Defending champion Monster Tajima was pushed harder than ever before, but drew on his reserves of rally-driving skill and experience to blow aside Kenneth Eriksson's challenge in the Race to the Sky hillclimb yesterday.
Driving Possum Bourne's old Subaru Impreza WRC hillclimb special, Swedish rally ace Eriksson had qualified within
two seconds of Tajima, but sensed all along that his rival might be holding a little more in reserve for the final run.
While Eriksson drove well to shave almost 11s off his previous best, Tajima was over 20s faster than before over the 14.5km course on the Waiorau Snow Farm road in the Cardrona Valley.
His final time of 8m 10.8s was within 0.6s of the record time for the course, which he set in quicker conditions two years ago.
"I am a little sad not to be standing here," said Eriksson, pointing to the top step on the podium. "But I cannot complain about the car or my driving in the final: there was nothing I could do to stop Monster.
"We just needed a little better, drier weather to make a new record time," said Tajima, who had been chasing a sub-8m time.
"To win again feels very, very good."
Behind the two pacesetters, a stunning four-way scrap for third place between Rod Millen, Andrew Hawkeswood, Marty Roestenburg and Ian Ffitch raged all the way to the final.
Extra spice was added by the fact that Millen aside, this group were also fighting for the coveted Possum Bourne Trophy, awarded to the first New Zealander home.
Hawkeswood laid claim to both honours with a stunning final run that saw him finish less than 10s behind Eriksson.
He headed home Rod Millen's V8-powered Toyota racing pick-up by 1.3s.
- NZPA
