HONOURS SHARED IN THE HISTORIC CLASS
Guest of honour Mayor Sheryl Mai officially opened the second round of the New Zealand Rally Championship (NZRC) which took place in Whangarei over 14–16 May. Sixty-three cars took to the start ramp on Friday evening which got under way proper on the first two short stages through Pohe Island. Ben Hunt in a Subaru WRX STI was the first to tackle the 1.25km section of twists and turns. Throughout the weekend the cars competed on the gravel roads within the vicinity of Whangarei totalling 134.26km across 18 special stages. The overnight rain soaked the roads for Saturday morning and the conditions changed again come the afternoon runs as the roads started to dry off. This may have contributed to a high attrition rate as 30 cars failed to make it to the finish line. These included front runners Matt Summerfield with suspension damage and Emma Gilmour was once again dogged by mechanical problems. Hayden Paddon and
his co-driver John Kennard won the event but not without problems of their own, having a puncture on the final stage, not to mention losing the front bumper.
The Historic Class featured five cars, three of them Escorts, one Mazda RX-7, and the Steve Cox Toyota Starlet. Anthony Jones along with his co-driver Zoe Jones, who were driving a Ford Escort, took the ribbon for fastest Historic, winning 12 of the 17 stages. Stage 6 was cancelled when Matt Adams went off road in spectacular fashion resulting in an air-ambulance flight for co-driver Lisa Hudson.
“After leaving the crest and landing half off the road I thought we still may have a chance through the farmer’s gate,” said Matt. “We launched off the first lump of dirt and I thought we were still looking good until the second one sent us sky high, clearing the road and coming down where it landed.”
Lisa Hudson suffered concussion but is on the mend.
In the end the Joneses finished the rally 20 seconds ahead of John Silcock in the RX-7. The winner of the Historic Class in round one in Otago, Jeff Judd, did not run his Escort in Whangarei which allowed Jones and Silcock to climb up level with Judd. They are both first equal on 70 points in the five-round championship. Shane Murland and his co-driver Kane Seymour were third in an Escort RS1800, seven minutes behind Anthony Jones.
The championship now heads back down to the South Island for the South Canterbury Rally in late June before they are back in the North for Rally Hawkes Bay in July. The final round will take place in the Coromandel on 4 September.