Reigning champion Sean Gill (right) has drawn level with former points leader James Betts following yesterday's (Sunday) third round of the 2005 Vaucluse Raceway (VRW) RallySprint Cup. As predicted, there was a major shake-up in the top 10 standings, leaving everything to play for at the final showdown next month.

On a day when many drivers established personal best times at the St Thomas venue, there was racing of a very high standard. Fastest time of the day was set at 2m 05.79s by Trevor Manning (Shell Helix/Courts/Automotive Art/Kerridge/Simpson Motors/Garbage Master Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII), while Gill further reduced the two-wheel-drive lap record to 2m 07.53s.

Those to claim a new PB included VRW Motor Sport Club chairman Greg Cozier, his time achieved even after he had rolled his Citgo/Hyundai Commercial & Industrial Ford Escort during qualifying. Apart from Cozier's Escort, the only other major casualty was the Autolink Service Centre/ Ideal Agencies Toyota Corolla Gti of Joshua Delmas (right), who crashed heavily in his Group final exiting the bridge when a wheel parted company with the car.

Although uninjured in the accident, it was a great disappointment for Delmas, who had qualified fastest in Group for the first time; at the prize-giving, Group winner Kirk Watkins (Abacus Builders Inc/Planned Maintenance/Bridgestone Toyota Corolla) passed his awards over to Delmas, in a gesture which earned a heartfelt round of applause.

Before the weekend, Betts enjoyed a narrow one-point advantage in his Champion Auto/KG Enterprises/Venture Marble/Hankook/ Bridgestone/L & N Workshop/Kendall Sporting Opel Corsa GSi, so could afford no mistakes. Group fastest in qualifying, netting the maximum eight points, he then faced the Group KnockOut runs. In his heat, Betts beat Shaun Alleyne, who debuted his recently-acquired Peugeot 106 Rallye, his first competition car with front-wheel-drive, then saw off Stuart White (Toyota Corolla) in the final, adding a further 15 points to his total.

Gill was on top of his game, too - driving the Shell Helix/Courts/Automotive Art/Kerridge/Simpson Motors Suzuki Ignis JWRC, he was also Group fastest in qualifying. His was only a three-car Group so, after a run-off between the two slower cars, he faced Jonathan Still in the final, narrowly beating the mighty BMW M3 to the flag. And that meant the gap between Betts and Gill remained at one point, so it would all come down to the Group Winners' KnockOut Handicap.

In the quarter-finals, Betts beat Watkins from a three-second handicap, while Gill went head-to-head with Adrian Linton. Driving his new Ravensden/Ocean Park/Crane & Equipment/Garbage Gobbler/Edwin Clarke Furniture/West Coast Garden Centre Vauxhall Astra GSi (left) at VRW for the first time, Linton had shown impressive form in qualifying, demoting Gill - albeit temporarily - from his usual slot as fastest two-wheel-drive runner with a time of 2m 12.16s, more than a second faster than Gill. Their positions were reversed during the Group runs, so Gill started a second behind Linton in their Handicap quarter-final . . . Gill already looked set to win, then his victory was assured when the Astra developed a fan belt problem.

In the semi-finals, Betts would race against Tristan Gibbs, while Gill would face team-mate Manning. Betts started with a seven-second handicap to Gibbs and, despite a very committed run, finished a couple of lengths adrift, so then had to watch Gill v Manning and hope for a 'Micey' victory . . . but it was not to be, despite what looked like a short handicap of only three seconds. Manning had a big 'moment' coming on to the bridge, which cost him time, and Gill won, drawing level on points with Betts.

But there was still a chance for Gill to move ahead of Betts: the impressive young Gibbs had reached the Handicap Final for the second time in a row, and was eager to make up for his defeat in May at the hands of Mark Hamilton (Ford Escort MkII). Urged on by the cheers of his extended motor sport family, Gibbs left the start pad 10 seconds before Gill and, in his determination to win, further improved his best time at VRW to beat Gill by three seconds.

The other Group winners were: Neil Barnard (Shell Helix/Courts/ Automotive Art/Kerridge/Simpson Motors Suzuki Ignis Sport), who had an uncharacteristic brush with a tyre wall to lose his Handicap quarter-final against Gibbs; Jeremy Gonsalves, who was sharing the Cup leader's Opel Corsa and was therefore unable to take part in the Handicap; and Simon Gillmore, whose victory in the Citroen-engined Halton Graphics/DHL World Wide Express/SRG Engineering/Toyo Tyres Peugeot 205 has promoted him to third place in the standings. He lost his Handicap quarter-final to Manning, who somehow managed to eat up the 12-second handicap on the first lap!

The Banks Pig'n'Likka Driver of the Day Award went to competitor Ron Layne and wife Giselle, who had willingly stepped in to assist the organisers after an early-morning shortage of start-line marshals. At the prizegiving, Clerk of the Course Heath Hazell praised the course marshals for their rapid response to the incidents involving Cozier and Delmas, and particularly thanked those who had arrived early afternoon having heard of the shortfall.

The 2005 VRW RallySprint Cup comprises four rounds; the final is slated for Sunday, August 7.

2005 VRW RallySprint Cup - round 3
Results

Group 1 1st Neil Barnard (Shell Helix/Courts/Automotive Art/Kerridge/Simpson Motors Suzuki Ignis Sport); 2nd Sean Corbin (Yardman/Rid-A-Bug/Kellspeed/Suntraders Toyota Starlet); 3rd Ryan Corbin (Suntraders Peugeot 106XSi); 4th Gary Mendez (Toyota Starlet); 5th Daniel Williams (Ocean Mist/Chase Midway Clothing/Sunbury Plantation Peugeot 106)
Group 2 1st Tristan Gibbs (Rent-a-Tool/Kumho/rallynut.com Toyota Starlet Turbo); 2nd Sean Gibbs (Datsun 160J); 3rd Stephen Moore (Datsun B510); 4th Shannon Gibbs (Rent-a-Tool/Kumho Datsun 160J); 5th Jason Downey (Daihatsu Charade GTti)
Group 3 1st James Betts (Champion Auto/KG Enterprises/Venture Marble/Hankook/Bridgestone/L & N Workshop/Kendall Sporting Opel Corsa GSi); 2nd Stuart White (Williams Equipment/Ullyetts Machine Shop/Errie's Tyre Service Toyota Corolla); 3rd Shaun Alleyne (Rent-A-Tool/Autolink/Friendly Signs/Champion Auto/PhotoBarbados Peugeot 106 Rallye); 4th Ryan Wood (Williams Industries/Flyin' Fish Toyota Starlet)
Group 4 1st Kirk Watkins (Abacus Builders Inc/Planned Maintenance/Bridgestone Toyota Corolla); 2nd Joshua Delmas (Autolink Service Centre/Ideal Agencies Toyota Corolla Gti); 3rd Daniel Branch (Automotive Art/ImitationTrees.com Toyota Corolla)
Group 5 1st Adrian Linton (Ravensden/Ocean Park/Crane & Equipment/Garbage Gobbler/Edwin Clarke Furniture/West Coast Garden Centre Vauxhall Astra GSi); 2nd Roger Marshall (Signia Financial/Western Union/Bill Express Hyundai Accent); 3rd Greg Cozier (Citgo/Hyundai Commercial & Industrial Ford Escort RS2000); 4th Freddie Gale (Wurkx Mechanical/Nishikoi Fish Foods/VP Racing/Gales Hatcheries Toyota Corolla RunX); 5th John Corbin (Corbin's Garage/Klark-Odio Toyota Corolla)
Group 6 1st Jeremy Gonsalves (Champion Auto/KG Enterprises/Venture Marble/Hankook/Bridgestone/L & N Workshop/Kendall Sporting Opel Corsa GSi); 2nd Matthew Staffner (Williams Equipment/Ullyetts Machine Shop/Errie's Tyre Service Toyota Corolla); 3rd Krystal Branch (Automotive Art/ImitationTrees.com Toyota Corolla); 4th Ron Layne (Autolink Service Centre/Ideal Agencies Toyota Corolla Gti)
Group 7 1st Sean Gill (Shell Helix/Courts/Automotive Art/Kerridge/Simpson Motors Suzuki Ignis JWRC); 2nd Jonathan Still (Hitachi Power Tools/Philips Lighting/Warrens Motors/Crane & Equipment/VP Racing BMW M3); 3rd Karl Waterman (Williams Industries/Flyin' Fish Toyota Starlet)
Group 8 1st Simon Gillmore (Halton Graphics/DHL World Wide Express/SRG Engineering/Toyo Tyres Peugeot 205); 2nd Neil Corbin (Nassco/CAC Enterprises Toyota Starlet); 3rd Andrew Jones (AP Jones Pharmacy/Total Sport Ford Escort MkII); 4th Josh Read (Baram Services/ERP Exports/Forever Flowers/D Blades Trophies Toyota Starlet)
Group 9 1st Trevor Manning (Shell Helix/Courts/Automotive Art/Kerridge/Simpson Motors/Garbage Master Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII); 2nd Sean Dowding (Pro Pac/Globe Finance/Xypex Mitsubishi Lancer Evo V)

Group winners' KnockOut Handicap

Quarter-finals: Tristan Gibbs beat Neil Barnard; James Betts beat Kirk Watkins; Sean Gill beat Adrian Linton; Trevor Manning beat Simon Gillmore
Semi-finals: Gibbs beat Betts; Gill beat Manning
Final: Gibbs beat Gill
Banks Pig'n'Likka Driver of the Day: Ron and Giselle Layne
Fastest time of the day: Trevor Manning, 2m 05.79s

2005 VRW RallySprint Cup

Top 10 positions after three rounds
1st equal James Betts (Champion Auto/KG Enterprises/Venture Marble/Hankook/Bridgestone/L & N Workshop/Kendall Sporting Opel Corsa GSi) & Sean Gill (Shell Helix/Courts/Automotive Art/Kerridge/Simpson Motors Suzuki Ignis JWRC), 72pts
3rd Simon Gillmore (DHL/Halton Graphics/SRG Engineering Peugeot 205), 66pts
4th equal Roger Marshall (Signia Financial/Western Union/Bill Express Hyundai Accent), Jonathan Still (Hitachi Power Tools/Philips Lighting/Warrens Motors/Crane & Equipment/VP Racing BMW M3) & Trevor Manning (Shell Helix/Courts/Automotive Art/Kerridge/Simpson Motors/Garbage Master Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII), 61pts
7th Kirk Watkins (Abacus Builders/Planned Maintenance/Bridgestone Toyota Corolla GTi), 59pts
8th equal Freddie Gale (Wurkz Mechanical/Nishikoi Fish Foods/VP Racing/Gale's Hatcheries Toyota Corolla RunX) & Tristan Gibbs (Rent-a-Tool/Kumho/rallynut.com Toyota Starlet Turbo), 51pts
10th Joshua Delmas (Autolink Service Centre/Ideal Agencies Toyota Corolla Gti), 49pts
etc