S.I. rally series to Rabbidge

Press, 3 September 1981, Page 21

S.I. rally series to Rabbidge

Carl Rabbidge. of Timaru, won the 1981 South Island rally series after a dramatic final round near Nelson. Rabbidge crashed on the first special stage of the Nelson rally and it seemed that the rally winner, Ross Bailey, of Springston, would take enough points to win the series, but Rabbidge struggled home in seventh place to gain sufficient points to just win the series. Dave Parkes, of Nelson, was the fastest driver in the event in his newly developed Escort 1600, which he intends to race in the Motogard Rally later this month, but a puncture robbed him of victory, and he had to be content with second place be-

, hind the smooth-driving I Bailey (Escort RS2000). G. Wild (Escort 1600) took third place and Tony Blair, of Nelson, was fourth in his Datsun 1200 and first in the small-engine class. The top Christchurch driver, Trevor Crowe, won one special stage in his powerful Avenger V 8 but two punctures and a dashboard fire saw him finish sixth. Final points in the Mainland rally series — Overall: Rabbidge. 36 points. 1; Bailey, 34. 2; Barry Robinson (Wyndham, Chevette 2.3) 20, 3; Alan Hewlett (Kumara, Escort RS2000), 18, 4; Bruce Reid (chch, Mazda RX3), 17, 5. 1300-1600 cu. cm class: Nigel Welsh (Datsun 1600) 1. 0-1300 class: lan Elliot (Oamaru, Datsun 120 Y) L