MOTORSPORT - Rally shakedown begins

Frenchman Jean-Louis Leyraud takes a corner too wide during yesterday's shakedown run at Pohe Island, ahead of the Hella International Rally of Whangarei which kicked off this morning.
Asia Pacific Rally champion Cody Crocker delivered an early warning to other competitors by setting the fastest lap during the shakedown. The Rally of Whangarei doubles as the second round of the FIA Asia Pacific Championship and the second round of the New Zealand Rally Championship.
The event has attracted 79 cars which will cover 277km over 16 special stages in the Whangarei and Kaipara districts.
Driving a Subaru Impreza, Crocker clocked 37.0secs in his fastest run around the 1.5km Pohe Island course and he was nearly a full second clear of Subaru colleague, Rifat Sungkar of Indonesia, who clocked 37.9secs to finish ahead of India's Naren Kumar and American Ken Block.
The fastest Kiwi was Masterton's Richard Mason, who clocked 38.4secs but limited himself to just three runs.John Stone