Mason Day One Leader at Rally of Otago

Masterton husband and wife rally team Richard and Sara Mason have a sizable 53.2 second lead in the DriveSouth Rally of Otago after 10 high-speed stages held mainly north of host city Dunedin.
 
Contesting the third round of the 2012 Brian Green New Zealand Rally Championship, powered by Brother, the event started with three stages held south of the city on the Friday night with Saturday’s seven high-speed tests located in northern Otago.
 
In a day described by the competing crews as New Zealand’s version of Finland with its high-speed crests and jumps, the Mason’s extended their overnight 35.5 second leading margin after setting fastest time in a total of six special stages. Timaru’s Chris West and co-driver Chris Cobham won two of the stages and currently sit second overall with Rotorua brother and sister pairing Sloan and Tarryn Cox in third, 5.3 seconds behind West.
 
“There was some crazy fast stuff,” explained Richard Mason. “Although the average speeds weren’t ridiculously high there were some very fast sections – and that made it a real challenge to drive ten/tenths. But the end result was everything we could ask for really - we’re looking forward to tomorrow and protecting our lead in the rally.”
Local Emma Gilmour and co-driver Anthony McLaughlin set fastest time in the mornings second special stage and is placed fourth.
 
However it was a dramatic crash by championship series leader’s Alex Kelsey and Raymond Bennett that forced the cancellation of what was to have been the morning’s second special stage – the 27.21km Golden Bar. Seriously damaging their Subaru STI, the assistance rendered by following crews forced the stage to be abandoned. Kelsey and Bennett later thanked their rivals personally for ensuring they were safe after they had rolled more than 100metres from the road’s edge.
 
“It’s never nice to come across a competitor in trouble,” added Mason, who was first car on the scene. “Along with getting to the car and making sure they were okay we had to warn the cars following – while also trying to notify the organisers. Everybody that turned up worked as a well-oiled machine to help out – and I guess shows the camaraderie in the sport. We were just glad they were okay – as an accident like that is easy to come by if you push too hard, or not hard enough – it’s so easy to make a mistake.”
 
Kaipoi’s Marcus van Klink and co-driver Dave Neill lead the two-wheel and historic honours – after dropping much of his advantage in a couple of spins around the Dunedin street super special stage late in the day.
 
Phil Campbell and Venita Fabbro from Tauranga are second in their Ford Fiesta with the Hayabusa powered Starlet of Palmerston North’s Tony McConachy and co-driver Simon Johnstone third two-wheel drive of the championship cars.
 
Tauranga’s Dave and James Holder finished fourth for the day in their Stella Traffic Toyota Levin, having clean jumped their car across a farm fence and in to the paddock before exiting through a nearby gate.
 
Sunday’s remaining six special stages take the crews south where they will cover a further 132 kilometres of flowing Otago gravel that concludes with the 12.76km Waipori Gorge ‘power stage’.
 
The crews then travel to Dunedin’s historic railway station for a ceremonial finish at 3:10pm.
 
News and information about the championship – including driver profiles and team news – can be found on the website www.nzrallychampionship.conz, or follow New Zealand Rally Championship on Facebook.
 
ENDS

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