Paddon’s demise helps McRae to victory
FORMER World Rally Championship regular Alistair McRae has become the first nonKiwi to win the famous Ashley Forest Rallysprint in North Canterbury.
Helped no end by hot favourite Hayden Paddon (Hyundai i20 AP4) striking a mechanical problem, McRae powered on in the exPossum Bourne Vantage Subaru Impreza WRX to take victory in the headtohead final over Blenheimbased Neil West in a Mitsubishi Mirage Evo special.
It was Paddon who set the initial pace, dominating qualifying and stopping the clocks at exactly 55 seconds in the top32 elimination, almost two seconds quicker than McRae. But Paddon’s bid for glory was thwarted when his car’s oil filter popped off in the top16 elimination. He lost engine power, eventually limping across the finish line, too slow to make the cut for progression to the top eight.
Along with former Ashley winner and course recordholder Sloan Cox (Mitsubishi Evo X), who exited following a hydraulic pump failure in the top32 elimination, Paddon’s demise left McRae the only one of the three fastest qualifiers heading into the final eight. McRae, who is from Scotland but now lives in Australia, was then free to dominate all the way to the final.
McRae said he was ‘‘over the moon’’ to take out his fourth victory on New Zealand soil, after the 2015 Race to the Sky and the 2016 and 2017 Leadfoot Festivals.
‘‘To get the win again, it’s awesome. It’s great for Speedhub, who build the car, for Vantage, for Subaru and for New Zealand because it was in Possum’s car. First foreigner to win — not bad!’’
Third place behind McRae and West went to Matt Summerfield (Subaru), who lives in nearby Rangiora.
Chris Hey was the topperforming Otago driver, taking eighth place and class honours in his Toyota MR2. Southlander Derek Ayson (Ford Escort) also performed strongly, eventually finishing second in the classic twowheeldrive class after a dingdong battle with South Cantabrian Bert Murray (Mazda RX7).