Howrah News Service -  Latest news and headlines on Howrah,West Bengal and World: Crocker tastes fourth straight win

Crocker tastes fourth straight win
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SportsDesk on 11 May, 2008 03:59:44
 
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.