Mason: No holding back

SET FOR ACTION: Richard and Sara Mason display the spoils of victory after their success at the Possum Bourne Memorial Rally last month.PHOTO/FILE

Ask Richard Mason his tactical approach for Saturday's Rally of Wairarapa and the Masterton ace is quick to respond.

"It will be hammer down right from the word go, there will be no holding back," he told the Times-Age yesterday.

Mason, who will, as usual, have wife Sara in the co-driver's seat, goes into what is the last event in the 2013 New Zealand Rally Championship five points behind the leader, Geraldine professional Hayden Paddon, after winning the Possum Bourne Memorial Rally at his last start.

And with Paddon desperate to maintain his advantage, Mason knows he has no alternative but to treat the 134km of the Wairarapa rally as "one long sprint". Which in turn, means being prepared to take a few risks along the way.

"We have to treat it as a must win, second won't be good enough," Mason said. "We know it's going to take something special to pull it off but that's what we like.

"Providing we don't have mechanical failure there will be no excuses if we are not good enough. It's up to us to do the job."

Mason sees the first couple of stages as being crucial to his chances of winning what would be his third successive NZRC title.

"Quite frankly, we have to get off to a flier. We can't sit back and ease our way into it, that would be fatal. Those stages give us the chance to make an early statement and that's the aim."

Mason "absolutely guarantees" Paddon's tactics will be very similar to his own.

"Hayden is not the sort of guy who will go out there and drive conservatively just because he has a few points to spare. He'll be going hell for leather as well," he said. "He is always aggressive."

The fact he will be competing on home territory could be seen as an advantage to Mason but he himself doesn't see it that way.

He points out that drivers would have the opportunity to look over the course pre-rally and note what had to be done to negotiate it safely ... and at high speed. "I don't think home advantage really counts for a lot these days, other than the support you get from the locals, and that certainly can make a difference. "It just gets the adrenalin going a bit more."