MOTORSPORT - Father's presence spurs Aucklander to rally car win

Auckland's Mark Tapper was the fastest at the Northland Car Club's Paiawa Rd Rally Sprint on Saturday but he didn't have it all his own way with former New Zealand Rally Champion Richard Mason breathing down his neck.
Tapper recorded the fastest time of the day on his second run with the day's only sub-seven minute time of 6 minutes 59.2 seconds, just over a second faster than Mason's third and final run, to win the event.
His father Jerome, a former Whangarei resident, followed his progress in Kingsley Thompson's helicopter.
"I knew they were behind me, literally, all the way and their presence gave me extra incentive to make sure I made no mistakes, because I'd probably have got a clip around the ear from my father if he saw me making mistakes," Tapper said.
Thompson is one of Tapper's sponsors, as is Andrew Hawkeswood, who lent him the Evo 7 car to compete in for the day. Unfortunately, Tapper had to sit out the final run, and endure a few nervous moments with Mason's quick final run, after a gearbox fault forced him to retire just after the start of the third run.
Tapper's red-hot form followed his win in the inaugural Pirelli star driver competition for the Asia Pacific region last year and gives him his chance to impress on the international stage with his first drive in the 2009 FIA World Rally Championship to be held in Portugal in April.
The 27-year-old Aucklander has been taking every opportunity to compete in events to prepare for his chance.
"It's going to be a big year for me," he said.
Dargaville's Carl Adnitt finished third, edging another Northland driver Brendan Oakden into fourth place.
As expected, Whangarei's Scott Ogle proved to be the top driver of the day in the two-wheel drive class. He improved his time considerably on each of the three runs and his best time of 7.23.3 was good enough to put him into fifth place overall.
Chris Woudenburg was close behind Ogle over the first two runs but wasn't quite as quick on the final run and finished a clear second in 7.34.6.
Ben Hawkins finished his day in a memorable but expensive way after rolling his Toyota Levin on the last stage.
He had moved up one place into second in the class after the second run but pushed too hard in the day's final run.
"He was going really well but he still managed to get third in the two-wheel drive class so the day wasn't a disaster," Northland Car Club president Grant Parkin said.
Parkin said the Paiawa Rd course had been challenging for both the drivers and the stewards. They were forced to cancel the fourth and final run after delays slowed their progress but Parkin said overall the feedback had been good.
"They loved it, there are always challenges on a new course and we had a few mechanicals that held things up but for a first time it was a good learning curve for us," he said.