Medan rally reduced to 25 SS
By Dwiatmanta
MEDAN, North Sumatra (JP): Competitors in the 1994 Indonesia Rally championship gave a sigh of relief, yesterday, when the organizers decided to cancel the ninth special stage of the race -- one of the most demanding of the three-day event -- due to poor track conditions.
Committee spokesman Helmy Sungkar said the competition board believed that any efforts to repair holes caused by rain at the 9th special stage, a 18.26-kilometer route along rubber plantations in Tanah Besih, some 50 kilometers north of here, would be useless.
"We are afraid that many vehicles will be seriously damaged, which may keep us from completing the race as scheduled," said Helmy.
New Zealand's reigning champion Peter "Possum" Bourne had called the ninth stage "a stage of survival," because of its twisting, slippery terrain.
The ninth stage was slated to close today's opening leg of the three-day event. Helmy said there would be no change in the race's point judgment following the shortened route.
Participants will now have to drive on 25 special stages, covering 400.48 kilometers during the race -- the first leg of the six-series Asia Pacific Rally Championship.
Helmy said the organizers had also repaired another four "dangerous" special stages: the 13th, 16th, 19th and 24th.
The race will not see Indra Rukmana behind his Ford Escort RS Cosworth and Arief Indiarto with his Mitsubishi Galant VR4 which earned him third place overall last year. Indra failed to turn up at yesterday's pre-race registration, while Arief opted to withdraw, saying that his car was not ready for the 1,118.43- kilometer race.
Another driver, Tolley Chillies of Australia, may also fail to make an appearance at the international motor sport body association (FIA)-sanctioned championship, since he had yet to pass the registration procedures. The organizers gave him 15 hours to improve his Mitsubishi Gallant VR4, setting a deadline of eight in the morning today.
There are now 49 drivers who will definitely be in the race, with Subaru World Team's Bourne, who will partner fellow New Zealander Tony Sircombe, and Swedish pair of Kenneth Eriksson and Staffan Parmander rated as the hot favorites to take the title.
Eriksson, driving his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution which delivered a fifth place overall finish at the Monte Carlo world championship rally last January, has promised to end Subaru's domination at the Asia Pacific series.
Japanese driver Kenjiro Shinozuka, last year's runner-up, will join Eriksson in team Mitsubishi team's bid to win the race. Shinozuka won the 1990 edition of the annual event.
Among Indonesia's best bets is Ledi Kurnadi who will drive Subaru Legacy with Raphael Arioseno. "I'm prepared to fight it out," winner of the first leg of national championship series said.
Six drivers will not have chance of winning the race as their cars have yet to receive the FIA recommendation to compete in international rallies held under its auspices.
Malaysian Pretronas team's Karamjith Singh and co-driver Ron Teoh B.S are among the unsanctioned competitors. The country's number one racing partners were formerly expected to make waves with their Proton Saga Iswara at the international rally scene.