Mason gets the start he wanted

Ace Masterton rally driver Richard Mason got his national rally championship title chase off to the best possible start by claiming the most points from the Rally of Wairarapa held over the weekend.
Mason and co-driver , wife Sara, drove their Subaru Impreza into second fastest time behind Andrew Hawkeswood but with the latter driving a Group A car and therefore not eligible for the Group N (production) championship the local combination earned the result they wanted..
Mason did not have things all his own way though, finishing second in Saturday;'s first heat to Hawkes Bay's Stewart Taylor by just 0.9secs; But he dominated yesterday's second heat to take the major spoils for the weekend.
Mason said afterwards that Saturday "wasn't easy" with quite a lot of time being lost in Sam Murray's dust when that driver rolled his vehicle. This had forced them to spend the rest of the day as first car on the rood sweeping the loose gravel aside but event that handicap couldn't stop them from clawing their way back into the contest, improving from eighth place to second.
In yesterday's second heat Mason was never headed, eventually finishing 50secs in front of Brett Martin (Taihape).
However, the results are only provisional as former champion Chris West (Christchurch) and Geraldine's Hayden Paddon were both penalised a minute for delaying their start at the day's second stage in an effort to get a more dust free run.
If their efforts to have the penalties rescinded are successful they will move up to second and third for yesterday's heat, rather than their current third and fifth placings.
Championship results:-
Heat one: S Taylor,W.Searle (Mitsubish Lancer Evo9) 1hr 30mins 13.7secs; R and S mason (Subaru Imprteza WRX STI) 1.30.14.6; M.Tapper, J.Cress (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo8) 1.30.24.9; C.West, G Cowan (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo9) 1.30.36.9; C.McInnes, D.Calder (Subaru Impreza WRX STI) 1.30.38.9; H.Paddon, J.Kennard (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo9) 1.32.04.9.
Heat two: Mason and Mason 1.08.17.3; B.Martin, G.Marra (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo9) 1.09.08.5; West and Cowan 1.09.38.4; Tapper and Cress 1.09.40.9; Paddon 1.09.45.7; McInnes 1.09.54.4.
In the national championship two-wheel drive class it was a consistent and very quick drive by Aaron Cook who managed to take 14th overall, and the class win by 20 seconds over Dave Strong. Third was an improving Patrick Malley, who stepped up his pace in the Ford Fiesta.
For the Classic Class it was a different matter. With Euan Fuge failing to finish day one, the class win was Bert Murray's to loose. Unfortunately in a repeat of history (from last year), he duly did, breaking an axle in Stage 10. This gifted the win to Rob Wylie in his mighty Nissan 240RS, and also gave the Australian Greg Poole his first podium in NZ. Keith Frankum being his usual consistent self to claim third.
In the non-championship classes, it was a reduced field that opted to continue on day two. This was due to the first day of the rally being the only points scoring day for the Truth Rally Xtreme and Fram North Island Rally Series. It was now a battle for overall rally honours, and not series points.
Class D (4WD) was obviously dominated by Hawkeswood, however drama unfolded behind him. Glenn Smith was out in the third stage of today after putting the Impreza off the road. That left Kerry Harvey to take the second spot, after his first day battle with Malcolm Stewart wasn't to be continued when Strewart encountered niggling problems all day. However Stewart kept plugging away and he managed to record a result, third in class.
Neil Marshall had made Class E (4WD pre 92) his own with a fine performance to be 9th overall on day one. However this wasn't to last with his retirement on the third stage of today.
That left Richard Worker to take the class win and 20th overall, with a significant gap back to Andy Tannock and Adam Bligh.
In the Two Wheel drive classes it was Steve Bond who took Class C, Paul Black in Class B and the very fast Tony McConahy in Class A.