Auckland Subaru driver Chris West almost had a smile on his face after winning the third round of the national rally championship in Northland yesterday, but he was hurting inside.
West, who had been running second in the championship, had all his points from the first two rounds scrubbed on
Friday because of a technical infringement by his team. An engine seal had been broken mistakenly during an engine rebuild after the Rotorua Rally.
He bounced back to win the conventional seven-stage rally near Paparoa on Saturday by more than a minute from Palmerston North driver Sam Murray. Yesterday in the inaugural 5.21km rallysprint, he beat championship leader Richard Mason from Masterton by less than a second.
"Winning makes up about one-tenth of the disappointment about losing the points," said West. "But nothing can really make up for that.
"If you break the rules you pay the price and there's nothing we can do about that. The championship is probably gone but we'll keep doing what we're doing and keep the pressure on.
"We didn't think the car could go much faster in the rallysprint but we had our cleanest run."
Mason was beaten into second on the first day by the impressive Murray when he had a puncture on the first stage. West won five of the stages and Mason the other two.
The rallysprint, which has not been universally popular with the drivers who say they entered a rally not a sprint, proved highly competitive.
Murray lost valuable points by not qualifying for the top eight and West beat Mason in the final by under a second as both posted their best times of the day by more than 2s.
Fastest car was the non-eligible Mitsubishi of Aucklander Andrew Hawkeswood, which was 2s quicker than West's best. Runner-up Marty Roestenburg in a Subaru was also quicker than the championship cars.
