NORMALLY Nathan Quinn is behind the steering wheel during a rally held in the region.

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But last weekend he put together and directed a fantastic 2020 North Coast Rally south of Macksville.

With 133 kilometres of competitive roads and eight stages it was great to see a rally come to fruition.

Teams from as far away as Wagga Wagga, Sydney, the Blue Mountains and Newcastle were ecstatic to actually get to compete in an event as most have been cancelled due to COVID or weather throughout the year.

The event looked good with a total of 47 starters and by the end of the night 34 finished with many stories to tell.

Jamie and Brad Luff in a WRX Subaru ran out the winners by seven seconds over Simon and Luke Jamieson in a Mitsubishi Lancer and third was Andrew Maurer and Brett Kerr, also in a Lancer.

Coffs Harbour was represented by six crews with Gianni Accadia and Ryan Moran being the first local car home in 26th place.

Jonna and Harvey Summersell were the only other local team to finish in 27th.

A great result from both teams against some strong competition.

The course was a test with all the rain, the roads had washed badly in places so drivers had to be “on the ball” to save their cars.

The course set by Quinn was a test, not fast and open like most rallies are these days.

A good test for driver and co-driver being tested all the way.

The other Coffs Harbour teams who didn’t make it to the finish were Steve Arthur and Angus Fraser in an Evo 9 Mitsubishi (transmission issues), Evan Bollard and Tara McIlroy in their Mazda RX2 (gear box issues), the Daihatsu Charade of Bruce McDougall and Kellie Pearce didn’t finish due to suspension issues.

Tony Creer and Pip Bennett had front suspension problems in their Chrysler Galant but it was great to see Tony having a run after many years on the sideline and having just got his old car back.

The last AMSAG event of the year will be a Rally Sprint at Black Springs on 21 November.

By Brad GREENSHIELDS