KUMHO SPIRIT OF THE RALLY AWARD GIVES BOADEN AND CHEERS A BOOST

Brother and sister duo Michael Boaden and Helen Cheers have been awarded the Kumho Spirit of the Rally award for round three of the Australian Rally Championship, the International Rally of Queensland.

Boaden and Cheers, who compete in the ARC in a two-wheel drive Volkswagon Polo, finished fourth in the International Rally of Queensland and were awarded the Spirit of the Rally because of their ongoing perseverance in the sport and their bright, friendly nature in the service park.

 

[caption id="attachment_10597" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Micheal Boaden and Helen Cheers were awarded the Kumho Spirit of the Rally award at the International Rally of Queensland.


 

Michael Boaden says finishing was the only goal for the weekend after having issues at the National Capital Rally and winning the Kumho Sprit of the Rally award is a welcome surprise.

"Just to finish this weekend has been a great achievement so I can't begin to tell you what it means to win this trophy. It's just the icing on the cake," said Michael Boaden.

"We've been struggling with this car ever since we got it so to get to the end of every stage over the weekend is incredible. We had some niggling problems but we drove through them."

Boaden and Cheers hoped to have a serious crack at the 2014 Australian Rally Championship after campaigning the VW Polo in 2013 but blew a brand new motor in the opening event, the National Capital Rally.

"We had to dig deep after our last event at Canberra. We were pretty deflated after blowing the engine so to come back this weekend and leave with an award is massive for us," said Helen Cheers.

According to Boaden, the strong result and the award have spurred on the Wauchope Motors team ahead of the Scouts South Australia Rally in five weeks time.

"This has given us a big boost heading into South Australia. We'll go home and iron out a few more of the issues and build on our reliability," said Boaden.

"You need to finish every rally to be anywhere in the points. We're a long way behind but it's only half way through the year so anything can happen yet.

"We're pushing pretty hard but Scott Pedder and Brendan Reeves at the front are really strong. The speed they have is incredible for two wheel drive cars so it's all about chasing down a few seconds to get closer to them now."