The Hindu : Bourne in awe-inspiring form

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Sep 07, 2002

Sport

Sport - Racing : Motor

Bourne in awe-inspiring form

By Sanjay Rajan

OBIHIRO (Japan) Sept. 6. In sport, we love people who extend the realm of possibilities. One actually seeks inspiration from them.

New Zealander Possum Bourne was awe-inspiring in the way he handled the gravel terrain, made treacherous by incessant rain, in the first leg of the three-day Rally of Hokkaido, here, on Friday.

Bourne (Mark Stacey co-driver), seeded third here and handling a souped up Subaru Impreza in Group A, drove like only he can among the ones contesting in the fourth round of the 2002 Asia Pacific Rally Championship, which also happens to be Japan's maiden venture as host at this level.

Bourne, a former APRC champion, leads the overall classification, dominating it from the word go.

Only 42 of the 61 cars that started completed the opening leg. The dropout list included some big names like Japan's Nobuhiro Tajima, New Zealanders Reece Jones, who is third in this year's APRC Group N standings, and Andrew Hawkeswood.

This, in itself, conveys the story of how difficult the five special stages (72.81-km out of the day's total distance of 301.31-km), were especially after it began raining.

Given the conditions, the two-car (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo7s) Team MRF Tyres have done well. Competing in APRC-Group N, Australian Stuart Warren (co-driver Darryl Judd), winner of this category in the earlier round in Rotorua (New Zealand), is second behind the experienced Italian Nico Caldarola (Giovanni Agnese) also in a Lancer Evo7. Caldarola leads Warren by 36.7 seconds.

The other Team MRF Tyres car, driven by V.R. Naren Kumar (D. Ram), the lone Indians in the championship, is third behind Warren in this section. In the overall classification, Warren is 12th and Naren Kumar 15th.

Bourne loves a challenge. He's the kind who takes things head on. Asked about the terrain and the rain making matters tougher, Bourne said, "if that's how it is, that's how it is. It was skidding, and the machine I am driving is new. I didn't push myself, it would have been stupid to have done that, but I kept at the limit to stay ahead.''

Bourne holds a 17.5-second lead over second-placed Katsuhiko Taguchi (Derek Ringer), the local hero who is driving a Mitsubishi Evo7.

Defending APRC champion Karamjit Singh, competing in Group A, is third. The Malaysian said, "I was driving cautiously. The two cars ahead of me are much faster. I'm concentrating on APRC points."

While Taguchi is not registered with the FIA for the APRC, Bourne is.

Warren felt that stages three and four, namely Kunneywa-2 and Tanner-2, were rough and that he actually got stuck while taking one of the curves and had to reverse which saw him lose time. "Tomorrow is another day. I hope to do better."

Naren Kumar had a good day. "I believe I set the fastest timings in stages one and five among APRC Group N drivers. I thought stage three was especially rough, so I slowed down. I want to just complete the rally. You've got to remember that this is my third race in a four-wheel drive," said last year's Asian Zone champion.

One should, however, remember that only 11 drivers are registered for the APRC while the rest are competing for prestige and honour in an event that is also considered as a clash between the region's manufacturers, Subaru and Mitsubishi in main.

Three such drivers are Japan's own Fumio Nutahara, contesting in N-4 in a Mitsubishi Evo7, Marcos Ligato of Argentina (N-4, Mitsubishi Evo6) and Japan's Yanagisawa Hiroshi (A-8, Subaru Impreza) who finished the day at fourth, fifth and sixth respectively in the overall classification.

The top five overall placings after leg one: 1. Possum Bourne (Mark Stacey), A-8, Subaru Impreza, 58:22.5; 2. Taguchi Katsuhiko (Derek Ringer), A-8, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo7, 58:40.0; 3. Karamjit Singh (Allen Oh), A-8, Proton Pert, 58:54.03; 4. Nutahara Fumio (Hayashi Satoshi), N-4, Mitsubishi Evo7, 1:00.38.9; 5. Marcos Ligato (Ruben Garcia), N-4, Mitsubishi Evo6, 1:00.42.9.

The top five overall placings among APRC drivers: Possum Bourne (Stacey), A-8, Subaru Impreza, 58:22.5; 2. Karamjit Singh (Allen Oh), A-8, Proton Pert, 58:54.03; 3. Nico Caldarola (Giovanni Agnese), N-4, Mitsubishi Evo7, 1:02.24.7; 4. Stuart Warren (Darryl Judd), N-4, Mitsubishi Evo7,

1:03.01.4; 5. V.R. Naren Kumar (D. Ram), N-4, Evo7, 1:04.25.7.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport

Stories in this Section

Athletics

An Open with several 'shut cases'

Chess

Eesha, Swati share lead

Cricket

India has its task cut out

Loss of toss, a blow to Indian hopes

Hockey

India capitulates to Korea

Racing : Motor

Bourne in awe-inspiring form

Tennis

Bhupathi-Mirnyi pair triumphs

Bopanna gets past Dooyev