(Bosch ARC release)   HONDA driver Eli Evans has made it three in a row in the Bosch two-wheel drive Australian Rally Championship at the Brakes Direct International Rally of Queensland.

Evans won by more than eight minutes from  the Nissan 200SX of  Alan Roe.

Jack Monkhouse who set the pace on day one didn’t survive the  first stage of leg two, breaking a right-rear suspension joint on his Nissan Silvia and retiring.

“It was a typical drama packed Rally Queensland,” Evans said.

“We had a bad start and were down by eight minutes after the second stage after a flat tyre, we tried to change it and the car fell off the jack twice so we lost a lot of valuable time.

“It was unfortunate for Jack (Monkhouse) today but Queensland is a tough event and you have to have the right machinery to get you to the end.”

Evans remains confident heading into the Scouts Rally of South Australia but knows the competition will be tough against four times champion and older brother Simon Evans, who is due to return to the championship next round.

“Three from three is a perfect start but anything can happen,” he added.

Michael Boaden totally dominated the Bosch four-wheel drive Australian Rally Championship in the second leg to score his maiden round win.

The New South Welshman finished nearly four minutes ahead of Tom Wilde and took the championship lead by two points.

“You can’t get much better than this,” Boaden said.

“We’ve won heats before but never won a round outright and it’s an awesome feeling to finally have one in the bag.

“The last stage was very nerve wracking, I actually eased off a little bit to make sure I got to the end.”

Queenslander Stephen Shepheard looked certain to take a podium position after battling Tom Wilde for second place for the duration of the rally, but a driveshaft failure  brought his  Mitsubishi Evo X  to a halt, handing third place to Tony Sullens in a Subaru WRX STi.

Despite a monumental effort to get a new car prepared for Queensland following his accident at the Quit Forest Rally, WA’s Nic Box  found the going tough on his first visit to the Sunshine State,  retiring half way through leg two with a broken right-rear suspension.

Meantime, multi ARC champion Neal Bates closed the gap to Classic Rally Challenge leader Jeff David after scoring back to back heat wins in the Toyota Celica RA40.

Bates cut David’s lead to 30 points after the Porsche driver suffered an electrical problem on day one of the debut event for his new Porsche 911.

The BMW E30 M3 of Cathy Donohue finished the weekend in second place while Jeff David salvaged third place.

Queenslander Steve MacKenzie  won the Rallyschool Australian Junior Rally Challenge in his Ford Fiesta,  taking the Kumho Future Champions award and qualifying for the final of the Challenge in Coffs Harbour in October.

V8 Supercar star Tim Slade  was a surprise winner in  heat two of the Side by Side Challenge in his Polaris after suffering problems on day one.

Slade showed he was more than a tarmac expert , beating home Iain Hughes in another Polaris with CanAm driver Michael Guest in third for the day.