Team MV Solar's Erin and Michael Valantine recently won as champions in the 2017 Techworkz Automotive NSW Development Rally Series.
Erin Valantine, proudly holding the Techworkz Series trophies
Unfortunately, Michael was not able to attend but he had written an acceptance speech which you can read in its entirety below:
2017 Techworks DRS Presentation Acceptance Speech
I am extremely sorry that I am unable to be with you all tonight and enjoying the celebrations of everyone’s achievements. I am currently flying back from Los Angeles with my wife Lois and youngest daughter Laura and will arrive in Sydney tomorrow morning, unfortunately a little too late for the night and very bad planning from me.
My daughter Laura had been selected to participate in a workshop and then audition in front of casting agents in Hollywood a fantastic opportunity for her and sometimes family has to come ahead of rallying. She has done exceptionally well, and we are all proud of her.
I feel privileged and grateful that Erin and I were able to win the DRS championship again for 2017. The championship was hard fought, and the result was really in the balance right till the last event.
There were 47 crews that contested the DRS series for 2017 and I want to thank my fellow competitors who gave it their all to compete and make the series so exciting. We had a few dramas throughout the year but kept fighting to keep the car going. The lead in the series changed several times, with Bob Moore, Jack Whiteman, Brett Bower, Col Fletcher and a host of others all capable of winning. Special mention and sorry again to Bob More and David Gray who have pushed us for the past 2 years and nearly got us this time.
Rallying is such a passion of mine and I couldn’t have gone so fast without my daughter Erin’s total commitment to the team, reading the notes and getting the calls right and on time. Her first year rallying was in 2016 and she has improved each and every event since. Her determination to learn and improve has allowed me to concentrate on driving, confident in the calls and the road ahead. We have had some memorable times and I love our time together.
A huge thank you to our excellent service crew of Dennis Valantine, Andrew Bacon, Kirk Bendall, Kerry Gilbert and a number of others, when they could. They worked under difficult conditions at times and were always there when needed. Several of them are here tonight to help us celebrate and there is no way we would have won without their huge work, commitment and effort.
Thank you also to Karen Portolan and Jose Arboleda for the media and face book updates with Karen working through the weekend to keep Facebook updated. All the other MV Solar staff that have booked accommodation, purchase parts and help with preparation.
Special Thanks to my son Tim who helped me prepare the car before each event and stepped into the co-drivers seat for the Clybucca rally but unfortunately we broke the diff 8K into the first stage.
It would not be possible to rally over all of these years without the unwavering support of all my family including my wife Lois. She allows me to spend our holiday money on tyres and rally parts, she supports me 100% and I will always love her and be forever grateful.
Can I please ask that we give the a round of applause to show our appreciation.
Rallies don’t put themselves on and a huge thanks to the rally panel and the individual event directors, organisers and officials. These people are really our unsung heroes and do amazing work in all sorts of conditions for no pay just for the love of the sport. I have organised rallies and rally series in the past and I understand the huge commitment that is made. The DRS series and rallies were all professionally run and organised but sometimes things do go wrong despite all of the planning, but you should remember that they are all volunteers and are doing their best.
Thank you to all of the photographers, video crews, spectators, service crews and sponsors and I must personally thank our major sponsor MV Solar for their and mine ongoing support.
Can we all please now stand and give them all a standing ovation for their past and ongoing commitment.
The Techwork DRS series has been a tremendous success and I am conscious that there is some criticism of the series and the age of some competitors. I don’t believe that age should be any barrier to any series. My daughter would still have not competed unless I was able to give her the opportunity. I have been in rallying for a long time with my first event in 1979 but my first series win in all of the time was the 2016 Techworks DRS series. Most of us do not have big budgets and I personally have struggled to compete in every rally financially and even though I bought my Stanza in 1984 it wasn’t till 2016 that I finally achieved reliability and performance.
I have encouraged and assisted numerous people to compete and grow the sport some of these people now even have their children competing. We need to all do our bit, good luck everyone for the coming rally season and I urge you all to do the same encourage others and lets us not keep this rallying thing our best kept secret.
Thank you all very much Erin and I are stoked and so proud to be a part of it!!!
