Reeves shows exceptional pace at Targa High Country

Written by Fabien Kornél

Fresh from their success at the Pirelli Star Driver Shootout in Spain two weeks ago, Brendan Reeves and Rhianon Smyth returned to tarmac rallying at the weekend. Driving a Mazda3 MPS for Mazda Motorsport in the inaugural Targa High Country rally, the brother-sister duo showed impressive speed and talent.

Day one of the rally on Saturday consisted of eight stages with the day starting and finishing at Mount Buller. Four stages were run in the morning before a lunch break at Wangaratta, with crews then repeating three of the morning stages on the return leg. The day's final stage was an ascent up the Mount Buller road and, after a superb run throughout the day, Reeves and Smyth ended the day with a lead in the Showroom Class of over three and a half minutes, and sixth place outright. With the rally's outright leaders driving much more powerful machinery in the form of Lamborghinis and Porsches, it was a remarkable effort to have the nimble Mazda3 MPS inside the top ten, let alone in sixth place.

Reeves and Smyth went into Sunday ready for another challenging day of technical high country roads! By the end of stage 10, they held a lead of over four minutes in the Showroom class.

In stage 11, the longest stage of the event at 28km, the pair were having a good run through the twisty downhill section, 26km into the stage, when their good run came to an end. After a fast straight into a sharp right corner, Reeves had some initial brake fade, which led to him having too fast an entry into the corner and with no other option but to run up the bank or hit another car already crashed, Reeves ran off the road.

"It's extremely disappointing as we were having such a great event and the Mazda was going beautifully," said Reeves. "We are really looking forward to getting back in the car again and working with Mazda."

Neither Reeves nor Smyth were injured in the incident.

Reeves and Smyth will now prepare for the final round of the Australian Rally Championship (ARC), Rally Victoria, which takes place around Warragul this weekend, November 13 and 14. The all new ARC event will be run by the Cerberus Car Club, of which they are both members. To support their club in the event, the pair will drive a Subaru from Rallyschool as '0' car on the gravel event.

Read More

Villagra snatches championship lead from Pozzo

Written by Fabien Kornél

Federico Villagra (Mitsubishi/VRS) took a crucial victory over his main title contender Gabriel Pozzo (Subaru/Baratec) in Rally Pagos del Tuyú, round 11 of the Argentine National Rally, to claim a one point lead ahead of the final showdown of the year.

"Coyote" made his way through the race setting a fast and faultless pace which enables him to win nine of the fourteen stages scheduled to finally beat Pozzo who came 39,1s. adrift.

The former FIA Production Cup winner was far from matching Villagra's pace, fighting hard instead with Tango's owner Marcos Ligato (Mitsubishi), who was at the verge of snatching the second position until Pozzo's final reaction. Four positioned was Claudio Menzi (VW/Baratec) drivin g the sole Maxi Rally car so far, whilst Juan Marchetto (Mitsubishsi/VRS) finished fifth.

The final round of the series will be held next month (December 10-12) in Unquillo, in the province of Córdoba where the champion will be crowned. Villagra is chasing his ninth title -fifth in a row- whereas Pozzo is in search of his maiden national championship.

Rally Pagos del Tuyú
Final classification
1°) Federico Villagra-Diego Curletto (Mitsubishi) 1h15m58,4s.
2°) Gabriel Pozzo-Daniel Stillo (Subaru) + 39,1s.
3°) Marcos Ligato-Rubén García (Mitsubishi) + 51,5s.
4°) Claudio Menzi-Diego Cagnotti (Volkswagen) + 1m04,7s.
5°) Juan Marchetto-Gustavo Franchello (Mitsubishi) + 1m30,5s.
< style="text-align: justify">6°) Juan Gil De Marchi-Mauro Albornoz (Mitsubishi) + 3m35,8s.
7°) Adrián Santos-Nicolás Álvarez (Mitsubishi) + 3m38,5s.
8°) Agustín Elvira-Oscar Tagle (Mitsubishi) + 4m03,8s.

Read More

Judd ready for marathon rally

Written by Fabien Kornél

One of New Zealand’s most experienced rally competitors, Jeff Judd, is ready to take on New Zealand’s only marathon rally, the Silver Fern Rally, when it gets underway on November 14.

Judd is highly respected around New Zealand as both a driver and co-driver, with achievements including contesting the Production World Rally Championship last year as co-driver to Mark Tapper.

The Christchurch Driver, along with co-driver Mark Smith, will contest the week-long rally in a Ford Escort RS1800 built to full classic specifications. The car has a strong history, winning the 1998 edition of the prestigious Otago Classic Rally as well as the 1999 Club Rally championship, which was later known as Rally Xtreme. After a crash at a classic race meeting in 2000, the car has been re-shelled across the last ten years and is ready for the demands of the Silver Fern.

Judd has been seeded second amongst an international field, just behind South African driver Geoff Bell in a similar car and is widely regarded as New Zealand’s best hope to win the Jim Clark Trophy for the first ‘period’ classic car home.

The Silver Fern Rally has run on three previous occasions with Judd having competed each time. After co-driving in 1990 and again in 2006 for Englishman Grant Shand, Judd got behind the wheel in 2008 in a similar car and was inside the top three on each of the five trouble-free days, however problems on the other three days meant the end result was 23rd overall.

The epay Silver Fern Rally gets underway on November 14, running for seven days with six stages on each day. Day one sees crews start the rally in Christchurch with a loop before returning for an overnight halt. The following day, crews will travel onto Timaru one night, then further south to Dunedin on day three. Day Four, which loops around Dunedin, has the longest distance of any day and two of the three longest stages of the event at 100.75km and 50.49 for a day total of nearly 250 competitive kilometres. Day five sees the crews head south to Invercargill, then north to Alexandra on Day six. The seventh and final day will lead the remaining teams to the Queenstown finish and the crews who get there will have traveled 1059km of special stages as well as 1850km of touring stages, where all road rules must be obeyed.

Judd’s 2010 Silver Fern campaign is backed by John Jones Steel, BNT, Fuchs Lubricants, VINZ Testing Stations, Waimate Pharmacy, Magnum Compliance Services, Balclutha Nissan, Canterbury Stoneguards, Import Part Specialists, Silvester V8 Performance, Garden City Helicopters and Windscreens Nationwide.

Read More

IT/MIS-Programmer Vacancy at Sinar Mas

Job Information
Position IT/MIS-Programmer
Job Type Employee
Work Location Office
Employment Status FullTime
Work Place Jakarta
Salary Negotiable
Gender Both

Company Information
Company Name Bank Sinarmas
Industry Finance/Banking
Company Size Medium (51 – 149 employees)
Company Type Multinational Company
City Jakarta
Country Indonesia
Homepage http://www.banksinarmas.com
Company Profile
Bank Sinarmas
Requirements
Minimum Experience 1
Minimum Degree Bachelor (S1)
Skill 1. C++ Language – 1 years (Required)
2. ASP – 1 years (Required)
3. VB.NET – 1 years (Required)
Additional Information
• Minimum Degree in Computer Science, Computer/Electrical/Electronic Engineering or relevant discipline
• Willing to learn, and work independently, and as team player
• Possess positive work attitude, proactive, and initiative.
• Have a good analytical and logic thinking.
• Good knowledge on DBMS & RDBMS
• Have technical experience in programming language (like C or C++, VB or VB.net, ASP, etc)
• Have knowledge on banking products or having experience in programming for financial institution would be an advantage.

Read More

Bayern on the mend with four-goal show

Defending German champions Bayern Munich scored a morale-boosting 4-2 win over Freiburg on Friday night after a sizzling second half brought three goals to move the Bavarians up to seventh spot.

Though foing well in the Champions League, Bayern have had a poor time of it in the league so far this term – but the three points lifted them provisionally level with sixth-placed Hamburg with 15 points after only their fourth win in 10 games.

Martin Demichelis scored the only goal of the first half to bolster Bayern’s confidence before Mario Gomez on the hour, Anatoliy Timoshchuk and then Toni Kroos completed the rout – Stefan Reisinger briefly putting Freiburg back in it at 2-1.

A late own goal from Bayern defender Edson Braafheid was scant consolation for the visitors, who started off the match three points clear of their southern rivals.

On Sunday, both Bundesliga leaders Mainz – nine points clear of Bayern with a match in hand – and closest rivals Borussia Dortmund will be looking to get over German Cup disappointments when they clash with top spot up for grabs.

Mainz suffered only their second defeat of the season on Wednesday when they were shocked 2-1 at second division Alemannia Aachen in the German Cup second round, while Dortmund lost 4-2 on penalties at third-tier Kickers Offenbach.

With a two-point lead, Mainz can open up a five-point gap at the top of the table if they can beat Juergen Klopp’s young guns.

Read More

Raul to the rescue as Schalke end home win drought

Former Spanish international great Raul scored a brace as Bundesliga strugglers Schalke 04 finally ended their jinx at the Veltins-Arena with a 3-0 home defeat of St. Pauli on Friday.

Schalke finished runners-up last season but have made a disastrous start to the 2011 campaign with one win in their first 10 games, prior to this victory, leaving them hovering precariously around the relegation zone.

Raul moved to the German side in July on a two-year deal after making over 500 appearances for Real Madrid, and has come in for criticism in recent weeks despite scoring a brace in the Champions league against Hapoel Tel Aviv last month.

Felix Magath’s side went into this match with plenty of pressure — it is Schalke’s worst ever start to the season — but showed enough composure and determination to keep their first clean sheet since February 2010.

Raul opened the scoring on 14 minutes, with Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, a former teammate of Raul’s at Real Madrid, doubling the lead in the 53rd minute.

Raul put the match well beyond reach of St. Pauli with his second goal of the game nine minutes from regulation time.

“It’s a relief to win at home and I’m very happy for Raul, who as well as scoring two goals showed he can play alongside Huntelaar,” said Magath.

Central defender Christoph Metzelder, who has been a target for some Schalke fans in recent weeks, was more than happy at having conceded no goals.

“I hope this will be the start of better things for us. In any case, it has given us a confidence boost and showed that our defence is becoming a bit more solid,” said Metzelder.

Schalke were second from bottom and moved up two places to 15th on nine points, 16 adrift of league leaders Borussia Dortmund. St. Pauli remain in 13th on 13 points.

German champions Bayern Munich are seventh, 10 points off the pace, ahead of their away match Saturday to Borussia Moenchengladbach. BERLIN (AFP)

Read More

Dortmund extend lead after seeing off Hamburg

Bundesliga leaders Dortmund underlined their credentials at the top of the table on Friday with a 2-0 home win over Hamburg in the rain to open a seven-point lead at the top of the table.

On a filthy night in Dortmund at a packed Signal Iduna Park in front of a sell-out 80,720 crowd, the home side picked up three more points to open the seven-point lead over second-place Mainz ahead of this weekend’s matches.

Dortmund are flying high at the moment this was their tenth league win of the season. Their defeat to Leverkusen back in August on the first day of the season is the only blot on their copybook this term.

“It was very difficult for us against an oppoent who played so defensively,” said Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp.

“It took us a while to get into the game, but things worked better for us after the break.

“Hamburg came back into the game late on, which made life hard for us.

“But we are very happy with the win.”

Superb second-half goals by Japanese midfielder Shinji Kagawa, his sixth of the season, and Lucas Barrios, his seventh, sealed the win.

The hosts had plenty to celebrate in midweek when uncapped defender Marcel Schmelzer, 22, and 18-year-old midfielder Mario Goetze were called into the German squad along with striker Kevin Grosskreutz and defender Mats Hummels.

Goetze wasted the best chance of the first half when Schmelzer fired in a cross, but the teenager could not connect cleanly with the chance and the opportunity went begging.

With his side top of the league, coach Jurgen Klopp seems to be feeling the pressure when he clashed angrily with the fourth official when a decision went against his side in the first-half.

Dortmund took the lead when Kagawa rifled in a shot from the edge of the penalty area which took a deflection off Hamburg’s Germany defender Heiko Westermann and flew into the net on 49 minutes.

Barrios compounded Hamburg’s misery when he tapped home a cross from Grosskreutz on 70 minutes after Dortmund had ripped apart the Hamburg defence.

The defeat leaves Hamburg seventh in the table. (Afp)

Read More

Archive