rally ECOSYSTEM
She’s Humming
The rounds have been flowing in short succession and not even enough time to get a word written down in between. Clearly, I ‘ve been having too much fun to report in and cover just how great these rounds have been this year. Seeing the rally whanau, catching up, gear on, race face set. Hello stages, you’re looking good.
Round 3, NCC, Ruarangi Rd, 11-May
Ruarangi Rd loomed and had us literally frothing, this road is iconic and of epic proportion. It’s been a fair few drinks in between since some of us have reacquainted with this roller coaster ride and it did not disappoint, it actually seemed wilder.
Early birds catch worms and also sweet pits parking, which snaked right down to the main roadside. Northland sort of twinkled in the morning sunshine and friendly back pats and banter kicked off the day, then a focus on what it had to offer. After – a freshy brewed hot coffee from the onsite barrister/legends! The reconnaissance run allows a proper stage note check, which is not quite enough speed to know exactly what you’re in for. It’s run 1 when the business begins.
The field hooked in, laying down tracks. It felt skittish underfoot but full send thrilling, the top 16 laying down blistering times and the field notching in their start of day stage slots.
Quentin Palmer, Ben Huband and Sam Broadbent tussled for top 3 fastest time in run 1, in that order. It’s fast and crest commitment really rewards here. We give it a good boot and hook in with the flow of the road, it’s a road that is fairly unforgiving though. Alex Johnstone feeling the pinch of the road early, returning to the finish line looking a little bit second hand in his Mazda 323 after an off-road excursion.
No matter the car, it’s a good ride, just keep it on the tracks! The Dave Strong and Rob Scott combo showed their wealth of knowledge and experience clocking a 3.59 in run 2, just a second in front of Phil Campbell and just behind Quentin Palmer’s 3.56.
Series sponsors Charlie Evans and Jenny Webley also know a thing or two about this road, making their way into the top 8 splits. Another to impress is Jay Pittam’s or is it Freddie, the Subaru Impreza pushing all the way.
At the mid to other end of the field, it’s party time and the game of corners and dips is real. We’re in it for the class battles and have just as much fun as the teams at the pointy end. There’re moments, adrenaline, sideways, swears, pushing and digging deep to find more seconds in this road. Kieran Cornelius was having a great battle in his Nissan Pulsar with John Whooley/Honda Civic and Antony Te Rito/Honda Civic in class C. Russell Jenkins is driving something a little different these days in his Toyota Corolla Sprinter, setting the pace behind the DX Toyota Corolla of Mike Goldsbury in class B. The writer had a little moment over a 6L over crest, an inch or two outta the line and a good ol’ tail slapper keeping Blair Richardson honest in his Mk1 Escort. Blimmey.
Attrition got Sam Broadbent in the Evo 8 suffering mechanical troubles putting him out. Disappointing, as Sam drives at incredible pace, along with Dad Phil Broadbent, and he gives any spectator the big show. Kind of addictive watching you fellas, keep bringing the pace boys.
Run 4 and amazingly, we’re all still on the road, less 2. Everyone’s at their absolute peak to make it into the top 2 then battle for the final runoffs. It’s chocolate fish racing but saying that the competition leading into run 5 is downright fierce – all want to leave their mark. Head down, ears back and in the zone .. Phil Campbell took to pushing hard and ended his run 4 with a 3.48.851 to Quentin Palmer’s 3.48.573, the faintest of margins. The under 4 min club was growing, Carlin Leong/Subaru Impreza and Antony Te Rito/Honda Civic entering the zone in run 4. Kyle Percival continues to impress in his Escort Mk2 tracking well into run 4 and Hibiscus Coast boys Brad Hill/BMW 325i and Kieran Cornelius/Nissan Pulsar were tussling on timekeeping, 4.18 a piece.
The winners and grinners of the day though, Quentin Palmer/Skoda Fabia 3.43, Phil Campbell/Ford Fiesta 3.47 and Charlie Evans/Mazda RX7 3.52. At prizegiving, a feat had been won, Ruarangi Road had been successfully run again. Everyone was upbeat at prizegiving, many competitors and volunteers lucky enough to net an array of spot prizes handed out, compliments of Mary Roestenburg and the support of the local businesses. A very successful days racing.
Photos: Alex Stewart, Stanley B Mans
Round 4, MBoP, Matahina Forest, 1-June
It looked like a straightish piece of road on the Facebook drive-through video MBoP posted up online, and we might have even been a bit meh about it, but this road brought it all to the table. A bit unexpected really, the spoils of the Matahina Forest. We’re really on point with the road selections so far this year and a drive slightly South to the Kawerau region was the setting to this forestry stage, just prime for racing. Some possibly a bit surprised at just how good it actually was.
Carlin Leong took time to give us a writeup and provide insight into this Matahina stage;
Motorsport Bay of Plenty Matahina Rallysprint – from Carlin Leong
Round 4 of the Northern Rallysprint series – Matahina Forest. We watched the video provided by MBOP the week before and the main takeaway from that was that the road was going to be fast! Roll on Saturday night and my co-driver Nathan spotted a post on Facebook, Phil Campbell was looking for a last minute fill-in.
The chance of co-driving for the reigning rallysprint champ in AP4 machinery was too good to pass up, so I gave Nathan some annual leave and he signed up to co-drive both of us for the day. Dang I’m a good boss.
We usually turn up just before doco leaving us no-where in pits to park, so we thought we would change that and turn up 10min after the gates opened. The pits were full! Rally crews get up early huh. Luckily Ben Huband and crew saved us a parking spot, cheers team!
Start run 1,I was car 15 on the road behind good mate Chris Burke in the Castrol Celica, but could go to the start line as soon as Phil dropped Nathan back to the start. As soon as he got in the car Nate started telling me how good the AP4 was. Yes bro I get it you are a big time Cat 1 co-driver now. Had to tell him to zip it because the lights were about to go out. The first open section we were into 6th gear straight away. That will wake you up. Got round well, but was gutted to see Ben and Corinne’s Subaru parked up on the side of the road mid-stage. Fuel issues I think? Timesheet put us in 9th overall, inside the top 16 cut off but with work to do to make top 8.
Second run and there was a lot more grip. The first few crests should have been nearly flat but I still didn’t fully commit to the notes, but we improved enough to jump into 4th spot, making it through to the top 8. Happy days. But we couldn’t let off as there was Phil, Karl, and Jay all within 1 second of us going into the 3rd run and Top 4 elimination. Very close battle!
Run 3, went without issue, car running very well with the new clutch installed the week before. Nathan was calling notes well (as should be expected he got about 10 runs in that day) and we came in with the 3rd fastest time, due to Quentin having an unfortunate spin in the Skoda losing about 20 seconds.
That put us through to the top 4, Phil, Sam, myself and Jay. The gap to the front 2 was too large to close so we focused on the battle with Jay. It was a close-run thing but we had a good run and came out in 3rd overall, a great result for the day considering the quality of the competition.
Phil/Nate and Sam/Matthew had a great battle in the top 2 run-off with Phil and Nate getting the win by under 2 seconds! Great drive by both. Nathan was stoked to get his first rallysprint win and was quick to point out he has won one before I have.
Overall, it was a great day rallying and a well-run event by MBOP in a new venue. Huge appreciation to all the marshals and volunteers for giving up their time so we could go racing. See you at the next one!
Carlin Leong.
Personally, I felt exhilarated at the tail end of this event. It was just a really good days racing. Codrivers were a bit spoilt too getting trophies handed out at prizegiving – I’m not inclined to disagree that us codrivers should get a trophy too, I mean we’re half the business of the racing team for the day. The trek to this event was far but it was 100% worth it. You get out to different parts of NZ you may not frequent often, you support local communities with your presence and spend, and you support your local club and its efforts, mammoth at the best of times, to run really good club motorsport rallying. Tick tick.
Photos: Photography In Motion, John Slater Replay Images
Click for Graham Kite’s VIDEO footage of the event
Round 5, TVCC, Piakonui Rd, 22-June
While the temperatures dipped on the way through the mighty Waikato to this event to -1C at times, we arrived and settled into the pits paddock at the familiar Piakonui Rd, Richmond Downs service park. This event required a large amount of people power to man areas, all being deployed as competitors started cold cars up ready for the reconnaissance run. Notes in hand, the road reprints back on the brain. Narrow, technical, unassumingly tightening corners, safety hay bales at a particular driveway and that 7R over crest stay right, at the end of the stage, whoaaarrrrr.
Run 1 was very slippery, with many struggling for grip. When one is trying to push and set a good start time, it is not ideal fighting for traction, field levelled though. It is disillusioning when you pass a fellow competitor in stage, Phil Broadbent/Toyota Starlet suffering a terminal issue and Brent Milner/Toyota Starlet suffering permanent mechanical damage on this run. The rest of the field juggling into run-time order. Jay Pittam’s/Subaru Impreza came out trumps with a 6.25, followed by Dave Strong/Fiesta 6.26 and Sam Broadbent/Evo 8, 6.33.
Trading identical stage times were George Feast/Subaru Impreza and Harvey Semmens/Escort Mk1 with a 7.00 flat, Murray Preston/Toyota Corolla and Kieran Corneluis/Nissan Pulsar with a 7.07, and David Beaver/Mazda RX7 and Clinton Davies/Evo 6 with a 7.16.
Run two, fresh treads, hmmm .. Many got into the groove and started the battle to shed off seconds. It was skittery but all felt the pinch and drove accordingly. Would fresh treads make the difference here. Sheesh, fresh treads always do the trick but you gotta be wise with their deployment. Matchy matchy stage times started emerging again, top 3 drivers at 6.19 – Ben Huband/Subaru Impreza, Dave Strong/Fiesta & Sam Broadbent/Evo 8, yee haa. Carlin Leong/Subaru Impreza and Charlie Evans/Honda Civic producing a 6.28, Russell Jenkins/Toyota Corolla and John Whooley/Honda Civic on a 6.45, Matt Priest/Toyota Corolla, Jeff Torkington/Toyota MR2, Tony Young/Datsun 1200 and George Feast/Subaru Impreza all trumped a 6.52 and Kieran Cornelius/Nissan Pulsar equaled David Beaver/Mazda RX7 7.01 time.
Ahhh it’s all coming back now, just pin your ears back and get into it, which can be similar to the game plan of any stage really. These roads we race have particular characteristics about them that make them special. They’re very adequate for a rallysprint stage and worth the time taken to drive down to race on them. They have the same barriers, big tree, shady spot, weird bumps and dips they’ve always had but those are the very things that we remember when we think of these roads. They’re the parts that are special that make up the stage. Piakonui Rd has a perfect ‘throw her in’ right hander at the start, great for the spectators and for most to watch at the service area. There’s a very tight right hander that keeps tightening in the first 1/3 of the stage that gets me every time, there’s some good decent straights where on-point notes can keep the speed up right to the very inch of the braking point. The notes mention the white railings – for a reason. There is a story about the hay bales by the resident driveway, feel free anyone to reacquaint us all with who’s corner that actually is, or does it belong to a few? It seems narrow but it actually flows pretty good. I’m slingshot straight back to traditional farm races when I’m racing right next to barberry hedges. The 7R stay right at the end is pretty exhilarating as well, a high-flying finish for an exciting stage.
The winners and grinners of Piakonui Rd 2025, Ben Huband/Subaru Impreza 6.02 and Dave Strong/Fiesta 7.04 in class E, Dave’s Fiesta suffering some sort of engine dislike in the final hurrah. Jay Pittams/Subaru Impreza 6.13 and Darren Hartley/Toyota Celica with a 7.04 in class G, Kylie Percival/Escort Mk2 doing it alone in run 5 with a 6.47 for class H. Charlie Evans/Honda Civic 6.22 vs Jeff Torkington/Toyota MR2 6.49 in class D. Class C had no takers, weird. Class B, Lukas Ramsay/Fiesta 6.30 vs Russell Jenkins/Toyota Corolla 6.36 and Tony Young/Datsun 1200 penned in a 6.48 to Blair Richardsons 7.38 in class A. Good efforts Blair, the unassuming class A cars that can still kick ass and not tire tread.
Overall, Ben Huband/Subaru Impreza, Jay Pittams/Subaru Impreza and Charlie Evans/Honda Civic wrapping up the top spots for the day. We froze our tits off at prizegiving to celebrate the honours. Worth it though to return big kudos to dream team Don and Michele Brunt and all their awesome volunteers at this stella road.
Photos: Geoff Ridder Photography
Click for Graham Kite’s VIDEO footage of the event
What’s up Next?
Round 6, July 27, the deepest of the Winter part, Hibiscus Coast Motorsport Club have their rescheduled round and they’re taking us to a new part of town. North, clearly due to regional locality, HCMC have secured an exciting new venue at Cassidy Road. The regs are LIVE so sink your teeth into this one, enter and boost the numbers into round 6 of this 7-round series.
Supp Regs – Cassidy Rd Rallysprint 27-Jul-2025.docx
The entry fee is fair, poor Neil has to produce yet another set of notes to aid us with our conquest, but we wholeheartedly take our hats off to all the people putting in the hard mahi to make the rally magic happen – thank you!
Round 7, August 17, the final showdown, Hamilton Car Clubs Hoddle Road. The word has been put out there to support the club, get an entry in ASAP so Hamilton Car Club can show their Council just how keen and serious we are to keep racing on the roads we love. Council has very valid concerns, but we have very valid reasons why we NEED to race these roads, so when a Club calls out for support, get right in behind them and do what you can to back them all the way. This road is a perfect finale to an eventful year.
Not to dampen the spirits, there is still a sadness deep inside me that won’t go away. It lingers and resurfaces every so often to remind me of how dangerous our sport is. I know the efforts we put in to make it safe, risk management is evolving, helping us to assess and identify risks. Sometimes I struggle to keep pushing ahead with might and drive knowing what has been lost, it flattens me while I try to promote this series. I know though and am reminded every time I see you all out there, how much we’re tied in and invested to our raw, adrenaline filled, Kiwiana style of Club level rally. We brighten when we see each other, a big group of die-hard fans, keeping the dream real, doing it with passion. It makes me proud as well, to be out there doing it with you. Will never forget and will always do with pride!
An Evening of Prizegiving
On a lighter note, juggle the dates around the Xmas parties’ people, Saturday 29 November is THE DATE to CELEBRATE some big prizegiving’s. The Northern Rallysprint Series is excited to combine with the team from the North Island Rally Series for another big night of spoils together at our favourite, Northern Sports Car Club in Mt Wellington. More details will come closer to the time, the date placeholder has been advised as we’d love to see you all there on the night.
In the meantime, cross pollination is real when you’re invested in rallying in any shape or form and, this weekend it’s Tarmac time at Taranaki’s Tarmac Rally. Then counting down the days to HCMC’s and HCC’s events. Tick tock, on the clock, timecard in hand.
End, Nikki Sim