Howrah News Service -  Latest news and headlines on Howrah,West Bengal and World: Crocker takes lead

Crocker takes lead
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SportsDesk on 07 June, 2008 03:00:50
 
By D. Sampath Kumar
Whangarei, New Zealand
June 7: When the going gets tough, the tough get going. Defending champion Cody
Crocker of Australia made good use of his driving skills to negotiate the
slippery gravel and take the advantage in the third leg of the Asia-Pacific
Rally Championship.
Riding his new Subaru Impreza WRX STi for Motor Image Rally Team, Crocker
(co-driver Ben Atkinson) concentrated on powering through the stages ahead of
his APRC competitors to improve his position in the New Zealand leg, where he is
yet to record a win.
The problems suffered by leading competitors — Australians Dean Herridge and
Scott Pedder — also enabled Crocker to end the day on top position. Both
Herridge and Pedder suffered gearbox problems during the first four stages of
the day.
Lady luck was also on Crocker’s side on Saturday. Though he had wheel bearing
problems in the seventh stage, Crocker managed to end the race to claim stage
points.
Herridge lost the fifth gear and returned to service at lunchtime to have his
Cusco Racing Subaru repaired while Pedder’s MRF Tyres Mitsubishi required a
new gearbox during the 20-minute service opportunity before heading out for the
afternoon’s repeated running of the morning’s four stages.
Japan’s Katsuhiko Taguchi (navigator Mark Stacey), retained his second
position for Team MRF as he ended the day behind Crocker, while Scott Pedder
(navigator Glen Weston) of Team MRF was third.
Crocker feels that it was the new version of the car that helped him hold an
advantage. "The car is really good. The slippery road, that was hard to deal
with, posed problems. Negotiating the turns was very difficult. The drive even
on straights was not that easy as the car was wandering all over the road," said
Crocker. "I had to be cautious of gravel throughout the race and concentrated on
pushing hard to be ahead of the APRC challengers," he added.