Rally revheads reach finish line of premier WA event

Four South West petrolheads have all returned from Perth smiling and raring to go again after competing at the 2019 Make Smoking History Targa West.

Will White, Mark Cates, Bill Stagoll and Greg Freeman were four of 50 competitors to take on this year’s premier WA targa rally event, spread over four days and more than 220km.

At the end of the event on Sunday, White emerged as the best of the South West competitors, securing third overall, his fourth podium at the event.

Cates’ fifth place overall was enough to secure him the Targa Cup while Stagoll finished the event in seventh.

In what was Freeman’s second appearance at the event, the GT Fabrications owner did not have quite such a successful rally despite a good start in the first few days.

“The navigator had a few issues, so we were running third (in class) after the first couple of days,” he said.

“We dropped some stages Saturday afternoon, so then I had to get a new navigator and re-enter on Sunday just to finish the event.”

With the dust settled and the WA targa series over for this year, White and Stagoll will now set their sights on the upcoming Targa High Country in two months while Cates will head to Queensland next week for the Targa Barrier Reef.

“That will be telling; to put everything we’ve got over here, to put into play over there and see how we go,” Cates said.

All four drivers said they would be back for next year’s event, albeit with some adjustments to their cars.

“I’ve got some changes to make to the car now with some information we’ve got from some of the top-level navigators and so forth and hopefully the car will be a bit faster,” White said.

Freeman said there would be some more significant upgrades for his Camaro.