Mason just pipped

WELLINGTON
Chris West won the closest national championship rally in the 32-year history of the series when he finished the Otago event just 0.2 of a second in front of Richard Mason yesterday.
The pair led another Subaru cleansweep of the top placings, reversing their individual positions from the first heat of the rally yesterday when Mason finished 9.5sec ahead of West.
"It was a bit close but it doesn't matter how much you win by," a relieved West said after winning the second heat to narrowly overhaul Mason.
Debuting the 2006 model Impreza WRX STI, West only pulled back the deficit on the final two coastal forestry stages south of Dunedin, in which he was 13.5sec faster than Mason.
"I love those stages. Our notes are pretty good and we certainly weren't going to give up trying. I just went for it," he said.
West's efforts turned a 3.8sec deficit into a 9.7sec advantage for the day and left him 0.2sec ahead for the weekend, going into the final stage around the Forbury Park trotting track in Dunedin.
On that final stage Mason and West recorded precisely the same time, to leave the final margin at 0.2sec after 225km over two days.
West and Mason now head to the next round of the championship in Rotorua in three weeks tied on points as both had a first and a second in the two heats of the Otago event.
Leading results:-
Heat two: C West (Subaru Impreza WRX STI) 1hr 6min 5.4sec 1, R Mason (Subaru Impreza WRX STI) 1:06.15.1 2, E Gilmour (Subaru Impreza WRX STI) 1:06.46.3 3, S Murray (Subaru Impreza WRX STI) 1:06.57.3 4, D Sumner (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo8) 1:07.24.4 5.
Overall: West 2:15.54.0 1, Mason 2:15.54.2 2, Murray 2:17.01.7 3, Gilmour 2:17.16.4 4, B Martin (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo9) 2:19.26.4 5.
Championship points: West 59, Mason 59, Gilmour 43, Murray 43, Martin 30. ? NZPA