Another year, another Targa Newfoundland is in the books.  This year’s edition saw a hotly contested battle for the overall podium, and many dramatic "press-on-regardless" moments that Targa is famous for.  Roy Hopkins and Adrienne Hughes repeated their winning performance in a 1969 BMW 2002.  Jud Buchanan and Jim Adams in the ground-pounding 1967 Acadian Canso found themselves the perennial bridesmaids in second place again this year, and Andrew Comrie-Picard and Jen Horsey brought the new Mitsubishi Evolution X into third place, winning the Modern division in the process.  Check out the highlight video from Targa after the jump…

The final day of competition had its fair share of excitement, with challenger Bill Arnold in his BMW Bavaria sidelined with suspension damage on the second-last stage.  He was able to McGyver a field repair and continue to the finish, but not before losing a lot of time in the process.

One of the showcase stages at Targa, the town of Brigus hosts a narrow, technical, first and second gear blast through the small fishing village.  Featuring a few "gotcha’s", the deceptive corners and narrow sightlines gave some teams an exciting ride.  One corner in particular caught out several competitors, and even the course opening car became close friends with a white picket fence, much to the crowd’s amusement.

The Spirit of Targa award was awarded to the classic mini team of Dave Pledger and Chris Willett from Las Vegas, but the entire "Brick n’ Brute" team was brought to the stage to share in the honours.  Starting even before the event began, they popped a motor before leaving for Targa and were about to cancel their entry in the event. The rest of the team wasn’t going to hear of it, and found a replacement motor for them. When the team of Dyrk Bolger and Terry Milnes crashed on the first day of competition, the incident had a silver lining because the spare parts would be needed to keep "Lucy" the mini alive over the course of the week.  Three motors later, and a parade of repairs to head gaskets, distributors, differentials and more, the pair crossed the finish line in St. John’s with smiles on their faces. Press On Regardless is a favourite saying of rallyists, and it was a suitable discription of the whole team’s attitude towards keeping their teammates on the road.

Targa Newfoundland is a test of motoring endurance like any other, and the actual act of driving is just a small part of the experience.  Whether competing, servicing, volunteering, or photographing the event, everyone walks away with a year’s worth of stories to tell.  Targa will be back again on September 12-18, 2009…start planning and we’ll see you there!

Here is a highlight video reel from Targa Newfoundland 2008.  Watch targanewfoundland.com in the coming weeks for details on the full television program!

Repeating their 2007 performance, Roy Hopkins and Adrienne Hughes are the provisional overall winners of the 2008 Targa Newfoundland, with only 25-seconds of penalties from the five days of action. This morning’s leader, Bill Arnold, suffered broken suspension on the penultimate stage, dropping him out of contention for the win. Results could not be confirmed this evening, as organizers were faced with a large number of protests after the event. Final results and a full Flatovercrest update will be available tomorrow.

Thursday’s Leg 4 brought competitors to the scenic Heritage Run area on the Burin Penninsula.  A new leader has emerged, but only by the smallest of margins. 

Taking over the lead on the penultimate day was previous Targa
champion, Bill Arnold, with co-driver Alan Ryall.  On the notice board
at lunch time, Arnold was one second in the lead, and he proceeded to
pull a few more seconds on the final in-town stage to take a slim lead
of only four seconds at day’s end.

"It’s not enough!" said Arnold about his lead, "If you pooch one corner, that’s it."

Roy Hopkins and Adrienne Hughes dropped one spot to second overall on Thursday, but effectively it is a fresh start on the final day. Hopkins was in the arena this evening looking relaxed, performing standard service on his BMW 2002. Mistakes will cost dearly for the top five teams on Friday, with cjust
19 seconds between them.  One spin or stall and it could drop them out of contention.

Nova Scotian, Mike Mackenzie, and co-driver Kirk Alexander are currently third in their ground-thumping 1969 Chevy Camaro.  Mackenzie was a top finisher last year, but was handed a time penalty after the post-race vehicle scrutineering.  He’s on pace for another podium finish if he can hold off a hard-charging Jud Buchanan. 

Buchanan and co-driver, Jim Adams, have been battling some gearbox issues which required a gearbox teardown on Wednesday night.  The team is looking for an overall win at this event, and will be pushing hard to give themselves that opportunity should anyone make a mistake.

Andrew Comrie-Picard has held onto a top five position through four days of competition, and is less than twenty seconds behind the leader. He is eager to prove that a modern can win overall, however he’ll have his work cut out for him to overtake the four cars ahead of him.

A little further down the order, Targa veteran Glen Clarke was lucky to escape an off-road excursion on the high-speed Frenchman’s Cove stage. The time lost there, compiled with a blown turbo near the end of the day led Clarke to beleive he had dropped "into the 20′s", but scoring shows he is still in 11th place.

With just one day of competition remaining, the top teams will be under
pressure to make as few mistakes as possible, all while racing as fast
as possible to beat the increasingly difficult target times. It all comes down to 47km of flat out rallying, and it’s anyone’s game at the top of the leaderboard. The 2008 edition of Targa Newfoundland finishes on the waterfront in St. John’s on Friday evening.

Take a ride onboard with Dick Paterson and Tony Mattson on the infamous Brigus stage in 2006.  This stage will be the highlight on the final day of Targa 2008.

With only 25-seconds separating the top six competitors after the third leg of Targa Newfoundland, the pressure to hit target times is starting to build. Roy Hopkins and Adrienne Hughes in their 1969 BMW 2002 have maintained their overall lead through the third day of competition, accruing just 0:03 seconds in penalties.  Bill Arnold and Alan Ryall in a modified 1972 BMW Bavaria are close behind at 0:06 seconds.  Andrew Comrie-Picard and Jen Horsey in the brand new Mitsubishi EVO X are hoping to bust the myth that modern cars can’t win this event.  They are keeping themselves in the thick of the fight, with only 0:09 seconds in penalties, and two very long days remaining.  In Grand Touring class, Alan Kearley and Greg Martin are maintaining a perfect "zero" score to keep a four second lead over second place.

It was a slightly unusual lunch stop today at the Barbour Historic Site in Newtown, as second time competitors Pete Lazier and Sharon Middler of British Columbia were married by event chaplain and fellow competitor, the “Fastor Pastor”, Edison Wiltshire of Clarenville.

We’ll leave you with a selection of images from today’s action and will have a full report tomorrow from Marystown…