Khanacross 2nd August

The Big Wet

The last day of July was the wettest that anyone could remember. In the 48 hours prior to the 2nd of August, 113mm of rain had fallen, turning roads into rivers and puddles into lakes.
There was so much water, this was the scene at one of our culverts on the Friday afternoon. Flooded TracksThere was little we could do except hope the rain would stop falling and the ground would dry enough for us to run a Khanacross on Sunday.

The weather did just that and Sunday dawned cool and clear. A strong breeze Saturday night had also helped with drying the roads, however some sections still had muddy puddles.
Using rally tracks on the higher part of our venue, the first four tests were set and the race was on for the 27 drivers who had entered. Most of the field were in front wheel drives, however Shane and Murray Buchan brought out their rear drive Corolla rally car for a play and spent the day with the tail hanging out.

Slip Sliding

EunosOn the first couple of tests some of the drivers found the puddles and a few cars misfired their way around the courses. Despite the conditions everyone was driving with commitment, even young Camden Puzey who was behind the wheel of his Mazda Eunos on his very first competitive event.

During the lunchtime break the tests and been reset and new test added. The plan to use the new test had to be abandoned when several competitors became bogged during the drive through before racing even started. One of the earlier tests was altered and run instead.

 

Top Ten

Hitting a couple of cones during the day dropped Ben Kitchen slightly, he took tenth place in his Lancer.Lancer Father Craig Puzey drove his son’s Eunos to a fine ninth place. On the second test, Craig swamped the Mazda’s electrics and nearly 30 seconds was lost trying to restart the V6 machine. Rob Macleod on his very first Khanacross drove very well in his shared Lancer to take eighth place just 0.37 seconds in front of Craig. Even a misfire in the early tests didn’t slow Neil Trethowen too much. He drove his Twin Cam Excel to seventh behind another Excel with Jace Van Saar Loos at the wheel in sixth.

Top Five

Sharing the same car, Mark Keltie drove to fifth place, staying ahead of Jace by 2.65 seconds. Sharing his four door Excel with daughter Allyka, Bob Percival drove neatly and quickly to gain fourth place. Neal Johnson (Hyundai Lantra) charged consistently all day. After eight tests he took third place from Bob by  just 0.67 seconds! A late electrical problem nearly spelt retirement for the green “Mickey Mouse” Excel of Rohan Keltie.

Not an easy win

Mickey MouseWith three drivers sharing, all pushing and all within the top six, the car had seen a hard day. Rohan emerged fastest of the trio of drivers, taking second place. Andrew Percival won the event in his Honda Civic, however it wasn’t a foregone conclusion.

Perhaps a changing of the guard is in the wind?

During the day, 5 different drivers set fastest test times and the winning margin was a shade under 7 seconds.

Click Here for Results

More info on how to get into Khanacross here