ROBINSON ON TOP IN SILVER FERN RALLY
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Matthew Robinson and Sam Collis led home a British clean sweep of the podium when the eight-day New Zealand Silver Fern Rally finished in Rotorua on Saturday.
Robinson and Collis set the pace from the start of the 800stage mile rally and were able to ease their pace over the last two days having established an eight-minute lead over the similar Ford Escort Mk2 of Roger Chilman and Max Freeman. Into third overall came Simon Tysoe and Paul Morris in their Escort Mk2.
However, it was not always straightforward for Robinson and on the third day he was caught out by a tightening right-hander and plunged off the road. They were helped by a farmer but needed an engine change at the end of the day. The following car of local driver Shane Murland went off at the same point and narrowly missed Robinson’s car just as Collis was about to get out.
Chilman went ahead but a broken halfshaft on day five cost him a chance of victory. He was towed out of the stage and the delay handed a big lead back to Robinson, which he nursed over the closing stages of the epic rally.
“That’s some achievement after eight days of rallying and it’s above and beyond what we thought we’d do,” said an elated Robinson. Chilman added: “I’m delighted to get to the finish: we had a lot of fun.”
Making it five British crews in the top seven were Andrew Siddall/alex Lee in fifth and Phil Squires/nigel Hutchinson in seventh, despite a mid-rally roll.