Masons taste win up north

DETERMINED: Full steam ahead for the Masons in their BNT Subaru.PHOTOS/FILE

Crack Masterton driver Richard Mason was breaking new ground when he took out the Rally of Whangarei over the weekend.

Despite having won the New Zealand Rally Championship title a record-equalling four times (2005, 2006, 2011 and 2012), Mason and his co-driver, wife Sara, had never before tasted success in the Northland event with what he labelled "silly little things" all too often having an adverse effect on their overall performance ... and there were a couple of occasions when fate almost conspired against them this year as well.

The Masons were pushed all the way by several new challenges over the two days of the Whangarei rally held in dry, dusty and fast conditions in the north. Second for the weekend was the Canterbury brother-and-sister team of Matt and Nicole Summerfield, after a fast and consistent drive, and rounding out the podium in his first NZRC event was 19-year-old Te Aroha driver Lance Williams, with Crunch Bennett alongside.

The first round of the 2014 national rally title also witnessed the emergence of several new challengers for the title. The Masons seized the initial advantage on Saturday morning's opening loop of stages to take an early lead, however close behind in second was young Tauranga driver David Holder with Malcolm Peden. Holder, who is being mentored by New Zealand world rally championship driver Hayden Paddon, was making his debut in an ex-Paddon Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 8, having graduated from the front-wheel-drive Fiesta class.

On Mason's heels all day, Holder took the lead on special stage 6 when Mason was forced to slow with major tyre wear issues, but the fairytale result was not to be, when his Mitsubishi developed a fuel leak. Roadside repairs enabled Holder and Peden to get the car back to service in Whangarei, but without the opportunity to refuel before the two short spectator stages at Pohe Island, they cruelly ran out of fuel surrendering their lead.

With Holder's challenge diminished, Mason reclaimed the lead and was able to maintain his position out front on Sunday's shorter leg. Having never won the Whangarei event, he may have thought luck was again not on his side when brake issues slowed his progress on the morning loop of stages but repairs at the midday service, ensured the bright yellow BNT Subaru would take outright honours.

Behind Mason, Subaru drivers Matt Summerfield and Lance Williams traded times all day, with both drivers securing their best ever NZRC results in second and third respectively. Williams, in his first NZRC event, is the leading rookie driver, after a very mature drive, in an event that proved difficult for many.

The dry conditions and fast pace at the front of the field led to a high attrition rate among the leading NZRC teams. The list of casualties of leg one included Nelson's Ben Hunt with engine trouble, Rotorua's Sloan Cox and Palmerston North's Brian Green, both with offroad excursions, Auckland driver Dylan Turner with steering issues and Tauranga driver Phil Campbell, who had been running as high as third overall, succumbed to clutch issues with his Lancer Evo 9. Former national champion Chris West was plagued with power issues to his Evo X, and Emma Gilmour experienced a horrid run in her Suzuki Swift Maxi, with multiple punctures and a broken gear lever providing a challenging event.

With the overall round victory and bonus points for fastest time in the power stage, the Masons take the initial points lead in the NZRC followed by Summerfield and Williams. Sloan Cox recovered from his leg one disaster to take the leg two bonus points for fastest time over the day's stages.

The championship recommences in four weeks' time at the Rally of Otago (May 9), followed by rounds in Canterbury (June 1), Wairarapa (June 28), Coromandel (August 23) and Manawatu (September 27).

Points are: Drivers: Richard Mason 42, Matt Summerfield 26, Lance Williams 20, Graham Featherstone 16, Chris West 12, Dave Strong 8, Sloan Cox 7, Marcus van Klink 6, Phil Campbell 5, Max Bayley 4, Emma Gilmour 3, David Thexton 2, Ron Davey 1. Co-drivers: Sara Mason 42, Nicole Summerfield 26, Raymond Bennett 20, Chris Davison 17, Bruce McKenzie 11, Dave Neill 8, Sarah Coatsworth 7, Phillip Deakin 6, Venita Fabbro 5, Thomas Thexton 4, Ben Atkinson 3, Rodney James 2, Matt Hayward 1.