Faring better than their peers in today’s opening leg of the Gisborne Vehicle Testing Waikanae Beach Holiday Park Rally Gisborne, held over roads to the region’s west, Masterton’s Richard and Sara Mason have a sizable six minute lead after the first seven special stages.

The fifth and final round for the Brian Green Property Group New Zealand Rally Championship (NZRC), powered by Brother, today’s result has re-secured the husband and wife pairing as the overall champions after runner-up Emma Gilmour retired early.

Second overall is Te Aroha’s Graham Featherstone, while second championship competitor is Auckland’s Dave Strong (Ford Fiesta S2000) with Nelson’s Ben Hunt third in the 2WD Ford Fiesta.

Departing Gisborne at 7am this morning the 169.28km of special stages that lay ahead was largely new territory for most of the championship crews, including the change of weather from recent rain to pleasant sunshine. Such was the legacy left by Mother Nature that many struggled to find rhythm in the ever changing road conditions – resulting in a decimation of the field by the time they returned to Gisborne for the overnight halt.

Winning the opening 25.33km test, Dunedin’s Emma Gilmour looked to have a competitive edge over the field while compatriot Mason languished in seventh with a steering column issue. However that all turned in the second test when Christchurch’s Matt Jansen, snapping at the heels of Gilmour, rolled his Subaru STI in to retirement. Gilmour then reported brake problems while Coromandel’s Alex Kelsey streaked past to take the rally lead.

Running out of fuel and later clutch failure put paid to the teen’s day, allowing Timaru’s Chris West to take the lead after the third stage in his brand new Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X.

He then retired during the fifth stage after damaging front suspension – to join Gilmour who suffered with similar failure.

A stage win by Mason moved him to the top – where he kept the yellow BNT Subaru STI for the remaining two stages to finish the day with his fourth Goldstar championship title:

“I really enjoyed the roads today. They were twisty, but not tight and that’s how we like them – every corner was a challenge and grip levels were changeable,” described Mason of steering to the rally lead.

“We had a tough start to the year…and since then we’ve won eight days in a row so it’s been great. You never stop losing that will to win and we always have different things to focus on at every rally. At the moment we’re on a bit of a winning streak, but every time we start a new day we think, what do we have to do to win?”

Pipped in the final stage for the second spot, third for the day in the championship standings and leading two-wheel-drive competitor Ben Hunt said it wasn’t through lack of trying:

“We had a pretty good crack [at catching Dave] in that last stage and I haven’t driven the Fiesta that hard since half way through last year. To be honest I don’t think there is much more left in it,” explained Hunt at missing out to the 4WD variant in the final stage.

“Although the result was an awesome start; we started out with the mind-set that we wanted to get to the finish to win the 2WD championship and somehow ended up finishing third NZRC for the day.

“Tomorrow will be a different story though. It’ll be damp and pretty muddy in some places where they’re logging. We’ve saved quite a few new tyres but I think some of the other boys have used theirs so that will be interesting.

Leading the historic category field, Balclutha’s Duncan McCrostie finished ninth overall in his Nissan Bluebird turbo, passing current point’s leader Marcus van Klink in the penultimate stage. Suffering drive shaft failure in the replica Group B Mazda RX7, van Klink is under greater pressure to keep his title lead from McCrostie and Hamilton’s Miles McElwain. The Kaiapoi based plumber will restart the final day – needing to finish to secure the category win.

Sunday’s remaining five special stages take competitors north to the Tolaga Bay region, using roads that have not seen competition since the 1983 Rally New Zealand, as a round of the World Rally Championship.

Bringing incentive to those re-joining for tomorrow’s concluding leg that departs from Gisborne Motors at 7:30am, the final stage of the rally brings an additional three bonus championship points for fastest time set in each of the competition categories. Known as the power stage, the 23.59km Waimata Valley road is due west of Tolaga Bay and starts at 3:03pm – the fifth special stage for the day. Having completed a further 125.75km of competition the event and series concludes with a ceremonial finish to acknowledge the championship victors.

News and information about the championship – including driver profiles and team news – can be found on the website www.nzrallychampionship.co.nz, or follow New Zealand Rally Championship on Facebook.