Spirited racers take title

A FERNTREE Gully businessman and his co-driver will spend the new year in high spirits after receiving an Australian rally championship title before Christmas.
Craig Dean and his co-driver Emma Quigley received the 2015 Australian Tarmac Rally Championship on 6 December, winning the Snowy River Sprint over Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 December.
The sprint involved 20 stages set over 320 kilometres, in the hills behind Lakers Entrance, near Orbost.
Mr Dean and Ms Quigley entered the final round of the four-event race with a win in the penultimate round, driving a 2015-model Shelby GT Mustang and boasting 224 points – some 39 ahead of the next competitors.
With double points available in the last round, the win was by no means guaranteed, but a cautious approach saw Mr Dean and Ms Quigley take the title after South Australia’s Tristan and Kate Catford crashed, and the previous year’s champions, Danny Traverso and Bernie Webb, blew a gearbox.
“It’s been a fantastic event and series,” said Mr Dean, a muscle car specialist, who added that the final round’s easy win was not his preferred way to race.
“We would have rather gone full-on against the others, but that’s motorsport, and things happen.
“We’ve thoroughly enjoyed competing against them and look forward to doing more of it.”
For more information, visit www.australiantarmacrally.com.