 280 S,

hit a large red kangaroo at 90 m.p.h. between Youanmi and Marvel Loch. He lost 10 minutes trying to prise open the jammed bonnet to check the engine. He was able to continue. < At Marvel Loch the British driver J. Sprinzel (M.G. Midgt) was the victim of an error which may cost him 100 points. Sprinzel, who was twenty-fourth, checked in at Marvel Loch at 4.21 a.m., but noticed after leaving for Lake King that his log had been marked 5.21 a.m. He returned and protested, but officials said it was a competitor’s responsibility to check' for errors. The threat of kangaroos, emus and wombats will not diminish in the next 810 miles to the fourth checkpoint at the South Australian rail town of Ceduna. Kangaroos are dangerous because they can jump into the path of a car without warning from roadside scrub. As the rally cars ploughed over the flooded clay roads to Norseman yesterday, the Europeans were maintaining their lead over the Australian drivers, who had been

expected to make up ground in the familiar going. But the top Australian after Lake King was E. Green (B.M.C. 1800). Greep checked in two minutes late,. but improved from eighth to equal fifth place, with 32 points lost. r The British driver, A ! . Cowan (Hillman Hunter) shares fifth place, with Green. R. Aaltonen of Finland (B.M.C. 18Q0) lost, seven minutes but moved from fifth to fourth place. P. Hopkirk of Britain (B.M.C. 1800) fell back td eighth after losing 14 points. The Australian H. Firth (Ford Falcon G.T:) is seventh with 34 points, and his teammate I. Vaughan has moved from eleventh to ninth. The further the cars travel the less chance the Australians will have to overhaul Clark and the other Europeans as they become acclimatised. - From Ceduna the cars, will thread through the treacherous Flinders ranges and the snow country of Omeo in Victoria, before reaching the rugged home stretch to Sydney tomorrow.