Adnitt rolls back onto circuit

On the road again with a new car and a new sponsor, Te Kopuru's Carl Adnitt is sizing up the competition in the Possum Bourne Memorial rally south of Auckland today while keeping a close eye on Northland's Brendon Oakden.
Not only is Oakden the title holder but he is also likely to be Adnitt's greatest rival during the rally held in conjunction with this weekend's Rally New Zealand.
The pair are both frontrunners in the E Class - or pre-1996 4WD - competition of the rally, which kicks off the 2011 Top Half Series for both drivers.
Adnitt is raring to go after last competing seriously on the national scene five years ago.
"This is a rally we have only done once back in 2006 but we did very well ... and we have only done the odd event since, for a bit of fun, but this season we plan to be back properly and we want to win the Top Half series," he said.
He has a new sponsorship deal with Totalspan Whangarei, which has enabled him to get started. "Sponsorship is vital for rallying, it's such an expensive sport and because we're not doing the national championship, which gets wide coverage, there's very little television coverage of the event," he said.
Adnitt bought the car last year and he and co-driver Aaron Conaghan blooded the car in the Far North Rally last year, finishing sixth, 10 seconds behind Oakden in fifth.
Since losing the centre differential in that race, the team lead by mechanic Lloyd Harvey and crew Scott Ogle have spent the off-season improving the car.
"We have the pace to win the series, especially with the current points system. We've put in the work with the car and have it going well and the whole team is really looking forward to getting started," Adnitt said.
Oakden, along with co-driver and sister Natasha, is looking forward to the battle getting underway.
"We're really competing in much the same cars, so it's going to be good fun," Oakden grins.
The two friends have been manoevering before the big showdown, with both drivers entering their cars in Northland Car Club meets this season - just not the same ones.
"I've done a couple but Carl hasn't done the same ones that I have so we haven't crossed paths yet," Oakden said.
They both drive pre-96 Subaru WRXs but they know they will be up against it competing with the late model entries of Coromandel's Alex Kelsey, Auckland's Kingsley Jones, Tauranga's Chris Pittam's - all driving late model Impreza STIs or Evos.
But Oakden picked up the title last year after some of his more cashed-up opponents failed to finish.
"Them's the breaks in motorsport, it could easily happen that way again ... but I'm really looking forward to the E-Class contest, we are both the favourites so to speak and if we both have a good run it's going to be very close," he said.
Oakden retains a third seeding among the 40 cars entered in the Possum Bourne, while Adnitt will start in sixth.
Doug Adnitt, Carl's father, will also compete in the rally with Tony Mabbett co-driving, as the ninth starter, while Whangarei's Ben Haselden and Tom Clancey in their Impreza are 16th. Michael Rope and co-driver Michelle Mitchell are the other Northland entries.