KEY POINTS:
Hayden Paddon clinched the overall honours in the international rally of Whangarei yesterday.
Paddon, 20, of Geraldine in South Canterbury, held off 79 drivers from seven countries in an event doubling as the second round of both the Asia Pacific and New Zealand championships. He became the youngest driver to win a round of the national championship.
Driving a Mitsubishi Evo 8, Paddon finished 24.4 seconds ahead of Australian Cody Crocker, in a Subaru, who took out the maximum points in his quest to retain his Asia Pacific title.
Palmerston North's Sam Murray was third overall, 54.9s behind Paddon.
In the Asia Pacific race, Crocker finished 2m 43s ahead of Japanese driver Hiroshi Yanagisawa, with Rifat Sungkar, of Indonesia, another 6m 43s back in third. "I am completely rapt with the result. It will take a while to wipe the smile off our faces," Paddon said.
"It's a huge credit to our team and sponsors. I am really surprised that I was able to beat Cody [Crocker] as he is a world class rally driver.
His experienced co-driver John Kennard paid tribute to Paddon.
"The thing I was most impressed with was that he did his own notes for the first time. Then he went out and drove absolutely flat out and did not get one thing wrong."
Crocker now leads the Asia Pacific championship with the next round in Canberra in three weeks.
"After missing the first round of the Asia Pacific championship we just had to get maximum points here," Crocker said.
"I could not let myself get caught up in the battle for overall honours. I had to keep focused on the Asia Pacific championship. I have to take my hat off to these young guys.
"We were only about 12 seconds behind after the morning and I thought I might be able to make that up. Then with a stage to go I saw it was 30 seconds. They were really quick."
- NZPA
