MOTORSPORT - Racers raring to rally for some extra summer cash

Interest in the Northland Car Club's first rally sprint of the year has never been so strong, Whangarei driver Scott Ogle believes.
The event at Paiawa Rd, south of Waiotira, has garnered three entries from his family alone, but there's nothing new about that - the thing that has the small club abuzz is the presence of top ranked drivers for Saturday's club event.
Aucklander Mark Tapper has entered, while the 2005 and 2006 New Zealand champion Richard Mason confirmed yesterday that he would attend.
Ogle is a little amazed at what the mention of prize money can achieve.
"It's not too often that you get prize money in rallying and I think that's part of the reason why this weekend's event has attracted a few people from outside the area," he said.
Club president Grant Parkin said the prize money for the event may be a factor - particularly for the Northland drivers, but he thinks that the timing of the event, with the national championships less than two months away, may have just as much to do with attracting the top drivers.
"There isn't a lot of cash on the line this year _ it's pretty small time for the first year, but we hope it will build up to become something bigger," he said.
The club has put up some of the prize money with Parkin digging into his own pockets for the rest of the cash.
Mason won't have a car prepared specifically, but would instead use Murray Huband's Subaru Impreza for the event, where he was hoping to "blow a few cobwebs out".
"We're coming up to have a skid in Murray's car, just to keep my hand in really," Mason said.
Tapper won the inaugural Pirelli star driver competition for the Asia Pacific region with a third place at the Rally of Malaysia last year. The award gets him a fully-funded opportunity to prove himself on the world stage of rallying in the 2009 FIA World Rally Championship.
Both drivers are expected to be hard to beat in the four-wheel drive division of Saturday's race but will face stiff opposition from the local drivers.
Brendon Oakden and Andrew Phillips will head the charge, while Kirsty Nelson, a Waiotira native, will know the road best. Auckland's Brian Chadwick is expected to be another threat while Dargaville's Carl Adnitt should also be up amongst the leaders.
Ogle and Ben Hawkins are expected to fight it out in two-wheel drive class, with Damien Morris, Chris Woudenberg and Robert Van Gisbergan all likely winners.
"Hopefully I'm going to do pretty well, I'm aiming to make the top-three at least," Scott said.
There are three Ogle cars competing in the two-wheel drive class, with 23-year-old Scott expected to lead brother Todd (21) and dad Brian home. It's no secret why he is expected to finish near the front of the field though. "I spent more money on my car - it's as simple as that," Scott said.
Brian was a highly competitive driver between 1975 and 1980 before he settled down, got married and started a family - and sold the car.
He started up his hobby again in 1996 and the boys followed him into the sport. It is something of a family affair with mother Elizabeth also involved - as a co-driver.
The club generally holds three such sprints a year, but this is the first time they have used Paiawa Rd as a venue.
The sprint consists of a 4.7km run to the end of the road and when the cars complete the stage, they wait until the last car is through and then turn around and return to the start line.
"We'll add the two times both out and back together and get the overall time - and we hope to get four runs completed during the day," Parkin said.
Scrutineering and documentation will be held at the Waiotira Hall from 7.30pm-9am on Saturday with prizegiving held there later in the day.
Entries:
2WD: Phillip Harrison (Toyota Levin),w Mark Neilsen (Honda Civic VTi), Brian Ogle (Toyota Corolla), Todd Ogle (Toyota Levin), Scott Ogle (Nissan Sunny GTi), Robert Van Gisbergan (Escort RS 1800), Michelle Mitchell (Toyota Starlet), Chris Woudenberg (Toyota Corolla), Doug Adnitt (TR 8), Ben Hawkins (Toyota Levin), Hamish Nops (Mazda RX 7), Robert Nelson (Escort), Stephen Waller (Toyota Starlet), Damien Morris (Toyota Corolla V8), Mary Ann Woolhouse (Toyota Starlet), John Tee (Ford Escort).
4WD: Brian Reid (Subaru Impreza), Carl Adnitt (Subaru Impreza), Tim Windlebourne (Mazda 323), Kirsty Nelson (Subaru Impreza), Brian Chadwick (Subaru Impreza), Logan Couchman (Toyota Celica), Andrew Phillips (EVO 3), Ben Morgan (Subaru Legacy), Mark Tapper (EVO 7), Michael Pittams (Subaru Legacy), Rod Langdon (Subaru WRX), Peter Johnston (EVO 4), Brendan Oakden (Subaru Impreza), Alan Gordon (Subaru Impreza), James Woolhouse (Subaru Impreza), Lee Stringer (EVO 2), Richard Mason (Subaru Impreza).