Motorsport: Pack hunting fourth round points

Chris West will be first to pick a preferred start in the ceremonial start for the fourth round tomorrow. Photo / Euan Cameron

The fourth round of the New Zealand Rally Championships cranks into action this weekend over the roads of North Canterbury.

The event is celebrating 40 years of gravel bashing and will transverse the roads of the Ashley and Okuku forestry blocks and teams will use Rangiora as a service base for the one-day race tomorrow.

Series leader Hayden Paddon and co-driver John Kennard won't be at the rally as they are preparing for the German round of the World Rally Championships between August 22-25. Paddon won the opening two rounds of the domestic series and will now have missed two races, leaving the door open for the chasing pack to make inroads into his championship lead.

Ben Hunt overtook defending champion Richard Mason after his maiden victory at the previous round and has a narrow six-point lead over the four-time New Zealand champion.

"The focus is still the same. The fact of the matter is we need to bag big points and to do that we need to win - which is our aim anyway," said Mason.

"The big thing to consider is we've used up our wildcard [drop your worst round] - so the rest of the season we need to make count. And while Hayden is away we need to get as many points as possible so when he returns we can have a bigger battle."

As a result of not finishing the previous round Mason will start sixth on the road. The first five spots are reserved for the five fastest from the previous round's power stage results. These five get to pick their start order at today's ceremonial start and Chris West will be first to choose.

Hunt has not driven the event before and reckons his championship strategy is based around finishing.

"The main goal of this year is to finish every stage of every rally and get as many kilometres under the belt as possible," he said. "And that's what we'll focus on for the remaining three events. Our car is still in Group N specification as Emma [Gilmour, the previous owner] used to run it. We're still on a huge learning curve with the car and that will continue this weekend."

Matt Summerfield and co-driving sister Nicole Summerfield, fifth in the point's standings, grew up in the area with the event's roads in their back yard and just could be the pair to watch.

Josh Marston, piloting his Ford Fiesta R2, is excited about his home event and is looking to reclaim the category lead from Phil Campbell but says he doesn't believe he will have the typical home advantage other drivers are expecting to have.

"I've only done the Canterbury Rally a few times and I've never used notes at this rally," said Marston. "I won't remember much of the roads as the last time I competed on here was back in 2011 and they were used in a different configuration.

"The last time I drove in this event, I had my wife Liv co-driving for me and while I'd love to have her back in the seat again, I'm stoked to have Rocky [Hudson] join me again. It's definitely an all Canterbury team so we're hoping that'll help us here."

Also competing at the event are drivers in the historic category for cars pre-1987 and there's a heavy Canterbury contingent. Christchurch's Jeff Judd in a Ford Escort RS1800 has a reasonably comfortable 15-point lead on Deane Buist, also in a Ford Escort RS1800.

Third, and 27 points behind Judd, is defending champion Marcus van Klink.