Rhys Gardner of Balclutha took his second Catlins Coast Rally victory with a dominant performance in tricky conditions on Saturday. The local driver was the top seed for the event in his Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 9 and he and co-driver Alex Ramsay of Dunedin took the lead in the first stage and were never headed, winning all but two stages. As he did when taking his first victory in 2012 Gardner put in a red hot stage time almost a minute quicker than anyone else on the penultimate stage near Balclutha to ensure victory but he was comfortably in front even before that point. Gardner earned the Darryl Robinson Memorial Trophy for the second time in three years for the win.
Gardner said the result was “great for our team and those that follow us.” Talking about the treacherous Special Stage 2 that featured snow after icy weather the previous day he said, “anything over 1/4 throttle in fourth gear just caused wheelspin. We went a little bit wide a couple of times but nothing major. It was about slowing down to get through it.” While he blitzed the field in Stage 7 he revealed that part of the rally actually caused the greatest concern. “We had a fuel problem late in the day and the car threatened to stop in there. It would have been interesting to see our time without that!”
Richard Baddock of Christchurch drove a consistent rally in his Subaru WRX to finish second, never being outside the top three in any stage. Third was another local, Mike Verdoner, after a superb drive in his Ford Escort, the first two-wheel-drive car home. Verdoner recorded top ten times all day long and was another to impress on the penultimate stage. He and son Jareb, who was co-driving in his first rally, won the Kerry O’Donohue Memorial Trophy for being the first entirely South Otago crew home.
Dean Bond made it three Balclutha drivers in the top four as he finished fourth with sister Tania in the co-drivers seat. However the winner in 2009 and 2011 was hampered by injectors that blocked as each stage progressed as well as a puncture in the penultimate stage. He bounced back to win the final stage in front of a large crowd in his home town .
Deane Buist of Christchurch was fifth in his BDA Escort followed by Carter Strang and Stewart Robbie of Invercargill in their EVO 6. Regan Ross of Kaikoura was seventh after early problems in his Ford Escort although he was able to win stage 2, a slippery stage that saw several lower seeded drivers crack the top ten. Trevor Crowe of Christchurch was eighth in his unique Subaru WRX Ute with Neville Krammer of Wallacetown in a Subaru Legacy ninth and Barry Mills of Balclutha tenth.
Gore driver Jim McDonald narrowly missed the top ten while Steve and Mike Wellington of Dunedin finished twelfth to claim the Glen Shirlaw Memorial Trophy for the first Otago Sports Car Club crew to finish.
More good performances came from Murray Marshall who was fifth fastest in Stage 2 and also had a sixth fastest stage time on his way to fifteenth overall. Stage 2 also saw James Worker of Mokereta seventh in the stage in his Ford Fiesta while Phillip Terry of Invercargill was ninth in a Toyota Levin. Tony Quinn, the owner of Highlands Motorsport Park, climbed from fifty-two in the seedings to twenty-sixth place in a rare gravel rally outing.
Among the casualties were fourth seed, Jeff Judd of Christchurch, who retired his Subaru Impreza WRX with engine problems, Derek Ayson of Gore who blew an engine, ending a fantastic run of reliability at this event and Marcus Van Klink of Christchurch who left the road.
Bond took Class D, the 4-wheel-drive class, from Strang and Crowe while the Class E battle for Pre-2000 4-wheel-drives went to Krammer from Jason Keach who claimed fourteenth place, and Murray Marshall. Regan Ross claimed Class G (Classic vehicles greater than 1701cc) from Mills and Tony Gosling of Christchurch in an Escort in thirteenth place. Winton driver Brendon Mitchell won Class F for the smaller engined classic cars in his Datsun 1600 finishing one place ahead of Wyndham’s Nigel Marshall who finished thirty-first in his Datsun 1200. Marshall had been extremely competitive all day but punctured in Stage 2 and then got caught behind slower cars through the snow in the stage. George Keast was third in his Ford Escort.
The very competitive Class B for 2-wheel-drive cars from 1301-1600cc went to Kevin Laird of Alexandra in a Toyota Levin, from Graham McRae of Gore and Phillip Terry. In Class C (2-wheel-drive cars 1601cc & over) Deane Buist took the honours from Aucklander Chris Woudenberg and Carl Balani of Christchurch. Class A for the smaller 2-wheel-drive cars went to Carl Morris of Gore in forty-second place ahead of Scott Levings of Cromwell and Les Summerfield of Christchurch who had 13-year-old Amy Hudson co-driving in her first ever rally.
Support for the 2014 Catlins Coast Rally came from the Rosebank Lodge, Vodafone, SouthRoads, Owaka Motors, Fulton Hogan, Century/Yuasa Batteries and Catlins Cafe.
The rally was Round 4 of the Clearwater Painting Mainland Rally Championship and Round 2 of the Laird Motorsport Southern Rally Series.
CLASS PLACINGS
A (0-1300cc)
1 – Carl Morris/Ian Morris (Gore) Datsun 1200
2 – Scott Levings/Jim Wilson (Cromwell) Toyota Starlet
3 – Les Summerfield/Amy Hudson (Christchurch) Toyota Starlet
B (1301-1600cc)
1 – Kevin Laird/Jane Blair (Alexandra) Toyota Levin AE92
2 – Graham McRae/Robert McRae (Gore) Toyota Corolla GT
3 – Philip Terry/Calvin Hamilton (Invercargill) Toyota Levin
C (1601cc & over)
1 – Deane Buist/Andrew Sim (Christchurch) Ford Escort BDA
2 – Chris Woudenberg/Veronica Ondish (Auckland) Toyota Levin AE86
3 – Carl Balani/Ross Teesdale (Christchurch) Mazda RX7
D (4WD)
1 – Dean Bond/Tania Bond (Balclutha) Mitsubishi EVO 6.5
2 – Carter Strang/Stewart Robbie (Invercargill) Mitsubishi EVO 6
3 – Trevor Crowe/Andrew Oakley (Christchurch) Subaru WRX Ute
E (Pre 2000 4WD)
1 – Neville Krammer/Hannah Krammer (Wallacetown) Subaru Legacy RS
2 – Jason Keach/Blair McLaren (Mosgiel) Subaru Impeza WRX
3 – Murray Marshall/Duncan McCrostie (Kaitangata) Subaru Impreza
F (0-1700cc Classics)
1 – Brendon Mitchell/Josh Lankshear (Winton) Datsun 1600
2 – Nigel Marshall/Michael Kelly (Wyndham) Datsun 1200
3 – George Keast/Brenley Marshall (Invercargill) Ford Escort
G (1701cc & over Classics)
1 – Regan Ross/Darren Galbraith (Kaikoura) Ford Escort BDA
2 – Barry Mills/Mark Allington (Balclutha) Hillman Avenger
3 – Tony Gosling/David Holder (Christchurch) Ford Escort RS1800
