Singleton Automotive Centre Caves Classic,
Hampton, Jenolan, Vulcan and Essington State Forests,
Saturday April 13 2019
Another successful rally around Oberon
The North Shore Sporting Car Club was thrilled to present the 2019 Singleton Automotive Centre Caves Classic rally. The rally was Round 2 of the following series:
- MTA NSW Rally Championship
- East Coast Classic Rally Series
- TechWorkz Clubman Rally Series
- NSW Development Rally Series
- SpeedMaster Open Rally Series
- Premier Panel Beating Hyundai Rally Series.
For the second year, the Singleton Auto Caves Classic Rally was based at the Oberon Leagues Club. As the name might suggest, this event had traditionally been run in Hampton and Jenolan State Forests. In 2018 the stages added Lowes Mount forest and this year as well as Hampton and Jenolan the cars saw Vulcan and Essington forests. (Essington forest had not been used in a rally for about 30 years).You can see the Supplementary Regulations by clicking on the image.
The cars were flagged off by Oberon Mayor Kathy Sajowitz (seen here with rally director Jon Thomson), who welcomed the event to the town. It was one of three events in Oberon that weekend, adding to the tourist attractions of the area.
Entry list
What happened when on the day
The drivers briefing, when everyone realises that it's all really about to happen.
| Last minute tweaks and tunes in the service park, and then it all starts in earnest. | |
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Weather was perfect, and the only problem that competitors (and spectators) had was the amount of dust but if that was all anyone had to complain about then a good day was had by all. It might have been a bit boring for the medical emergency team because they had nothing to do all day but this just shows how safe the sport is and is what is expected these days anyway.
The event consisted of eight competitive stages (four stages run twice). The first stage was in the Bindo Road part of Hampton forest, second in the north western part of Jenolan, third all over Essington and fourth in the part of Vulcan north of Riverview Road and east of Abercrombie Road. All roads were in excellent condition and the spectator points were well chosen to see the action.
| Click on the maps to see details about the stages. | |||
 Stages 1 & 5 - Bindo |  Stages 2 & 6 - Jenolan |  Stages 3 & 7 - Essington |  Stages 4 & 8 - Vulcan |
The rally was part of several series, with Glen Raymond and Kate Catford taking first place in the NSW Rally Championship round in their Lancer EVO9 and Thomas Dermody and Eoin Moynihan topping the East Coast Classic Rally Series in an Escort RS 1800. (The ECCRS is restricted to cars more than 30 years old.)
Click here for provisional results
As well as the winners, congratulations have to go to Jon Thomson and his team from the North Shore Sporting Car Club (it was Jon's first time directing a rally), the Leagues Club for providing great facilities for rally headquarters, and of course the host town of Oberon for its hospitality and for being right in the middle of some of the best rallying places in the country.
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| Trophies and the crowd washing away the dust at the Leagues Club after the event. | ||
More information about this and other events can be found at the web sites of the North Shore Sporting Car Club and Rally NSW.
A report on this event appeared in the Oberon Review on April 18, 2019
You can click on the picture for an even bigger view.
And I even got a photo in the Mayor's column in the paper.
