Motorsport: Luckless locals as Mason wins Hawke's Bay

Richard and Sara Mason had more luck than the locals in the weekend's Hawke's Bay rally.

Don't mention home-town advantage to Hawke's Bay rally driver Stewart Taylor ... it just wasn't his weekend.

The sole Hawke's Bay entrant in class one of the Tomoana Warehousing Rally Hawke's Bay, Taylor crashed out in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 on Saturday.

"We did a bit of a repair job which got him going yesterday but he experienced mechanical problems which were caused by the accident," said his father, Trevor Taylor.

"Once we got him going later in the day he had a third placing and three seconds which proved he can compete with the best. The big plus is he's got plenty of time to get things right before the next round in the championship next month," said Taylor.

"As for his bad luck at the weekend ... well that's rallying."

Despite Taylor jnr's success on the final four stages, he didn't make the top 10 in the event which doubled as the first of five rounds in the Vantage Aluminium Joinery New Zealand Rally Championship.

Wairarapa husband-and-wife duo Richard and Sara Mason, in a Subaru Impreza, won the round by two minutes and 12 seconds from defending champion Hayden Paddon, of Geraldine, and co-driver John Kennard in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9. The Masons led after Saturday's stages and extended their lead yesterday.

"We were certainly wanting to win today. But we went a bit slower later in the afternoon because we'd built up a bit of a lead and just because you have a lead you don't have to be silly with it," said Mason yesterday.

His overall winning margin was half-a second a kilometre faster than his competition for the 301km event.

Paddon could do nothing to reel in the Subaru team, instead consolidating his second place points position by winning five of yesterday's stages. Last night he and Kennard started their trip to New Caledonia for their first round in the Asia Pacific Rally Championship.

Third with one stage win in the 13-stage rally, Hamilton's Emma Gilmour and Glenn Macneall held position after climbing on to the podium on Saturday. They drive a Subaru Impreza WRX.

"Very happy with the result," said Gilmour. "A little disappointed we didn't have such a good day today with a bit of damage to the turbo and being down on power all day, so the fact the car ran well was awesome - the team did well.

"I feel there is more potential there, this weekend was always about getting on the podium and building on the next events."

Gilmour also departs this week for the first round of the Asia Pacific Rally Championship.

Fourth, behind the premier group one cars, former champion Geof Argyle and co-driver Phil Deakin, driving a Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 7, finished eight minutes ahead of Matt Jansen and co-driver Jason Farmer (Subaru Impreza), to lead the new open class premier group two category.

Christchurch-based Jansen takes a sizeable lead in both the junior and rookie standings.

Perfect weather again greeted the driving and support crews, with patches of dust the only significant factor to hamper the day. Covering six stages to the west of Napier city, the 141km of competition for the day was again a test of survival, several "caught-on-camera" moments a reminder to the limits being tested.

- HAWKE'S BAY TODAY