Masterton champs' careers in doubt

WINNER: The famous yellow Subaru which has carried the Masons to so many notable wins. PHOTOS/KATE RIDDER

RICHARD Mason isn't kidding. The five-time winner of the New Zealand Rally Championship will only be contesting the one event in the 2015 edition unless last-ditch efforts to find a major sponsorship deal are successful. It would be easy to treat news like that as little more than a joke.

After all, how could a combination as successful as Masterton-based Mason and his co-driver wife Sara find themselves without the funding to continue competing in what is the country's premier domestic rallying series?

Even a cursory glance at their curriculum vitae would surely have potential sponsors clambering over each other in the race to earn their signatures.

Mason's five titles are the most won by any driver in the history of the NZRC. So is the number of individual rounds he has won, 28 to be exact. And Sara's 25 round wins make her the most successful NZRC co-driver ever.

When the Masterton duo won five of the six rounds of last year's NZRC they were doing something nobody else had managed before and what's more they wrapped up the 2014 title in the fastest time ever, having two rounds to spare and bringing up a half century of stage wins over the six rounds (15 out of a possible 62) in the process. And the records are just not exclusive to the crew as their bright-yellow Subaru has now become the most successful car in the NZRC with 12 wins.

Mason admits to being "absolutely gutted" at the prospect of not being part of all six rounds of the 2015 championship. Right now the intention is for him and Sara to enter the first round in Whangarei on the weekend of April 17-19 and if the necessary funding isn't to hand by then that will be it. "We won't be doing any more ... without the funding it's just not possible," Mason said. "The plain truth is we are seriously short of money, it's as simple as that."

It's not that the Masons haven't been doing the hard yards to come up with an answer to their sponsorship problems either. In fact, they had a deal in the pipeline right up to just a few days ago but when that fell through at virtually the last minute they were back to square one.

And so the search continues with a novel plan being hatched which will see anybody who provides the Masons with a positive, successful lead or introduction to a major sponsor earning themselves, and three of their mates, a high-speed ride in the flying Subaru.

"We'll be only too happy to give them first-hand experience of what rallying is all about ... we won't be holding anything back," Mason said.

-Potential sponsors can contact the Masons by emailing richard@richardmason.co.nz.