Nathan Quin and Ray Winwood-Smith at the 2020 Caves Classic Rally. This years event was to be the first time the event used the name Oberon Stages. Ray Winwood-Smith’s Midstate Freight was the naming rights Partner for the event.

Photo by Roy Meuronen.

The North Shore Sporting Car Club is excited to present the 2022 Midstate Freight Oberon Stages Rally. The rally will be a round of the following series:

• NSW Rally Championship
• East Coast Classic Rally – 2WD Series
• East Coast Classic Rally – 4WD Series
• NSW Clubman Rally Series;
• Hyundai Rally Series.

Numerous thanks to long standing and highly accomplished rally competitor Ray Winwood-Smith and his brother Mick from Midstate Freight – based in Bathurst just up the road from rally HQ in Oberon – who have again come on board as our naming rights partners for the third year. If you need freight moved anywhere in Western NSW then you should be talking to Ray and Mick and the team at Midstate Freight. Most importantly thanks to you the competitors for your patience amidst all the Covid 19 restrictions.

This year’s event has a new name to reflect the changed nature of the event. When NSSCC started running this event many years ago it was very oriented toward Jenolan but over the past few years the rally has been based in the great town of Oberon, which has welcomed the rally and opened its arms to the rally fraternity, so we felt it was logical to rename the rally to reflect its base in Oberon and the forests around the town.

The great Oberon Rugby Leagues Football Club will again host the start, finish and service park. The Covid 19 crisis has made all sports difficult to run and manage and under our Covid 19 safety plans the Leagues Club compound allows us a secure area that can be closed off from the general public, if necessary, which may or may not be a factor when we get to 23rd April. I am sure you will understand these are extraordinary times that mean we have to make some sacrifices to allow our sport to go ahead.

Depending on the restrictions we have to deal with on 23rd April, food may be available all day long courtesy of the Oberon Tigers, and hopefully a coffee van will be in attendance, everything hinges on the restrictions at the time.

Many thanks to all our team at NSSCC for putting in so much work to ensure the Midstate Freight Oberon Stages runs successfully and well again in 2022. This is my third year as a Clerk of the Course at a State round and this has been possible because of the great team we have at NSSCC. Particular thanks to John McCredie and who has done so much work this year as our great road director, Ian Bray as our secretary , John Buckley as our communications manager and all of the team involved.

We have a very compact and challenging event that will be a lot of fun with great driving roads in the magnificent hills around the lovely town of Oberon.

Although the rally is a secret route event for all championship contenders, we are offering an optional pace note entry, with anyone contesting with notes precluded from scoring points. With so few rallies in 2021 we thought it was a good opportunity to give a wider rally audience a reason to come and enjoy our great stages at Oberon.

Finally, we would like to thank those people involved in staging the event. From the Forestry Corporation, Lithgow Police, Oberon Council, Oberon Rugby Leagues Football Club, to all the event’s administration people, radio operators, medical crew, scorers, scrutineers, set-up crews, caterers, control and road closure officials, clean-up crews and so many others, and of course to our naming rights partner Midstate Freight and the various series partners. Thank you one and all!

Good luck to all Competitors and safe travelling to and from the Event!
Jon Thomson
Clerk of the Course