KEY POINTS:
Masterton's Richard and Sara Mason have won the final round of the 2008 Vantage New Zealand Rally Championship, comprehensively taking the Rally of Nelson yesterday.
The final of six rounds in the all-gravel championship, Sunday's nine stages through forests south of host city Nelson were dominated by the Subaru pairing, winning by 43.8 seconds over Mitsubishi's Chris West and co-driver Garry Cowan.
"We've had a few DNFs this year which has made life a little bit challenging," Richard Mason said.
Third was Rotorua's Emma Gilmour and co-driver Glenn Macneall in a Subaru Impreza, 1min 24sec behind the leader.
A one-day sprint, the near 200km of testing conditions took their toll on the championship field, a foggy start ending with rainy reception at the Nelson World of Wearable Arts (WOW) complex.
With dust a factor early in the day, punctures from the sharp rocks littering the road surface plagued a number of potential front-runners. Although playing road-sweeper, Mason had the benefit of a cleaner road surface, taking five stage wins along the way.
Going down to the wire, the Kiwi-2 two-wheel drive title ended in the lap of Wellington's Aaron Cook (Honda Jazz) after his commanding lead was initially reversed by contender Patrick Malley in a Ford Fiesta.
Cook clawed back enough time to take his second championship title by seven points.
While championship winner Hayden Paddon didn't end up contesting the Nelson rally, his Goldstar title lead elevated Mitsubishi to the manufacturers' title - the first time since 2000.
- NZPA
