Whangarei's Brendon Oakden survives carnage at Possum Bourne Rally

Whangarei's Brendon Oakden battled the elements and brake problems to survive the carnage and keep his car on the road during the Possum Bourne Rally.
Defending his 2010 win in the rally on Saturday, Oakden ran into trouble during the first stage after fiording through the water-logged roads. The discs on the brakes cracked with the rapid changes in temperature leaving him to take desperate measures to get him to the next mechanical stop.
"So that meant two stages - or three with the special stage - with just the handbrake and that wasn't the only thing holding us back either, we had to stop and put out a fire in another competitor's car on stage two as well," he said.
Once the brakes were fixed after the fourth stage, Oakden with his sister Natasha as co-driver, made up some serious time despite the continual rain and the water on the roads.
"I think we were 15th after stage four but the car went well in the afternoon and we managed to come back and win the E-Class division and finish sixth overall," he said.
"But I wouldn't say we had a stunning day, there was a lot of carnage and the floods claimed a few, leaving them dead in the water ... and making them a difficult obstacle to avoid," he said.
Whangarei's Ben Haselden had a less eventful race, finishing eighth overall and fifth in his class.
Meanwhile Te Kopuru's Carl Adnitt's return to rallying also ran into trouble on the first tight corner and he was forced onto the handbrake too.
"We lost a brake line, and fortunately it still slowed the car (for the corner) but soon after that there was nothing so we had to rely on the handbrake until we found somewhere to stop," he said.
"We had no brakes at all and it was at the start of the first stage so we had to withdraw ... we went out in the afternoon to do a few stages and get some time in the car but the same thing that happened to Brendon happened to us - there was water all over the road and we cracked a disc because the brakes were so hot," he said.
Carl's father Doug didn't have any better luck, ending his rally on Stage two; he too returned in the afternoon but didn't complete the day's racing with mechanical failure.
Newcomer Michael Rope was one of the 28 finishers out of 42 starters that managed to avoid the carnage, completing his first rally in 15th place, claiming a seventh place in his class.
Northland's Ben Jagger finished the first day of the New Zealand Rally Championship in sixth place, behind four past champions and Emma Gilmour, to end a satisfying first day. Unfortunately he couldn't improve his position on the final day and was forced to withdraw on the first stage of the second day yesterday - stage eight - with mechanical failure.