PROTESTERS at Clarendon claimed victory after the scheduled final stage of today's Targa Adelaide rally along Main Rd, Chandlers Hill was cancelled.

About 12 people voiced their concerns about the rally being held on public roads that were not suitable for high speed motoring events.

On Friday rally driver Adam Plate, 63, was killed when his Lancer EVO VII clipped a tree on Main Rd, Chandlers Hill, and rolled three times down an embankment. His navigator, Patrick Chan, escaped with minor injuries.

Clarendon man Phil Scroop said he was pleased yesterdays stage along Main Rd was cancelled.

"People power has spoken here,'' Mr Scroop said.

Targa Adelaide spokesman, Ian Chesterman said the decision to cancel the final stage along Main Rd was made Saturday night.

"It was done as a mark of respect for Adam,'' Mr Chesterman said.

"The protesters had no impact on our decision whatsoever."

The family of Mr Plate backed the Hills rally saying "Adam wouldn't want it any other way".

"It was his passion. Adam chose to drive in a very risky sport and we knew that and allowed him to," Lynnie Plate said.

Mrs Plate and daughters Alice, 31, Tilly, 28, and Ruby, 21, yesterday remembered the owner of the Pink Roadhouse at Oodnadatta as an Outback visionary who spent more than 40 years advocating for the state's Far North.

Mrs Plate was in Oodnadatta when she received the call from the event's chaplain on Friday afternoon.

"As soon as he said he was the event chaplain, I knew what he was going to tell me," she said. "We'd had that phone call before when our son died."

Their son Jack, 20, died in a head-on collision on a country road in 1999.

The family said Mr Plate was happiest when behind the wheel.

Best known for signposting the Outback with pink signs, Alice said her father would be remembered as a visionary but polarising figure who fought for the Outback.

"Dad was a man of adventure, a man on the edge who loved that life," she said.

While devastated to lose another family member, she was glad her father died doing something he had so much passion for.

"Mum and dad put in a ridiculous amount of hours working at the Roadhouse and doing all the associated jobs they have to do, so only recently has he started getting right into his motor racing and bought the Lancer and did it up," she said.

"He wouldn't have wanted to die of a heart attack in a nursing home."

Competitors in yesterday's race stuck black tape across their cars in honour of Mr Plate.

Originally published as Final stage of Targa rally cancelled after driver's death