Motor rally: Drivers enjoy smooth first day

OIL CHECK: Grant Blackberry (left) and Robert Webster complete their end-of-day checks in Havelock North last night. PHOTO/Duncan Brown

HAWKE'S BAY rally driver Stewart Taylor was throwing plenty of flak the way of his co-driver Nick Allan last night.

"I hadn't seen Nick for a month and didn't realise he had put on so much weight. We're probably going to widen his seat," Taylor quipped after the pair arrived in the Bay last night with fellow Targa Rally crews.

That "friendly flak" was an indication the pair, who have been friends for 27 years and terrorised the streets of the Bay as teenagers in their parents' Mk IV Cortinas, had an incident-free first day in the Two-Day Regional Rally event which is being run in conjunction with the six-day Targa Rally which began in Auckland on Monday and ends in Palmerston North this afternoon after some Hawke's Bay-based stages.

"You're right the car ran like a dream today. We're second overall behind Aucklander Chris West in the modern four wheel drive class," Taylor explained.

They are racing an Audi S3 which took 10 years to repair after it was rolled in its last rally outing.

"It's a bit different to the rally car I normally drive," Taylor said referring to his Mitsubishi Evo 10.

Although it rained as the pair attacked the Gentle Annie Rd from Taihape to Hawke's Bay, Taylor said the Audi didn't slide around too much. The pair were looking forward to capitalising on their local knowledge when they take on the Kahuranaki and Te Aute stages this morning before heading west for the Ashley Clinton stage and then south for stages in Mangatainoka, Weber, Pongaroa and Pahiatua.

It was also an incident-free day for the other Hawke's Bay crew, father-and-son pair of Robert and Nick Webster, who are racing a BMW Mini in the Two Wheel Drive up to Three Litre class. They are the only crew in their class in the regional rally but Nick pointed out they are trading times with crews in the same class in the main event.

Like "Lizard" Taylor and "Dodgy" Allan, the Websters are keen to make the most of their knowledge of the Hawke's Bay stages today.

"Yes we know the Bay roads but there is a bit of a difference from driving them at 100km/h to trying to drive them at 200km/h," Nick said.

Meanwhile leader Glenn Inkster and co-driver Spencer Winn in a Mitsubishi Evo 8 have no plans to slow down on the final day of the six-day section. Despite leading from the start of the 21st annual tarmac motor rally and arriving in Havelock North with a lead of more than nine minutes over former winner Tony Quinn and his co-driver Naomi Tillett in a Nissan GT-R35, Inkster said it will be pedal to the metal for the final eight stages today.

"It's too much fun going fast. If you think of it like a rugby game, the worst thing a team can do if it is in front is back off. It is the same with us. If we backed off now we would be asking for trouble."

Inkster and Winn have been close in the main Targa NZ event before. But for one reason or another Quinn and Tillett have always come through to win. Despite another long day the running order remained largely the same yesterday with Inkster and Winn retaining their commanding class and overall lead over Quinn and Tilllett and Instra.com Modern 2WD class leaders Martin Dippie and Jona Grant (Porsche 911 GT3) with Steven Kirk-Burnnand and Mick Hay (BMW 318T1 Compact) second in the Modern class and fourth overall.