The Bog-a-Duck Trial, organised by the Melbourne University Car Club, was held on 1 March. It was the second round of the Victorian Club Rally Series. It was based in Thornton.
Michael Morris and Geoff Floyd were the winners in a VC Commodore, 25 seconds clear of David Smart and Robin Smalley in 2nd driving a Datsun 1600. Third were Brian Semmens and Dan Parry in a Toyota TE37.
Nick & Peter Whiteley were the first grade 3 crew and grade 4 was headed by Bernard Miron and John Rabl.
The following is part of the event report written by Mike Seidler (Honda Civic) for the March Unicar: “The event attracted a field of 46 cars, 50% more than the previous round, and saw a number of new crews appearing for the first time, as well as many of the old players returning after their summer re-build. The roads employed provided a variety of surfaces ranging from hard packed earth roads to fresh (and slippery) gravel with a couple of rougher roads tossed in to test the suspension. Generally twisty but not impossibly tight.
Natasha Otzen, in her second appearance as a director, put together a worthy successor to last year’s debut event. The selection of roads, the standard of organisation and the general ambience of the proceedings made for a thoroughly enjoyable night’s entertainment. The only annoyance was an unnecessary delay caused by a communication problem and inexperienced control officials, but given the chronic difficulties in securing event personnel these days, this is both understandable and forgivable.”
