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Day 1, July 10 2004
Tony Quinn started the rally in number one position, but by SS4 at Long Plains had slipped into fifth position behind the White Hot Nissan Skyline GTR of Jason and John White. A close morning of racing saw Jim Richards, Kent Watts, Alistair Bye and local entrant Jason White and Jamie Vandenberg keep it real with only 4 seconds separating the top 6.
The reverse Special Stage 5 at Hazelwood claimed the Rally Tasmania champions Kent Watts and Brendan Spurr in the BMW M3, slamming it hard into a bank. Jim Richards capitalised on the loss of his closest competition of Watts and Spurr by widening the gap to a 7 second lead over now second placed Jason White, followed by the 911 Porsche of Alistair Bye and projecting Tony Quinn into fourth place.
By the end of Special stage 6 Jason White had snatched 5 seconds from the leader Jim Richards and Barry Oliver, who had managed to lead nearly every stage, narrowing the gap to a slim 1 second margin overall.
Jim Richards and Barry Oliver grabbed 9 seconds over Jason White into SS7.The battle for the top position continued through Special Stages 8 and 9 Jason White clawing back 5 seconds from the Master Jim Richards, continuing the fight through SS9 with equal stage times.
Rain started to fall on SS10 at Mt Cleveland and the 4WD Nissan of Jason White started to come into its own. The White Hot team powered ahead of Richards and Oliver, grabbing a blistering 20 seconds from the Porsche. At the close of Saturdays racing, the White Hot team now lead Richards by 15 seconds overall. The top 5 positions rounding out with Alistair Bye, Tony Quinn and the Vandenberg machine.
 
Day 2, Sunday 11 July 2004
Today saw the competitors headed for the notorious Hellyer Gorge for Special stages 11 through to 16 driving in rainy conditions.
Jason and John set the pace for the field on the first stage of racing on the Hellyer North stage, with Jim Richards and Barry Oliver losing another 2 seconds to the White Hot Machine.
Through SS12 at the southern end of the Gorge, Barrie Smith pushed his EVO 5 even faster beating the White's by 1 second on this stage. Another new entry to the top 5 of the stage was Phillip Showers and Aneeta Abzatz who lead the Vandenberg's through by 2 seconds.
Jason and John now leading Richards by an impressive 24 seconds. The gap from Richards to Bye was 26 seconds followed by Tony Quinn. Barrie Smith leapt into 5th position outright but still some 1 min 52 seconds off the top position outright.
David White led the charge on SS13 leading the White Hot team through by 12 seconds. Barrie Smith again put in an impressive showing only 3 seconds off White's stage time result. With moist conditions possibly affecting the performance of the Porsche's, Tony Quinn led Richards and Bye through the reverse of the southern gorge run.
The outright positions after SS14 saw Jason and John White leading Jim Richards by 40 seconds, followed by Alistair Bye, Tony Quinn, Barrie Smith and Tony Alford making his way into 6th outright.
Competition was tight during the remainder of the day with John and Jason in their Nissan Skyline running out eventual winners by a full minute over Jim Richards in his Porsche with Alistaire Bye coming home third only 2 seconds back
Top 5 results
1. Jason/John White overall time: 1.19.33
2. Jim Richards/Barry Oliver overall time: 1.20.33 gap: 1 min
3. Alistair Bye/Michael Sherrin overall time: 1.20.35 gap: 2 seconds
4. Tony Quinn/Keith Wenn overall time: 1.22.02 gap: 1.27 seconds
5. Barrie Smith/Dale Moscatt overall time: 1.23.44 gap: 1.42 secods
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