Titles decided in NZ Rally Championship

Titles decided in Rally Championship

Last weekend's WRC round of the Vantage Aluminium Joinery New Zealand Rally Championship became a decider for several sub categories of the 2007 series.

Six rounds covering the length of the country over six months, New Zealand's premier rally championship has 13 awards including the overall Goldstar title.

Leaders in five of those categories now have sufficient points to be declared champion following the penultimate round at the weekend. Meanwhile, the overall chase now goes down to the wire with a three -way battle between defending champion Richard Mason, current point's leader Sam Murray and Hayden Paddon.

Not since 2004 has the series been so hotly contested across a range of drivers in different cars. The Mitsubishi, Subaru and Ford involvement has increased the intensity of competition with points awarded according to the result obtained by nominated drivers. For the 2007 season, mixed fortunes kept the contest between the brands close, however Subaru once again surged forward with front-running form to score beyond the reach of Mitsubishi and Ford.

One of the early retirements in the Rally New Zealand weekend, Hayden Paddon was able to return for the second day and put the Junior title out of reach by one point from Hawke's Bay driver Patrick Malley.

In a case of what might have been, Kirsty Nelson's schooling kept her from contesting the Hawke's Bay event - allowing Tauranga's Callum McInnes to take an unassailable lead in the Rookie standings.

By finishing the one-day event contested by the Kiwi-2 category, Auckland's Dave Strong earned enough points to re-secure the title - this time in a Honda Civic. In doing so his co-driver Bruce McKenzie also ended up more than 35 points ahead of second placed Jonathan Kane.

Aside from the Goldstar title and Group N 4WD title, the Group N 2WD winner will be a hot contest between leader Kayne Barrie and chaser Mark Tapper, both in Ford Fiestas. There is an even hotter battle in the Classic class; defending champion Bert Murray (Mazda RX7) has an eight point deficit from leader Euan Fuge (Mazda RX3). With six points the difference between first and second place on event, someone needs to wedge in-between to upset the title chase.

In each of the driver categories there is an associated co-driver title, a total of four first place getters - yet to be secured.

The season finale will see all car classes run at the 0800 BOXMAN Rally of Nelson - 30th September 2007.

Vantage Aluminium Joinery 2007 NZ Rally Championship -

Manufacturers: Subaru 329 Mitsubishi 252 Ford 115

Junior: Hayden Paddon 268 Patrick Malley 232 Kirsty Nelson 163

Rookie: Callum McInnes 244 Kirsty Nelson 182 Alister McRae 134

Kiwi-2 Driver: Dave Strong 239 Andrew Keighley 188 Reg Cook 171

Kiwi-2 Co-driver Bruce McKenzie 239 Andrew Keighley 171

ENDS

© Scoop Media