Sue and Simon Evans were raring to tackle the last stage of the Australian Rally Championship when they arrived for the celebrity and media promotion in Healesville on Friday. Melbourne Storm star Brett White got to feel the thrill of racing with a winner.By Kath Gannaway
SIMON and Sue Evans finished the 2007 NEC Australian Rally Championship pretty much as expected – on the winners’ podium.
On Friday as media and celebrities lined up for a spin around the Don Road Sporting Complex in Healesville, the husband and wife team who are widely regarded as “the locals” for the Melbourne stages were already looking unbeatable.
Having won all the rounds they had to rack up anything between first and 19th place on the weekend to take the honours.
Racing as part of the Toyota Racing Development team, they did it in style cementing their second consecutive title by taking heat 1 of the NGK Rally of Melbourne and fulfilling their aim of a clean sweep of the 2007 NEC ARC by winning all 12 heats.
Navigator Sue said Simon was focused before the big race on not getting too carried away with winning the championship.
“He was determined to make it 12 heat wins from 12 starts and to be honest he was quite nervous this morning about not making a mistake and throwing it away,” she said after the race.
“But he’s done it now, and in front of so many friends, family and supporters is an amazing feeling.”
The couple finished a victory lap around the Healesville complex with a doughnut spectacular, which had fans cheering.
The couple from Nar Nar Goon have a special relationship with the Yarra Valley stages.
Simon first raced in the area in Toolangi in 1991 and as a team they competed in the Healesville stages when the spectator special was a hair-raising circuit of the township.
“It was amazing back then,” Simon said and although it would be unthinkable now to have spectators so close to the action, both agree it was an amazing feeling for the drivers and the crowds which lined the footpaths protected only by hay bales.
“Sometimes you do feel a bit frustrated for the spectators, because they don’t get up close as much as they used to, and that’s why they have designed the spectator stages,” Simon said.
Both rate the Ben Cairn and Acheron Way, and Marginal Road in Toolangi as the most challenging of what they say is a demanding but beautiful course. Simon’s love of the sport shines through and it makes the Evans team crowd pleasers.
“I love this event, I love the organisers and I love the officials,” he said from the podium.
“Being able to take our second championship and to get every heat win for the season means so much to me. To be able to share that with everyone here in Melbourne means even more!”
Both agree, from the reconnaissance through to the final flag, the race is very much a team effort.
“You end up getting into a bit of a zone and feel like you’re helping drive the car,” said Sue of her job as navigator.
“You are,” interjects Simon. “Basically she is telling me everything I am doing. If she stops calling the notes, I slow down.”
So what about the thing with women and maps? Sue says it still terrifies Simon when she does the woman-thing and turns the street directory around to the “right” direction when they’re off track.
