Sprint Tango momentum builds up

LAKE Mountain out of Marysville will host the Lake Mountain Sprint Tango over the Australia Day long weekend.
Entries are filling fast for Australia ’s newest tarmac rally event.
The Tango involves timed runs up and down the 10km access road from the ticket office to the ski village of Lake Mountain itself. The event headquarters is in the nearby town of Marysville, around 10km from the start, and 90 minutes northeast of Melbourne.
The new event will be run by the team behind the extremely popular Mt Buller Sprint which was contested from November 4 to 6 last year, and the inaugural Lake Mountain Sprint which was run uphill only, in May last year.
Tasmania ’s nephew/uncle combination of Jason and John White and their Lamborghini Gallardo won Mt Buller in November, and also won the inaugural Lake Mountain event.
They have signed up for the long weekend, with plans to defend their crown, but they will have some fierce opposition: touring car stars Jim and Steve Richards will race at Lake Mountain — in separate cars.
Another major contender will be newly crowned Asia-Pacific Rally Champion, and three-time Australian series winner, Cody Crocker, who was second at Mt Buller, in his first-ever attempt at a tarmac event.
The Tango will kick off the 2007 Mountain Motorsport sprint series which also includes Lake Mountain in May and Mt Buller in November, with competitors able to sign up for the full series or do each event as a stand-alone run. Another event is under development in New South Wales.
“The Lake Mountain Tango was created because our competitors wanted another event like Mt Buller and Lake Mountain,” says event director, Peter Washington.
“Once they had run Lake Mountain uphill, I was besieged by demands to run it downhill. We put the idea to CAMS and it was signed off by Greg Carr, the national tarmac rally safety assessor.
“I don’t think there is any doubt it will be extremely challenging, but no more so than any downhill tarmac rally stage.”
Last year’s winner, Jason White, agrees.
“Every time we drove down the mountain on the liaison stages in May we kept saying how much fun it would be to race in both directions — I’m just wishing we had thought to organise some pace notes for the downhill run when we were there!”
Competitors entering the event need to have a CAMS National Rally licence, and cars (modern or classic) that comply with regulations as set down by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS).
Details of the event can be found on www.lakemountainsprint.com.