LIMESTONE Coast drivers have dominated the 2017 South Australian Rally series, with the final round – the South West Stages – held at Heywood on the weekend.
But all did not go to plan for the eventual series winner, with Aaron Bowering claiming the overall honours, but not the round win.
Fellow Mount Gambier and South Eastern Automobile Club driver Gary Brown won the round, with Bowering having to only finish 11th to win the series.
Brown suffered an incident early in the stages, colliding with a kangaroo, which slowed his progress, while Bowering suffered a similar scenario, which affected his overall performance.
However, Bowering was able to limp home and finish 10th for the round, which handed him the championship.
Bowering’s usual co-driver Nathan Lowe was in line for a series championship himself, but took on the clerk-of-course job, which provided him with 50 points.
However, he needed Brown to finish second or lower to beat his co-driver Mick Dale.
Brown took the honours for the round and therefore Dale the championship.
Bowering – who had teamed up with Ross Shephard – said despite the setback in the final round, he was pleased to claim the season honours after a solid year of racing.
“Ideally we wanted to go out with a win or on a high, but we got enough points early in the year to win,” he said.
“At the end of the day, a state championship is a state championship.
“It is something I don’t believe any local drivers from down here have had for quite a while.”
After several years of financial input and hard work building his Subaru, Bowering said it was nice to claim the SA championship.
“I bought that car and blew an engine in the first season,” he said.
“I had to rebuild that and it came at a reasonable cost – now I have to fix it again.
“We put a lot of time and effort into it, so to get the result is good.”
Bowering said after the accident he was concerned he would not make it back to be classified as a finisher, with 40km to limp home.
“I was scrambling to work out how to get home, how to get out of the stage and get back and book in,” he said.
“There were a few tense moments, but I thought if I got home I would have the title.
“Once I saw the results and I was classed as a finisher, I was pretty sure I would have the title.”
While Bowering did not win the South West stage, he was pleased fellow SEAC driver Brown did.
“It was good because the first two rounds it was Gary and myself top and second on the podium,” he said.
“The SEAC guys have been pretty dominant through the year.”
Bowering said the result came with the help of many people throughout the year.
“I have to thank my sponsors who have put money or time into the car this season,” he said.
“Plus the guys who have helped me with the car or came away this season – I’ve borrowed different bits and pieces off people to help out.
“Also my family for supporting me this year.”
Other SEAC members to do well in the South West Stages were Mark Jennings and Kevin Raedel, who won the SA Clubman category, Dale Cagney and Mark Dycer were third outright for the
VCRS, (Victorian Club Rally Series), while Paul Heenan and Lisi Phillips, along with Jason Sims and Ken Moore had DNFs.
Overall Lowe said the weekend was a big success, with plenty of support shown from the general public and competitors.
“We couldn’t be happier with the event,” Lowe said.
“We’ve had a lot of rain in the area the last three months, which really hampered things and up until three weeks ago the event wasn’t going ahead.
“Myself, Kevin Millard and Kim Barclay put it together in three weeks, which is unheard of, but the results were fantastic.
“We had an awesome turnout, we ended up with 40 cars, the setting for the event was good and we had a great couple of days weather.
“What it did was create a lot of interest in the area that hadn’t seen that kind of rallying for more than 40 years.”
The rally even attracted two competitors from Alice Springs, with Phillip Kerr and Chris McCormack making the long trip to compete in their respective classes.
“All the competitors enjoyed themselves and we had a lot of interest from the town,” Lowe said.
“The shire helped us out financially and with equipment and everyone was talking about going again in the near future.”
Lowe said the South West Stages and the SA Rally overall showed the strength of the sport and the SEAC members in the region.
“It was fantastic for the club,” he said.
“We have put the hard yards in the last couple of years and done a lot of miles travelling to events.
“Apart from Heywood, the closest event is 550km away, so it is a big commitment to compete.
“We are very successful down here.
“Garry has been competing at state level for years and had a lot of success.
“I’m the reigning co-driver champion for the Victorian clubman rally series, which was the other series that ran at Heywood.
“The first two rounds of the SA Rally we won and Garry came second, but in the third round we got full points and Paul Heenan come second.
“The SEAC guys really dominated the series this year.”
