Crocker tastes fourth straight win

By Rohit Bhaskar

Canberra, May 11: Overnight leader Cody Crocker continued his winning streak at the Canberra leg of the 2008 Asia-Pacific Rally Championship easing to his fourth straight win in the Australian capital here on Sunday.

Having built-up a comfortable 39 second advantage at the conclusion of day one Crocker already had a firm grip on the title, and after the opening two stages of day two - which saw his closest competitors, Team MRF's Scott Pedder and Peter Evans team's Eli Evans drop-off considerably - all the 36-year-old had to do was make sure that he crossed the finish line.

Not one to be content with just sitting on his lead, the Aussie wrapped-up his record breaking fifth at Canberra in style, driving home his Subaru Impreza WRX STi close to three minutes ahead of countrymen Dean Herridge of Cusco Racing. Rounding out the podium positions was Herridge's Japanese teammate Hiroshi Yanagisawa.

After a superb drive on Saturday, Peddar was left ruing his luck as his Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IV limped into the Sutton Road complex following a mechanical failure in the first stage of the day- which restricted his car to a front-wheel drive. Having struggled through four stages, he was finally forced to withdraw as a weekend that promised so much delivered so little for the MRF driver.

Countryman Evans, who started the day in third place, had an even more disappointing outing. After spinning out on stage one he was forced to withdraw.

Even as Crocker was driving to glory, Team MRF's Katsuhiko Taguchi - who won the opening race of this season's championship in New Caledonia last month - served an ominous warning to the four-time APRC champion.

After an electrical failure forced him to retire early on day one, Taguchi blazed his way through the slippery conditions, winning six of the nine stages on Sunday.

After two rounds of the Championship, Taguchi and Crocker each have a win apiece and the stage is set for a thrilling face-off ahead of the Rally of New Zealand next month.

For now, at least, the bragging rights lie with Crocker - who wasn't part of the opening race of the season. But, that should only act as an added inspiration for Taguchi ahead of the next round.