Surprise Sting In Tail Turns Result Of New Targa South Island Event On Its Head

Aucklander David Rogers and his Temuka-based co-driver Shane Reynolds (Mitsubishi Evo 10) were the toast of New Zealand’s tarmac motor rally community last Sunday evening and Monday morning as word filtered out about the amazing ‘to finish first, first you have to finish’ nature of the pair’s breakthrough major event victory in the Targa South Island event held in the Nelson & Tasman regions over the (Oct 15-16) weekend.

The reason was simple. Up until half way through the second day of competition on Sunday afternoon, the results of New Zealands’s newest Targa tarmac motor rally, the two-day Targa South Island 2022 event , had taken a familiar turn, and – barring a disaster – it looked like early event pacesetters Cam Ross from Welliington and Tauranga-based co-driver Matthew Buer (Subaru Impreza WRX STi hatchback) – who had already won the season-opening two-day Targa Bambina in March, as well as the rescheduled, five-day, 2021 Targa New Zealand event in May were in line for a rare Targa event three-peat.

But it was not to be!

The first surprise wasn’t long in coming either.

First thing Sunday morning and it was Rogers and Reynolds who were quickest through the first special stage, with Ross & Buer losing the first six seconds from their 46.3 second overnight lead, despite still setting the 4th quickest time through the stage.

Not the end of world, true, but when Rogers and Reynolds repeated the exercise on the very next special stage, winning it outright and taking a further 6 seconds out of their overall event lead, alarm bells must have started ringing in the Ross/Buer camp.

The response was immediate, with the Ross/Buer Subaru back on top of the time sheets in the next two stages and the buffer they had built up over the Rogers/Reynolds Mitsubishi Evo 10 had ballooned back out from 33 to 57 seconds.

Then however, it was a case of ‘all change’ as far as the final event podium was concerned

For a start, the next stage, SS12, was won – not by Cam Ross and Matthew Buer, but - by their arch event rivals, David Rogers and Shane Reynolds again. Though they still managed to set the 6th quickest time through the 13.8km stage, the writing was definitely on the wall for Ross, Buer and their beleagured Subaru.

And so it was that the Ross/Buer Impreza finally cried enough 16.4km into the 30.34km penultimate stage, the aptly numbered Stage 13, leaving the way open for event – nay, season – long rivals Rogers and Reynolds to not only add another two stage wins to their eventual tally of six, but also to claim a thoroughly well-deserved outright event win of their own, for a change.

Also out of the running after stopping for good deep in Stage 13 was the new build/old skool tarmac-spec Mk 11 Ford Escort of Christchurch rally man Tim McIver and co-driver Brent Wilson.

Key beneficiaries of these two last minute retirements included - obviously – winners-in-waiting David Rogers and co-driver Shane Reynolds, but also Mike Tubbs and co-driver Richard Scoular (BMW M2) who ended up claiming top 2WD honours after finishing a deeply impressive second overall, and local Classic class pairing Bruce Farley and co-driver Glen Warner (BMW E30 325) who were elevated to a frankly incredible fourth place, just over a minute adrift of local rallying legend Brian Green and his co-driver Fleur Pedersen who were third in a late model Mitsubishi Evo 10.

The two-day Targa South Island 2022 was held over the Sat Oct 15-Sun Oct 16 weekend and comprised of 7 closed road special stages per day (for a total of 237.73km) and 353.63km of touring in-between.

At the end of the first day of competition in Motueka on Saturday Cam Ross and co-driver Matthew Buer (Subaru Impreza WRX STi hatchback) enjoyed a healthy 46.3 second lead over fellow Unlimited 4WD class front runners David Rogers and co-driver Shane Reynolds (Mitsubishi Evo 10 RS).

During the first day both contemporary 4WD cars came under intense time pressure from the purpose-built tarmac-spec 2WD 4-rotor powered Mazda RX8 of Marcus van Klink and his co-driver Matt Richards.

Unfortunately van Klink was forced to retire the car thanks to a persistent engine misfire.

Having no such issues with his recently acquired, MK 2 Ford Escort BDA ’tarmac car’, however, was Tim McIvor and co-driver Brent Wilson who simply got better and better as their day went on, eventually finishing third overall and first 2WD car as well as winning the Nelson One Day Tarmac Rally, an event-within-an-event doubling as a round of the 2022 Mainland Rally Championship, outright.

‘Extremely happy,’ meanwhile, with the way the allied but independently organised and run Vintage Car Club of New Zealand (VCCoNZ) Targa South Island Time Trial 2022 panned out, was its coordinator, Rod Corbett.

“Yes,” he said this week, “It was a hugely successful event with brilliant weather and great roads/venues etc. Over half of the (record 39) entrants this time were new – both to the VCC and the event – with the majority taking the Time Trial very seriously and trying hard to maintain set average speeds and stage times.

“Of particular interest to me is that a significant number of these first timers achieved placings in their respective VCC classes (very much thanks to the timing tutorial prepared by Alise Inger prior to the event and the entrants’ study of it). Also, the VCC group was very social, mixed well together, with the majority confirming that they’ll be back for future.”

The official winners of the Vintage Car Club of NZ (VCCoNZ) South Island Targa Time Trial, with a score of just 57 penalty points were Lyn & Val Scott (Ford Sierra Cosworth). In second place, with a total of 72 points, was Glen Herkt and Kilworth (Alfa Romeo 1750 GTV), while in third place came Wylie & Tim Evans (Lotus Elan Sprint) with 80 points.

Targa New Zealand events are organised by the Ultimate Rally Group with the support of sponsors AndrewSimms.co.nz, Chicane Racewear, Global Security, NZ Classic Car magazine, Race Brakes, Race4Life Trust, Racetech, TrackIt, Vital and Writeraze.

For more information go to www.targa.nz or check out the Targa NZ page on Facebook.

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