Invercargill driver Vaughan Edie won the 2016 Catlins Coast Rally on Saturday in slippery conditions.
Edie and co-driver Tony Johnston, the twentieth seeds, took their Mitsubishi EVO 8 into the lead after competitors’ encountered snow. They emerged from the second stage with a lead of almost a minute which extended to 1 minute 24 seconds after the third. Edie secured the Darryl Robinson Memorial Trophy for the win and described it as by far the highlight of his motorsport career. “I’m stoked. I never thought we could win it. The conditions definitely helped but we will take it! It was definitely eyeballs wide open and a wee bit of a lottery. Some parts were horrible. You just had to get through. I have seen the highs and lows and I would rather be at this end of things,” said Edie who has done little rallying in recent years.
Andrew Graves and Jared Leebody of Gore, the top seeds in an EVO 3, suffered the worst of the conditions early. After the first stage they were in a lowly thirty-fifth place, nearly one and a half minutes behind Shaun McMillan of Christchurch who won the opener. Graves fought back, winning the last four stages of the event to take second place, 33.9 seconds behind Edie. Derek Ayson/Nikita Gibson of Gore had a similar rally to Graves, suffering in the first stage, before working their way to third and first of the 2wd cars in their Nissan powered Escort, finishing second to Graves on three of the last four stages.
Graves was happy. “The first two stages were diabolical. I have never driven in anything so slippery. We got away with a lot. We were scrubbing up against a lot of the scenery. We gave it a good push over the last four but it wasn’t quite enough.”
Fourth overall went to Ari Pettigrew of Christchurch in a BMW 318Ti in his second rally while husband and wife team, Richie and Rachel Chadwick of Dunedin, were fifth in their Toyota Corolla GT, winning the Glen Shirlaw Trophy for the first Otago Sports Car Club crew. Regan Ross (Kaikoura) and 2015 NZ Rally Champion Ben Hunt were next followed by Barry Mills/Mark Allington of Balclutha in their Hillman Avenger, the duo winning the Kerry O’Donohue Memorial Trophy for the first South Otago crew.
Snow in the first stage shook up the order with the top seeds striking the worst of the conditions. McMillan won the stage in a Subaru Legacy from Edie with seventy-third seed Scott Paul of Milton third in a Ford Escort and the Chadwick’s fourth. Edie won the second from Pettigrew and Chadwick before Graves took the remainder.
Christchurch driver Deane Buist was one of the many hard luck stories of the day. Seeded fourth in his 2wd Ford Escort Buist managed the early conditions well and was third after five stages, only to crash on ice in the final stage. McMillan was another who struck trouble late, stopping with mechanical problems in the final stage while seventh.
