Weather cancels rally
Today’s conclusion to the Tomoana Warehousing Rally Hawke’s Bay has been cancelled due to overnight weather closing State Highway two between Napier and Wairoa.
With the call made early this morning by local Police when continual slips made the road between the two regions impassable. Organisers were forced to call an end to the event and declare the opening day’s results final – the fourth round of the Vantage Aluminium Joinery New Zealand Rally Championship.
“The road had that many slips on it the Police were struggling to maintain some order along there with traffic,” described Clerk of the Course Mr Steve Foster. “I was always optimistic we were going to be running – given the predicted weather.”
Despite the heavy overnight rain the east coast region suffered lightly from the expected storm passing the country. The gravel stages proposed for the day’s competition remained in good condition – with highway access being the hampering factor.
“It would have nice to be able to compete that today and maybe extend our (championship) lead,” said weekend winner Hayden Paddon, extending his championship point’s lead after finishing 47secons the winner.
“Now we have unfinished business with the upcoming Repco Rally New Zealand and I think we’re further developing the standard of myself and the car for the event.”
Second after winning the previous championship round, Christchurch’s Chris West said today’s plan was to try catch-up Paddon’s overnight lead:
“Its unfortunate the rally has been cut short but we can’t do anything about the weather, but full credit to Hayden – he dominated. Today was to have been our chance to put some pressure on him and I don’t think we had the pace to beat him – but we could be there and take what was left.”
Third out of five Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 9’s that dominated the top placings, Masterton’s Brett Martin and co-driver Grant Marra said the podium result will be their last appearance until the final round at Nelson in September:
“We’ve got to happy with result – it’s just a pity about today – we were looking forward to improving and getting rid of a few problems we had yesterday.”
Leading two-wheel drive; former Hastings resident Patrick Malley and co-driver Raymond Bennett led his parents Dermott and Linzi home, as one of only two Kiwi-2 and Group N 2WD cars to finish the day.
“Couldn’t be happier with the result,” said the junior Malley in a Ford Fiesta ST150. “Basically it put us in contention for Kiwi-2 and Group N again; mum and dad were there to join in on the ride – so it was great.”
Palmerston North’s Bert Murray says the cutting short of the event places real pressure on his championship with only one round left to complete in the classic category after winning yesterday:
“We needed today to get the points and go to Repco Rally New Zealand with a serious chance of winning the title.
Mathematically it is going to be tough – it is Rob Wylie’s [current points leader] event; he just needs to trundle through and make sure that he finishes for a well deserved championship. But we’ll go there and put up our best fight and see what happens at the end of the day.”
Rookie title leader Andre Meier from Cambridge (Subaru Impreza) has extended his lead to an almost insurmountable 92 points over Northland’s Ben Jagger in a Ford Fiesta.
The fifth and penultimate round of the championship moves to Hamilton, to be held over the first two days of Repco Rally New Zealand (29-30 August 2008).
Ends.
Results
Tomoana Warehousing Rally Hawke’s Bay - round four of the Vantage Aluminium Joinery New Zealand Rally Championship (top-ten)
Pos. Driver/Co-Driver Vehicle Total Time
1 Hayden Paddon/John Kennard (Geraldine) MitsubishiLancer EVO 9 1:40:54.9
2 Chris West/Garry Cowan (Christchurch) Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 9 +0:47.6
3 Brett Martin/Grant Marra (Masterton) Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 9 +1:32.9
4 Dean Sumner/Paul Fallon (Rotorua) Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 9 +1:51.1
5 Stewart Taylor/Warwick Searle (Hastings) Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 9 +1:59.7
6 Emma Gilmour/Glenn Macneall (Rotorua) Subaru Impreza WRX +3:09.7
7 Sloan Cox/Tarryn Cox (Rotorua) Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 8 +5:17.9
8 Andre Meier/Jason Farmer (Cambridge) Subaru Impreza WRX +6:41.1
9 Patrick Malley/Raymond Bennett (Auckland) Ford Fiesta ST +11:21.3
10 Robert Murray/Stu Jenkinson Mazda RX7 (Palmerston North +12:16.1
Vantage Aluminium Joinery New Zealand Rally Championship - Goldstar driver championship points (after round four of six) - top-ten
1 Hayden Paddon (Geraldine) 196
2 Chris West (Christchurch) 167
3 Stewart Taylor (Hastings) 139
4 Brett Martin (Masterton) 134
5 Richard Mason (Masterton) 129
6 Dean Sumner (Rotorua) 98
7 Callum McInnes (Tauranga) 93
8 Emma Gilmour (Rotorua) 82
9 Andre Meier (Cambridge) 80
10 Sloan Cox (Rotorua) 79
For full results: www.chrissport.co.nz
For full points: http://www.motorsport.org.nz/Rally/nzrc/points.htm
Event outline on the 2008 Tomona Warehousing Rally Hawke's Bay:
Headlined by the fourth round of the Vantage Aluminum New Zealand Rally Championship, it is also a qualifying round of the Classic Challenge Trophy, round three of the NZ Truth North Island Rally Extreme Challenge, round five of the FRAM Filters North Island Rally Series and round two of the 2008 GearTech Rally Series – totalling 60 entries.
Event information:
- Event title: Tomoana Warehousing Rally Hawke’s Bay 2008.
- Fourth of six rounds in the 2008 Vantage Aluminium Joinery New Zealand Rally Championship.
- A two-day event (Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th July).
- Starts with a car show and autograph session at the Soundshell, Marine Parade, Napier, from 6pm on the Friday evening (25th July).
- Ceremonial start at 7pm from the Soundshell.
- First car starts from Wairoa at 8am on the Saturday for six gravel stages totalling 163.72km.
- Sunday starts from Napier at 7:20am, covering five stages totalling 100.36km.
- Uses roads in the Wairoa and Hastings districts featuring traditional roads that vary in style from tight twisty to open and fast over flowing county regions.
- Finishes back in Napier at 3:55pm (Marine Parade, next to the aquarium and service park).
- Will be contested by all championship categories (four and two-wheel drive modern plus classics).
- China’s Liu Cao Dong (co-driver Anthony McLoughlin) will run mid-field NZRC, using a brand new Subaru N14 Group N Impreza.
- It will be a first-time start for the all-female crew of Kirsty Nelson and Michele Brunt (Subaru Impreza), along with Sloan & Tarryn Cox (Mitsubishi) and Andre Meier, Jason Farmer (Subaru Impreza).
- The event was won in 2007 by Rotorua’s Dean Sumner (Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 9).
- 18 teams have entered for the Group N 4WD and 2WD championship round with six in the Kiwi-2 category and six in the classics.
- Television coverage of the event starts on 3rd August with day two 9th August (note this is pre Olympics at 11am as a one off show). Features and repeats will also be shown on Fujitsu Motorsport on Sky TV.
