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The Canberra-based crew who won the 2004 Alphera Dutton Rally NSW has done it again in 2005.
Simon Arthur and Martin Notaras took their Mitsubishi Evo 8 RS to victory in the Team's Trophy (outright) after three days of intense competition (3-5 Jun) at venues in Sydney, Goulburn and Canberra.
While this year is the third time the NSW event has been run, it's the first time it has been part of a national series (Queensland, NSW and Victoria) - and Notaras and Arthur are on top of the points tally for the national crown, having won the first round in Queensland and now NSW.
Behind them in NSW - for the second year running - were fellow Canberra residents Greg Sutton and Bernie Wilson, also in an Evo 8 RS. Brisbane-based business partners Mark Berry and Russell Newman (Nissan Skyline GTR) were third.
In the Driver's Trophy (outright), it was Berry ahead of Notaras and Melbourne's Greg Muller (Evo 8 RS) while in the Co-Driver's Trophy (outright), it was Arthur, Wilson and Sydney's Troy Nicholson third.
A total of 147 drivers from NSW, Victoria, ACT and Queensland, and 86 cars (worth around $11 million in total) lined up for the 2005 Alphera Dutton Rally NSW.
The event was made up of 24 different driving challenges including sprints, hillclimbs, skidpans and motorkhanas. Venues included Goulburn's Wakefield Park race circuit, Goulburn Airport, Queanbeyan's Fairbairn Park hillclimb and Sutton Road Driver Training Centre, Sydney's Eastern Creek Raceway and drag strip.
Among the more well-known names testing their skills were Carrera Cup stalwart Peter Fitzgerald, V8 Supercar driver Warren Luff and rally ace, Rick Bates.
The youngest and possibly least experienced competitor in the field was Sydney's Molly Taylor, aged 17, who passed her driving test a month ago.
Proving there is motorsport in the genes, Molly is the daughter of Coral Taylor, professional co-driver (navigator) to Toyota's three-time Australian Rally Champion, Neal Bates.
Under the rules for the Alphera Dutton Rally national series, entrants can have either one or two drivers in each car, which must be fully road-registerable.
Points are tallied for each competitor on each driving test, to determine the winners of the outright trophies as well as class winners and the winners of individual events.
The next round of the series - which can also be contested as a stand-alone event, is in Victoria over the weekend of July 29-31.
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