The Lamborghini Gallardo has taken outright honours in the modern division of Australia’s newest tarmac rally, the Lake Mountain Sprint. Tasmanian nephew/uncle duo, Jason and John White dominated the event, held in Victoria’s high country, posting top five fastest times on all but one of the eight timed laps up the access road to the cross-country ski resort.

"It is a fantastic event," said co-driver, John White, after the presentation. It's a nice piece of road but it's very challenging. It was different every time we went out there, depending on the time of day and what was happening with the weather." Jason White added: "great road, great people and great fun!" The event was the first major rally win for the Lamborghini Gallardo. The Italian sportscar was raced by Jason and John White on the Targa Tasmania last month where it showed a good turn of speed before eventually finishing in third place.

The Lake Mountain Sprint is the brain child of Melbourne businessman and competitor, Peter Washington, who created and runs the highly successful Mt Buller Sprint. The event was made up of eight timed runs up the 10km access road from the ticket office at the base of the mountain to the ski village of Lake Mountain itself. Event headquarters were in the nearby town of Marysville, around 10kms from the start, and 90 minutes north-east of Melbourne.

“Competitor demand is how this came about,” said Washington. “Our competitors wanted another event like Mt Buller. I had been thinking about running a true tarmac rally championship, so three days after we ran Mt Buller in January, I went to look at Lake Mountain. I was thinking about it for next year but Wayne [Kenny] and Greg Carr, CAMS’ tarmac rally safety assessor, convinced me we could make it happen this year, and that’s what we are doing.
 

Second outright in modern – and just 20 seconds shy of the winning Lamborghini Gallardo - was touring car legend, Peter Brock, proving that he has also mastered the tarmac rally game. Brock was partnered by Mick Hone in a Daytona Coupe. Third outright went to Paul Blackie and Mike Stoneman in a Porsche 911 Turbo. The Whites posted the fastest time of the entire event, a 4m36.46s run, and Brock posted the second fastest (4m37.40s), both on day one. Day Two was colder and damper and the times were noticeably slower. The Toowoomba-built Skelta G-Force of Ray Vandersee and Jahmeil Taylor was running faultlessly and on course for a podium finish in the modern division until it headed out for a start in Special Stage Six and broke an axle in the staging area.

While Jason and John White dominated the modern section, it was also a similar situation with the classic division, with final honours going to Mark Bryant and Michael Pinder in a 1969 Chev Camaro. Second outright in the classic division went to Michael Arundel and David Connolly in an immaculate 1963 Ford Cortina, while John Keating and Joanna Price in their 1975 Alfa Romeo Spider rounded out the podium positions.

Only four of the 30 entrants had problems which prevented them actually finishing the event, but there were no serious accidents and no injuries. Among those who failed to finish were Richard Bendell, the brains behind the Motec engine management system and the creator of the Daytona Coupe. He and his son were competing in the twin Daytona to Brock’s car, but an off-road excursion on Day One put an end to their plans.