Author: Steve

 

Sunday 22 April, one week after the opening round of the New Zealand National Rally Championship, and prior to this the Thames Valley Car Club were a little apprehensive regarding the entry levels for the rallysprint, and rightly so, it’s a huge problem for clubs running events close to rally dates as it does normally have knock on effects. However, no one need to have worried as 62 crews turned out for round 4 of the ABC Pipefitters Northern rallysprint, the largest number of entries for a round this season.

It’s a hard task for drivers doing the rally Championship to try and get through the Otago rally, then drag their cars all the way back home only to then get them prepared for a rallysprint the weekend after, so congratulations to Graham Featherstone and Anthony Jones, Dave Strong also did the rally but had the luxury of using a different car, but still probably had plenty to do to get prepared, spare a thought to for the guys who prepare their cars. Another huge well done has to also go out to Warwick Redfern, who after a big accident at the Bothwell loop Road Rallysprint also made the event.

So, to the action, and as always at Piakonui there was plenty of it, with many crews having incidents, most of them just the usual spins and overshoots, but there were a couple of more serious incidents, thankfully no one was hurt, although there was one very lucky dog!

Fastest on the first run was Clinton Cunningham in his fiesta, he and co-driver Crunch Bennet must have been relieved to finally make an event, and then to be fastest was the icing on the cake. The gap between Cunningham and the next man was less than a cigarette paper, that man being Graham Featherstone. Warwick Redfern was again pushing hard and took third on this first run.

This first run, for those not in the know, or who don’t understand the rallysprint rules is all about being flat out from the moment the flag drops. The top 16 is the really important run for those guys going for the overall win. So after this first run our top 16 consisted of 7 class E cars, (open 4wd) 4 class G ( classic 4wd) 2 class D ( over 2litre 2wd) 2 class C ( upto 2 litre) and 1 class B ( 1600), Just to put some perspective into whose doing what and who punches above their weight. It’s not that the event is over for those who don’t make the top 16, as these rules also apply to the classes but it may explain to people why one guy may post a faster time than someone else yet appear lower down in the results.

So on this first run you could rightly assume that the 5 cars from the 2wd classes are pretty quick, as there were 14 other 4wd that did not make the cut. Steve Goodare, Charlie Evans, Grant Liston, Craig Stevens and Scott Ogle are without doubt very quick.

The second run saw Graham Featherstone stamp his authority and experience on this event, after all it is his local one. Matt Jensen was the big mover on this run posting a second overall, Cunningham was still there in 3^rd with Redfern holding off Dave Loughlin. But this being the 2^nd run meant that now it was the top eight positions that were the important ones….the pressure now starts. Now we have 7 4wd vehicles and one 2wd in the hunt. That sole 2wd guy being Steve Goodare in his mighty Nissan Sunny.

The third run, and again feathers pulls a few seconds out on the rest, just to keep it comfortable. Cunningham was again the second fastest and must be thoroughly enjoying this event, getting in some much needed seat time, but having the car going so well must also be very encouraging and satisfying. Redfern and Loughlin were the other two chasers in the top four, as now the eight has been cut to four.

Matt Jensen could also have been here such was his speed on the previous run, however a little too hot into a right hander, which did come after quite a long straight saw the Evo pilot make a much published exit from the event. It turned out to be a bit of a humorous exit although really it could have been much more serious, both he and co-driver very lucky not to have a huge bill from one of the residents……not to mention a vet bill.

To be fair to Matt the only escape road once he made the decision he could not make the bend was the driveway of a resident, which he took but was still carrying quite a bit of speed, he could not pull up and ended up hitting a carport, there was a car parked in there and a dog tied to the pole holding up the car port…..the dog escaped un hurt, the residents car was undamaged but the car port did take a little hit!

Now, the really important run, the fourth were we will now be cutting out two more drivers with the two remaining going into a top two run off. Feathers was once again very fast, pulling another second over Cunningham, whom I’m sure would be just glad to be still here, certainly Crunch would be just to justify his time and effort in simply getting to the event. Cunningham just scraped in, holding off a hard charging Redfern to make the top two.

Now, although I,ve taken a different approach to writing this article to what I normally do there has still been plenty of other action within the classes, although no real surprises. What has been encouraging with this series this year is the participation of the “Northlanders”. The Northland Car Club has had quite a few guys register and enter all rounds so far, which has been brilliant for the series. A couple of them are having really good seasons so far, none more so than Brendon Oakden, currently leading the class G. He had a battle on his hands today with local fella Kian Scherer, and had to settle for 2^nd best. But with Scherer not being registered it was back to keeping an eye on Kevin Bennet, which he did and went onto take the maximum points for the class.

The classic 2wd class was taken by Don Needham in his mk2 Escort, it’s his local event but it’s a very deserving win, there’s probably not a more enthusiastic competitor in the series than Dondy. Craig Tickle took the silver with his BMW 2002, and Chris Alexander took the Bronze with his Mk1 Cortina.

Class B, possibly to re named the Toyota class??? Saw Scott Ogle take the win, followed by Justin Glavish and current class leader Russell Jenkins, all in Starlets.

Class C, I was just about to write “ dominated “ by Grant Liston, but Craig Stevens was also present and looking back at the times its apparent that Listo had to work really hard to take the class win, with John Whooley and Ethan O’ Hagen making everyone work hard. Listo 1^st, Stevens 2^nd, With Whooley 3^rd.

Class D, as I mentioned in the last report on the Bothwell Loop this is an awesome class, purely for the cars. Take our top three. Steve Goodare in his Nissan Sunny, not 100% sure of the capacity of this car but its certainly well over 1500cc. Then we have Charlie Evans in his RX7, pure competitiveness…if there’s such a word, then Anthony Jones in his Millington powered Escort, who wouldn’t like this class? Now, just quickly going back to my earlier paragraphs regarding the elimination process and this is a great example of how things work.

Steve Goodare progressed further than Charlie Evans in the overall elimination process, so gets more points on the overall finishing. However once eliminated he still continues in the class, were although he was still fastest on all four runs Charlie kept with him and qualified through the elimination process to meet him in the top two run off….where he beat him, thus gaining more points for the class, but lost out to him in the overall standings.

So getting back to class D results, it was Evans 1^st, Goodare 2^nd and Jonesy 3^rd.

Class A, up to 1300cc. This was won by the reigning champion, Mark Bradly in his 1200 Datsun. Chris Clarke took 2^nd with local hero Murray Brown taking 3^rd in his Nissan sunny.

So, back to that top two run off for the overall. Now normally we would now have a top two run off in all classes, however, as today’s event had a few hold ups at the start, and the field was so big, then add in a couple of holdups due to incidents the top two run off was pulled earlier by the organisers, who judged time was running out regarding road closure, therefore that fourth run was the last run. Thus Featherstone was declared the winner. I must point out that all competitors were made aware of this decision earlier on in the day.

As usual, an awesome event, superbly organised and run by the Thames Valley Car Club. A stunning piece of road, loved and hated by competitors as some found it difficult to get into a flow, others loved it due to its technicality, whatever your take it was a superb event.

 

 

 

BOTHWELL LOOP ROAD RALLYSPRINT.

Sunday 25^th March, and the ABC Rallysprint series moved South to the Franklin district for the Pukekohe Car Club event, The Bothwell Loop Road Rallysprint. Yet another fantastic piece of New Zealand back country road, but one that differs completely from the two previous rounds. Gone were the fast ridge top crests, dips and flowing roads of Northland, now we are into the bush clad, twisty and more technical roads, which I’m sure will be a relief to many drivers who find the Northland roads rather daunting.

However, it certainly did not reflect in the entries, the Car Club must have been very pleased with 60 crews starting the event. On approach to the service area you would have thought that you were at a national rally championship round, such was the mass of rally cars and service vehicles, it looked stunning.

This event did not run last year due to being called off because of bad weather, it has a bit of a clay base on the latter part of the road which does cut up quite easily in wet conditions, so organisers must have been biting their nails in the week leading up to this event as it was raining……and quite a bit did fall from the sky, even on Saturday evening it was still raining. It was a brave decision to announce that it was all still on, and it proved a correct call as Sunday was perfect.

Although the road had not changed too much since it was last used (2016) the scenery had, with extensive logging in the first kilometre or so, allowing better views of approaching cars. Now I,ve just mentioned the change in character of road to the previous two rounds, and now I’m just about to eat my own words. The first few k’s are twisty and through forestry and that lush green bush, before coming out into a tight and twisty ridge top type road with stunning views out to sea. It does not last long before it speeds up, but, it has a couple of very nasty hazards just waiting to catch out anyone who’s not concentrating, once through here it’s a fast approach to a spectator bend, a 90 right then another twisty section, this time all downhill through the farmland and onto the finish.

Reigning champion, and winner of the first two rounds Graham Featherstone lead the field away in trusty Evo 7. Followed by an exceptionally talented field, Matt Jensen, Evo 9, Dylan Turner in his stunning Audi AP4, Warwick Redfern, Evo8, Charlie Evans RX7, Carl Adnitt, RX8 4wd, Grant Liston, Integra, Steve Goodare, Nissan Sunny, Dave Strong, Honda Civic, and so the list goes on. Any rally would be proud of an entry field like this. Once again, every class had enough competitors in to make them all very competitive, and when you consider we have seven classes, that is another huge plus for today’s event and the series.

I have omitted one name, that of Anthony Jones.  Many of you who follow the national rally scene will know of his exploits in his mk2 Escort, well today was the debut of his new Escort…a Millington powered beast, it was stunning, a superb build and probably attracted the biggest crowd at scrutineering, I was certainly looking forward to seeing it in action.

Another superbly built car has also been attracting quite a bit of publicity recently was the 1300cc starlet of Steve Cox,  making his first appearance at a rallysprint. For a 1300cc car it is said to pushing out quite a bit of horsepower, one for the regular class A runners to keep an eye on.

As were on the topic of Class A, we’ll carry on with rundown of the action in this class, four competitors were in attendance today. Last year’s champion, Mark Bradley was now under a bit of pressure due to missing round 1, then posting a DNF at round 2 due to an untraceable electric fault in his normally reliable 1200 Datsun. Chris Clarke took full advantage of this racking up two class wins in his Starlet, throw in the Starlets of Steve cox and young Josh Mckenzie and today’s competition was going to be interesting. Bradley nailed the first run, followed by Clark with McKenzie just nudging out Cox. Then run 2 saw a little drama, Clarke pulled up only a few hundred metres into the run with a vibration on the Starlet, he did drive out a few moments later but took no further part in the event, therefor handing all the points to Bradley as McKenzie & Cox are not registered to the series. Bradley maintained a comfortable lead for the rest of the runs but the two remaining Starlet pilots ended up having a real close battle, with McKenzie just pipping cox to take 2^nd in class.

Fourteen class B runners makes this class super competitive, however current leader Scott Ogle was not attending. Russell Jenkins was the man in 2^nd spot coming into this round but with last year’s champion Mike Goldsbury registering at this round this class battle was now going to become very interesting. The all-female crew of Michelle Brunt and Waverly Jones were now also creeping up the points table due to consistent results, Louis Prouting was also up there in his FX Corolla sitting in 3^rd overall in this class. Lyndsay Homes was also another one to keep an eye in yet another starlet, as was Lukas Ramsey, in fact the list goes on. The scene was set from run one, and it was game on between Goldsbury and Jenkins, Toyota DX V’s Toyota Starlet. Goldsbury had the edge on the four runs with Jenkins just a few seconds adrift. But such is the nature of rallysprinting that this could just be a case of Jenkins playing it cool, knowing from the times of others that he was the only one putting the pressure on Goldsbury, could he pull one out of the bag in the top two run off. Well….he was certainly trying but unfortunately a case of sunstrike when just exiting the forest section caused him to misjudge a slight right, introducing  the passenger side to the local scenery, causing enough damage to go no further, thus handing the class victory to Goldsbury. Lyndsay homes just piped Louis Prouting into 3^rd, but not being registered it was Louis who took a handy haul of points. Michele Brunt took 5^th in class.

Ten starters in class C, another very competitive class and no doubt the battle of this class was Grant Liston v’s Craig Stevens. These two are very close and as always produce  times that normally put them way ahead of fellow class contenders as they become involved in their personal battle, however instead of looking over their shoulders at each other’s times today john Whooley was also attracting their attentions, as he was producing times to have them a little nervous. However, such is the experience and composure of Liston that he maintained a steady lead over Stevens Escort for the first couple of passes. The third run saw Stevens come back a little, 13 seconds was the difference on run 2, this 3^rd run it was down to just under 4. This only motivated Liston to set his fastest time yet on the fourth run, Stevens went with him and maintained the same 4 second gap. Whooley had also set his fastest time on the fourth run, nervous times for Stevens. However as this was the elimination for the top two run off he’d done enough to put himself into the top two run off with Liston, one last go, could he get any closer than 4 seconds? A lot can happen and go pear shaped quite easily when you’re flat out and pushing to gain a few extra seconds. Just look at the class B run off. Well, Stevens knocked 5 seconds off his previous time, but Listo, the cunning buggar also knocked a couple of seconds off his previous time, producing a 5:48.69, Stevens was on 5:50.69. John Whooley held onto 3^rd in class for the day, but due to Stevens not being registered he took some valuable points for 2^nd place. Rob Sutherland took 3^rd in class for the series in his very smart Vauxhall Chevette.

Class D, over 2 litres and still 2wd. This is a great class as the cars here are getting to the big boppers class, here today we have another very competitive class with 8 cars, and 7 of them registered to the series, the odd one out being Chris Ramsay, but as he’s normally co driving for his son Lucus, who is registered in class B, I guess we could let him off. The experience within this class is exceptional both Charlie Evans and Steve Goodare are ex Rallysprint Champions, Dave Strong needs no introduction as he’s been around since rallying was born. Chris “Rambo” Ramsay was well known for his exploits in exceptionally fast Starlets, Anthony Jones is more of the Modern era and very fast in his MK2 Escort, he is the reigning NZ open 2wd champion, he’s out today in an even faster example, that being his newly built Millington powered Escort.

It was Steve Goodare who set the pace on the opening run in his Nissan Sunny, and it was an impressive start, 10 seconds ahead of the next guy, that being Dave Strong In his Civic, followed by Charlie Evans in his RX7, Jonsey was just half a second adrift.

This being the first run its often hard to gauge exactly how you’re going, your opponents could be adopting tactical decisions, tyre budgets often come into play, learning the road and your interpretation of the pacenotes is also a major obstacle, but whatever it takes it certainly makes the competition very interesting. This class battle in particular demonstrates this. Goodare and Evans as mentioned prior are both ex champions, they know what it takes so it’s no wonder these two ended up going head to head. Goodare was again fastest on the second but Evans had closed the gap quite significantly, the third run and again it was Goodare, as was the fourth, but only just. But now were into the top two run off and one last go for Evans, and wouldn’t you know it, he stopped the clock on 05:43.70 with Goodare on 05:46.11.

Dave strong came very close with his times but today had to settle for 3^rd in class, Rambo netted 4^th with Jonesy 5^th. A trio of BMW’s were next, Doug Adnitt, Paul Rogers and McCrae Sloper kept the flag flying for the guys over the bridge.

Whilst on the topic of the Northland based drivers it was Whangarei’s Brendon Oakden who took victory in the 4wd classic class “G”. Taking his trusty Subaru Imprezza to another class win over kevin Bennets Toyota Celica GT4. However it was Bennet who set the fastest time on the first run before Oakden hit back on the 2^nd, only for Bennet to again hit back on the 3^rd before Oakden took the 4^th, leading us into an intriguing top two run off. This “tit for tat” battle was always pretty close but in this run off Bennett’s Celica was overheating, he did make the finish but was losing power towards the end. Taking nothing away from Oakden, it was a great result, especially when this was his first visit to this event. Richard Gore took 3^rd in class in his Evo1 with Gary Agnew 4th in an Evo 2.

Now the classic 2wd guys. Down on a few numbers at this event but take nothing away from those who were present here today. It turned out to be to be Craig Tickle’s BMW 2002 V’s the Escorts of Don Needham, 2ltr MK2. Brian Best, Rover V8 MK1 Escort, and Grant Patrick in another MK1 Powered by a rather special 1700 X/F.

The opening run saw Needham with a flyer, some 14 seconds ahead of Tickle, the second run saw a massive fight back from Tickle, coming within 2 seconds of Needhams time. The third run saw Tickle take it by 30 seconds! So what happened, had Needham gone off, he certainly came past me on this run although the car was sounding a little strange.

The reason, a sticking, or should I say stuck throttle cable, and the only way the crew could get round was to use the cut-off switch as a brake…..and accelerator. Which proved for a very interesting run for co-driver Wendy, she ended up a nervous wreck at the end of the run. Don would yell out when to switch it off or on, considering how many braking points and acceleration points there are, not to mention large banks, ditches, trees and a few rather large drop offs you could imagine the language, tension and sheer frustration in the cockpit…..i’d love to see some in car footage! They managed to get through unscathed but were pretty lucky with having such a small field in the class as earlier events may well have seen them eliminated.

The pair regained their composure for the fourth run and set the fastest time again, Tickle was next which obviously put them into one last head to head in the run off. Both improved on their fourth run times but for Tickle it wasn’t enough, Don stopping the clock with a 06:00.31 and Craig 06:07.95.

Now, to the big boys class, the open 4wd. Graham Featherstone has taken two from two prior to this round, Matt Jenkins has pushed him extremely hard, Warwick Redfern has been driving tremendously but suffered somewhat due to a few organisational errors. Scott Rutherfod has been very threatening, Carl Adnitt in his RX8 4wd and Bevan Wilson in his BMW 4wd (Both Rotarys) are also more than capable of applying pressure. But, at today’s event we also had Dylan Turner turn up and register to the series in his Audi AP4. So, anyone’s game!

It was Turner who set the pace on run 1, followed by Jensen & feathers. Jensens turn on run 2 to top the table, Turner, then feathers followed. Jensen maintained his lead in the Evo9, but by now the times were all getting extremely close between these three, sadly others were not quite on the same pace, although it did not stop them trying. When standing out in the bush and watching these guys come through its quite unbelievable the pace that everyone hurtles along at, if this is clubman and grassroots motorsport then it’s in a pretty healthy state.

By the 3^rd run the big three were all within a second of each other, so as we go into that all important 4^th run and the final elimination who would you put your money on?

Well, Feathers has won 2 from 2 so I guess he’s the favourite, he amazingly pulled out a 4 second lead on Turner & Jensen which elevated him into the run off. But what of the two others…..would you believe it…05:32.01 to Turner and 05:32.16 to Jensen. So there we have it Feathers V’s Turner for the run off and ultimately for the overall victory.

Before we go into this run off I must go back to a point I made a few paragraphs back regarding the speed, commitment and sheer determination of some drivers to really try and give it a good go. Spare a thought for Warwick Redfern, he has not had the best season results wise, but he turned up today prepared to still give it a good go, and although off the pace of the above three he still pushed hard. He is a past triple winner of the series and knows only too well that anything can happen to anyone in front of you, and if you’re pushing doors can open for you. He was doing just that on run 4, were he had got himself into the top four elimination fight. At around the midpoint of the stage you exit the bush clad roads and venture out onto a ridge type of road, it’s only short but very fast, and as usual it has its hazards. There’s a slight crest with a rock face on the right, the rock or cliff face is so embedded that it also protrudes through the road surface and creates a nasty little bump, which at speed can catch you out (ask Clint Cunningham, as he ripped a wheel off here at the last event). Redfern was attacking and pushing pretty hard, clipping both the inside cliff face and bump in the road, it catapulted him off immediately into the paddocks via the farmers fence…..i must add that this paddock was a good few metres below the road. Immediate suspension damage made the car uncontrollable, he was very lucky not to roll, instead staying on all four wheels before coming to a stop some 30-40 metres down the paddock. Very unlucky, but very lucky to escape with no injuries and who knows, had he completed the run it could have had him in the top two, that we will never know but we do know that he was giving it a good go.

So, back to that all important top two run off. Could the new boy to the series upset the favourite at his first attempt or could Feathers hold his nerve, push hard enough and make it 3 from 3. By now both will be aware of Redferns incident and you don’t know if they think about it when approaching the spot. Anyhow, they both made it through unscathed with Feathers stopping the clock on 05:24.79 and Dylan on 05:25.74….unbelievably close yet again, what an event!

Feathers takes the overall victory for the third time in a row, Dylan takes 2^nd with Matt Jensen taking 3^rd.

Hi Everyone,

WOW! What an event, once again ending in total chaos. Prior to writing this I did have a bit of a think as to whether I should mention exactly what happened, but it didn’t take long to realise, hell yes, it happened so why not.

Im not going to dwell on the topic, but some miss communication, miss understanding and some very old, laid back rallysprint regulations led to a few very unhappy competitors at the end. Certain procedures were not carried out in the way in which they should have been, however it’s not in our rules so what can I say, it is in the motorsport NZ rules but as mentioned above, miss understanding & communication  led to confusion regarding the final results.

It’s been a lesson learned by everyone involved, it won’t happen again and already the rules are being re-written to avoid such chaos. Apologies have been made, so let’s get on with it.

So, I’ll start again, WOW! What an event. 53 cars lined up at the Paparoa showgrounds for this event, and at documentation we had yet more registrations to the series. The numbers are fantastic but, I must say that it does put pressure on organisers.

Arcadia road was in stunning condition, recently re-graded…..not by the council but by a logging company! The event was running in the opposite direction than the previous year, which means it starts off with a very twisty downhill section on to a Hairpin bridge, once off here it starts to climb a little before another twisty section, on exiting this section it again climbs and starts to get really fast as you traverse the ridge tops, there is a junction but it’s almost flat and from here is even faster before descending a little via another twisty section and down onto the valley base with another fast sprint before climbing through a few tight lefts & rights before hitting the finish line at the top of the hill. The fastest run of the day produced a 5:02.580.

Graham Featherstone led the field away and set the pace on this first run, but Warwick Redfern decided to try and match him, he almost did with both of them stopping the clock on the same minute & second, just a cigarette paper splitting the two, both guys in Evo’s. The next fastest time on this first run went to Steve Goodare in his Nissan Sunny, a stunning time in a 2wd. Scott Rutherford and Matt Jenson made the Evo sandwhich complete coming in 4^th & 5^th.

We,ve quickly done the top five, but the next three cars were all 2wd, such is the competitive nature of this series, with seventeen  4wd cars at today’s event it just shows how hard these guys are going. Scott Ogle in a 1600cc Starlet, Grant Liston, Honda Integra and Charlie Evans, RX7 were really giving it to the big boys.

For some reason today’s event did not seem to flow as it had done on previous years, a couple of residents wanting access, and a breakdown on run one soon started putting the pressure on the organisers. (Due to such a big field)That first breakdown was Paul Fraser, a pretty terminal engine problem on the VR4, his second DNF in two rounds. Roger Goss, RX7 V8 broke down on run 2 , however he did get going and completed a 3^rd run. The other time consuming delay was that of Rob Connell, who rolled his Rotary powered mk1 Escort on the first bridge. Both Crew were ok but the Escort, although driving out actually looks pretty bad.

Run two saw Featherstone absolutely smash his first run time, taking a massive 16 seconds off his time, that in anyone’s books is absolutely flying. Matt Jensen and Scott Rutherford were again on the same time albeit a one hundredth of a second difference in Jensen’s favour, but they were 8 seconds adrift of Feathers. Goodare and Redfern were very similar, but only one second adrift of Rutherford & Jensen so you can see how competitive this is. Feathers has the edge, others are close to each other but finding it hard to get close to our leader, Goodare is driving out of his skin in a 2wd car. The other 2wd guys are still performing way above their fighting weights and are well within the top ten.

But run three was to be the final one, apart from those battling for the top two run offs, this was to be the final run of the day due to time restrictions on the road closure.

Featherstone once again showed his class knocking another 6 seconds of his previous time, but this time Jensen gave Rutherford the big flick and took feathers on, coming to within a second of him, so it was pretty obvious that the top two run off was now defiantly going down to the wire. With Steve Goodare putting in a stunning driving performance all day he was naturally going to be in the top two run off for the D class cars, but who would be joining him?

Class D has a very competitive field, ok we have Goodare in stunning form, but just look at the other contenders, Charlie Evans, Anthony Jones, and Dave Strong. There are plenty of others but to be honest they really are up against it. Doug Adnitt is not slow, he has plenty of experience but was struggling to keep his BMW in touch with the four drivers ahead of him. It was Charlie Evans who managed to keep everyone at bay, and so elevated himself into another intriguing top two run off.  Charlie managed a pretty respectable time, although it was not as quick as his 3^rd run, Steve managed to maintain his composure and take the class victory by 4 seconds. Anthony Jones secured 3^rd in class in his mk2 Escort.

Class C. At the previous round, Ruarangi road it was Alan strong in his Nissan Sunny who gave Grant Liston the hurry up! At this round it was no different, although on this occasion he was not quite as close as at Ruarangi, Listo was quite comfortably in control here and took the class victory. However, Strong is not registered, so although giving Grant a little nudge it was Listo’s old mate John Whooley in his Civic who was breathing down his neck for series points.

Class B. Well, anyone following this series knows that if one Scott Ogle is on the entry list then they have a battle on their hands to do anything about it. Sure he could have a breakdown or an off, but we are still in Northland and he rules up here. He was the fastest in class on every run and inevitably took the class win……and 6^th overall, and in a relatively basic 1600 starlet. Russell Jenkins, also in a Starlet tried his best and to be fair was quite a few seconds ahead of Ricky Suttons DX Corolla but there was little he could do, Scott some 13 seconds ahead on the top two run off.

Class A, well this has been all Mark Bradley over the last few years, his dominance has been quite remarkable, no one ever comes close to him. He’s got his little SSS Datsun really flying. He’s had the car since buying it off Reg Cook many, many years ago and he’s been developing it ever since. However, Chris Clark is trying his best, and at this stage he’s leading this class. Mark missed the first round, and after one run at today’s event, which was a pretty quick one, he retired. The pressure is now on both guys, as if Chris keeps turning up and finishing, then mathematically Marks in trouble! No pressure Chris or Mark.

Now, the classics and class H 2wd. This class has steadily been growing over the past few seasons and now we have a very good, competitive class with 8 registered drivers this season, more than enough to have a few good scraps. At today’s event we did have a couple missing, but it certainly did not detract from another good battle. Barry Gibbs took his mk2 Pinto powered Escort to a class victory, followed by Craig Tickles BMW 2002. Don Needham could possibly be classed as the most unluckiest class contender at today’s event. We are often accustomed to competitors either going off or breaking down, but Don’s retirement was quite un usual. After having a car overhaul and a new engine it must have been gut wrenching to be told by a marshall that he cannot continue until his door handle mechanism is fixed and working correctly. As mentioned earlier Rob Connell also retired after rolling. With Round one front runners Richard Harding and Garry Wainwright absent from this event it was a great opportunity for others to gain some ground in the point’s championship within this class. Coming in third on the day was the immaculate mk1 Escort of Ian Chase, but not being registered to the series this gave Brian Best, mk1 V8 Escort and Chris Alexander, mk1 Cortina those much needed points.

The other Classic Class, G for the older 4wd went to Brendon Oakden, who certainly out on the stage is great to watch, and as with round 1 he found another fence to attack, no damage done to the Impreza as he took the maximum points for this round. Second in class was Kevin Bennet in the Celica. Gavin Barton brought his VR4 home for a 3^rd in class, just behind him we had the Evo 1 of Richard Gore, Roger Goss was next in a very different RX7 V8. However none of these last three were registered for the series, therefore giving the next placed guy, Gary Agnew the points for 3^rd. Im not sure what was wrong with Gary today as he’s normally quite a bit faster, I know he was a late entry so perhaps a few problems with the car.

So, getting back to that final Class E run off, and the overall victory. It could not have been any closer, feathers stopped the clock on 05:04.521. Matt Jensen was 05:04.550, unbelievable from the pair of them, stunning driving and out on the stage they spectacular to watch, as were many others, Redfern, Goodare, Evans, Jones and Ogle just a few to spring to mind.

Round 3 is going to be another cracker, the Bothwell Loop Road is another stunner of a road, the points tables are starting to heat up, the competition is certainly very competitive and so this next round is one I can’t wait for, Sunday March 25^th, hosted by the Pukekohe Car Club.

 

 

Hi Everyone,

 

Well, were do I begin? What an event!

It was decided back in August 2017 at a rallysprint convenors meeting that the 2018 season would be brought forward to try and avoid the winter weather conditions that caused havoc with the 2017 series. It was an unusual decision that raised a few eyebrows and one that could well backfire. The first round of the 2018 series was due to kick off at Trigg Rd. in Huntly on the 10^th December 2017, It did not happen, due to a council mix up.

At that same meeting all clubs put their dates on the table, all was agreed and with the first round not making it, the second round  now became the opening round of the 2018 series, and what a beauty, Ruarangi Road. Hosted by the Northland Car Club this has always been a great event, the road is simply one of the best stretches of gravel road any were in New Zealand, many will disagree until they have done it! It is simply a Rollercoaster Road, one that requires immense bravery to be competitive.

The major concerns regarding moving the season forward was that people would not have time to fix up their cars from their previous campaigns, especially with the major holiday season just finishing, well what a load of rubbish. Just short of 60 cars turned up to start this event with 49 drivers signing up for the series and 25 signing up for the Suspension Tech co-drivers series, that’s 74 competitors in total, quite amazing for a clubman’s series.

The next hurdle was one that caused havoc last season, the weather. We are slap bang in the middle of summer, we have just had a spell of stunning weather but wouldn’t you know it……rain was forecast for this weekend, unbelievable! We had some decent showers in the week prior to the event, they cleared but with Ruarangi rd. being along the ridgetops it does dry out pretty quickly and at this stage nothing was of any concern, Sundays forecast was of more concern…..rain. It did rain, mostly light drizzle with plenty of breaks in between, the wind was warm and so once again it was of little concern, more an irritation.

The event was superb, the road amazing and the commitment and pace of all crews was incredible, however, the event did finish under a bit of a cloud with quite a bit of controversy, we will return to that later but it has effected this report as I can only go of what we witnessed throughout the event and what the timecards say.

So, to the action and how the day wet. As mentioned above the pace was incredible, absolutely incredible, every crew should be proud of what they achieved and I think there was only one minor off recorded when Brendon Oakden crossed the finishing line a little too quickly, as it was the finish line his time was still a good one and did not affect his position, rear quarter panel damage to his trusty Subaru was sustained, but nothing major. Although several crews did have moments and scared themselves silly, some of those crests testing both drivers and co-drivers to their limits.

This event can be run in both directions, the Northland Car Club often change from year to year, this year we are running “clockwise “often a more favoured option from the drivers as it’s deemed a little safer and flows a little better.

So, to the much anticipated first run of the 2018 Series. Reigning champion Graham Featherstone was first on the road, and as mentioned above his commitment and speed was second to none, you would not think that this was his first run for quite some time, several other competitors throughout the classes were as impressive. Matt Jensen has competed on the odd event within the series over the past few years but today he signed up and must be one of the favourite to put the pressure on Feathers, again he was extremely impressive on his first pass. Next on the road was Carl Davies in the Toyota AP4 car, fingers crossed he can sort out last season’s teething problems, judging by todays performance I’d say things are moving in the right direction. Now if I had to give a 10 from 10 to anyone for commitment on this first run it would go to two guys, one I’ll get back to in a moment but the other was the next guy on the road. He’s no stranger to this event, or this series but today he really was driving out of his skin, Warwick Redfern, a three times rallysprint champion and looking like he wants no 4. Last season Warwick was running the ex-Dylan Turner Evo, it took some time to adjust and fine tune man and machine, but I think he’s there. Completing the top five starters was local guy Bevan Wilson in his home built special BMW triple Rotary 4wd, and a little like Warwick he’s had to spend plenty of seat time developing, adjusting, re-developing and so on until he’s got it just right to be in a position to top challenge for some top results, again judging by his speed on this first pass he’s there.

There were many other impressive drivers just as committed as our top five runners throughout the various classes, but as I mentioned above there was another 10 from 10 on this first pass. Richard Harding, running a MK2 Rotary Escort in the classic class was awesome, I believe he did have a spin at the spectator point but his style and commitment was pure Escort vintage from the old works days. We will continue with class H now that were here.

This event we have seven entered for the class, with all being registered for the series. We have a Rotary powered Mk1 & Mk2 Escort, an RX7, a BMW 2002, a pinto powered 2 litre MK2 Escort, a very smart MK1 GT Cortina being piloted by Chris Alexander of Suspension Tech, sponsors of our Co-drivers championship, and a complete newcomer to the series, Brian Best in a superb Mk1 Escort V8.

I’ll not beat around the bush with this class as Richard was simply on fire and was a comfortable 10 seconds per run quicker than the rest of the chasing pack, hence a class H victory and a very creditable 10^th overall. It was the other MK2 Escort of Barry Gibbs who led the chasers, again watching out on the stage Barry does not lack commitment, throwing the car around in similar style to Richard. The power of the Rotary V’s Pinto perhaps having a significant edge, especially at such an event as Ruarangi Road. Gary Wainwright took 3^rd in class in his RX7, and was not far off Barry’s pace, just a couple of seconds between them all day.

Craig Tickle, BMW, Rob Connell Rotary MK1 Escort, Brian Best MK1 V8 Escort and Chris Alexander in the Cortina came in this order, all picking up valuable points for the series and with five more to go it’s very encouraging to see that there’s going to be plenty of battles to come in the classics this season.

Keeping with the classics we move onto G Class for 4wd classics. This was introduced last season as a trail class to fall into line with some of the rallies. It’s not been a massive overnight sensation but there’s still sufficient interest to give it another go this season, and we have 4 signed up at this stage for the series, today’s event had 6 in total running in the class. Local lad Brendon Oakden was the pacesetter here in his Impreza, leading the class by quite some margin on every run. However he almost threw it all away on the fourth run, going off over the finish line, the car survived albeit with some rear quarter panel damage, nothing too major which allowed him into the top 2 run off against the Celica GT4 of Kevin Bennet. Oakden maintained his pace here to take the class victory, and such was his pace, combined with the rallysprint elimination process this also gave him a 2^nd overall. 3^rd in the G Class was another local guy in his first ever rallysprint, so a very creditable result for Steve Hart in an impreza. Grant , Mitsi Evo took 4^th, but with Hart not registered to the series Agnew nets 3^rd in class for the series points. Another registered driver took 5^th in class on his first time out in a 4wd. Paul fraser normally runs the very smart ex-Rossendale BDA Escort, but on his bucket list is a little rallying in a 4wd, so today he was out in a Mitsi VR4, electrical problems caused a DNF on the third run, ending his day. Richard Gore brought his Evo home in 6^th in class.

Unfortunately, and very disappointing class A has so far only one registered driver, that being Chris Clark in a Starlet, I know there’s a few others still to register and a date clash for our Class A champion Mark Bradley unfortunately caused him to miss this event, he should be back on board for round 2. Chris did manage to complete all runs and take maximum points for the series, beating a few cars in classes above him. But the real benefit here is that although it’s only round 1 it now puts the pressure on Mark Bradley. Chris and his starlet are normally very consistent campaigners and should they go on to finish all events then with the points structure the way it is it’s going to be very difficult for anyone to catch him…….watch this space!!

Class B, what a great turnout, 12 cars at today’s event with 10 of them registered for the series, so this one’s looking like it’s going to be super competitive season. Anyone running in class B that see’s the name Scott Ogle on the entry list knows what’s in store, especially up here at Ruarangi Road. I’ll not beat around the bush, but if you can match Scott you know you’ll be picking up trophies, points and will have had a great day. To say he’s fast is an understatement, the first run and he was fastest overall, quite a feat in a pretty basic 1600 Starlet. He’s registered to the series and with round 2 being based in the Northland area it’s a pretty fair call to say he’s not going to be beaten there. But, this is a series, were consistency pays off, nothings certain and with 5 rounds to go I’m sure come the end of the season things will be very tight in this class. Russell Jenkins, again in a Starlet took 2^nd in class, nudging Scotts father, Brian out of the way by just 3/10ths of a second. This battle, Jenkins V’s Ogle senior was perhaps the best scrap of the day within the competition. Russell stormed ahead opening a lead of 5 seconds, only to have Brian close the gap on every run till it came down to that fourth run were the top two was to be determined, as eluded to above 3/10ths of a second separated them at this stage, quite unbelievable, we could have had an Ogle V’s Ogle run off. But it does not end there, in fourth place was Andrew Philips with his Toyota Levin, being co driven by Todd Ogle, who ironically is building a Levin himself…..who knows how class B will look at next years event?

With having so many registered competitors in this class it’s certainly going to make the season interesting and consitenancy will be the key word. Those competitors travelling up from further down country to this event, and hopefully round 2 will certainly be putting themselves in strong positions for the rest of the season. It was great to see the Motorsport Bay of plenty have john –Paul and Kristi Van Der Meys make the long trip North with their Honda CRX. The Thames Valley Car Club was also very well represented. I must mention the starlet crew of Michelle Brunt and Waverly Jones, it’s been a long time, infact I don’t ever remember seeing an all-female crew in the rallysprint series before, there’s plenty of experience here as both ladies are well experienced within the sport as co-drivers. A mention also for LuKas Ramsay and Bryn Jones, both very young lads making their debut seasons in the series, so well done and good luck for the rest of the series.

Class C. Grant Liston has dominated this class over the last few years and with no disrespect to any other class C runners his task this year has been made a little easier with the deflection to class D by Charlie Evans. At today’s event Grant did have some pretty good competition within the class, Alan Strong, Nissan Sunny and Chris Ramsay, Corolla are both pretty quick drivers. “Rambo” has not seen this road for years, maybe even his first time, he did get a fair look at it though as he was also co driving for his young fella, LuKas. Alan is a local and has been over this road many, many times. However neither of them are registered to the series, therefore easing the competition on Grant. The gaps on the first couple of runs were quite enough not to trouble Grant, but the 3^rd run saw Strong get a little too close for comfort, causing Grant to put the pedal to the metal a little more on the 4^th run. This run saw Strong improve yet another 8 seconds from his previous one, Grant was still too quick, although it makes the top two run off a little more interesting. Could Alan put enough pressure on grant to cause a mistake? Out on stage you couldn’t pick anything visually between them, Grant was his usual neat, tidy and very precise, as was Strong but you could see that he was trying just that little bit more than the previous runs, a touch more aggressive into and out of the junction. As the times stopped Alan was the closest he’d been all day to Grant, but still just not quite enough. Grant’s time was 3.44.8, Alan’s 3.48.0. Rambo had to settle for 3^rd in Class.

But, as mentioned neither 2^nd nor 3^rd placings at today’s event meant very little to the series contenders, which means the Hamilton crew of Ethan & Shayne O’Hagan, who came in 4th in class in their Corolla actually picked up some very valuable points for 2^nd in the series class. John Whooley, Honda Civic took the points for 3^rd, after finishing just behind the O’Shanes. Again, this class has plenty of competitors in, and finishing behind the guys mentioned above we had Tim Hood, Starlet. Daniel Alexander, Starlet. Harvey Semmens, Escort mk1, and Ray Chubb, BMW 318Ti, all registered to the series.

Class D, and what class at today’s round, just look at some of those names, especially the top 6, Charlie Evans, Anthony Jones, Doug Adnitt, Steve Goodare, Barry Armiger and Dave Strong. Who could pick a winner out of these, plenty of talent and plenty of extremely well prepared cars. Apart from Armiger all are registered to the series, plus another four in this class are also registered, so that’s 10 in the class, with 9 registered, making for another very interesting and competitive class for the series.

Steve Goodare, Nissan Sunny, made a welcome return to the series and started off with a fastest time of the class on the first run, although a moment very close to the start line almost cost him dearly (caught on Tracy’s footage, I missed it, as I was running, Steve has a history of trying to run me down….nothing has changed). Charlie Evans, RX7, was also very wide on the same bend, almost clipping the fence on the exit. Barry Armiger, RX7 was the nearest to Steve just 1 second adrift. Run 2 was basically the same, both these guys under the 4 minute mark, it was not until the 3^rd run did anyone else break that 4 minute barrier, that being Dave Strong with his Honda Civic type R. Unbelievable both Steve & Barry actually tied on this run. Charlie Evans was struggling a little to now match the pace, however this is rallysprinting and Charlie is a cunning old buggar, I guess another word could be experienced, he is a past champion and knows all about the elimination process. We are now approaching the 4th run, were the two fastest proceed to the top two run off to determine who takes the class victory. It was this run were Charlie played his joker, breaking the 4 minute barrier, infact smashing it, leap frogging both Armiger and Strong to secure the run off spot against Steve.

Charlie’s previous best was a  3:48.7. Now I’m not sure what happened, if anything, but once again Charlie improved by another 7 seconds, were Steve actually dropped almost 10 seconds giving Charlie a well-earned class Victory and 12^th overall. Barry Armiger held off Dave Strong to take 3^rd in class on the day, but not being registered to the series this gave Dave Strong the points for the series. Doug Adnitt took 5^th, with Anthony Jones 6^th. All other finishers were also registered to the series, so although not really featuring in the podium spots there’s going to be great competition come mid-way through the season once the points start getting allocated, you won’t want to miss a round as this class is going to be very competitive.

So, back to the Class E, and overall spots. As mentioned earlier in this report some of these guys were on fire with their pace, and this is where a little confusion creeped into the event, times were not matching up. It’s still not 100% clear as to exactly what happened but a few competitors were not happy, and this is where I’m going to leave it as there are procedures and rules to follow in such circumstances. We will stick to the results supplied by the organisers and what actually happened on the day. All I can add is that I hope in future guys pay more attention, Prize giving is part of the event, putting your car on the trailer and going home, and then complaining a few days later is not the correct procedure.

So back to the action, the 4 minute barrier on this road seems to be the target, if you’re under this you’re going pretty well. Warwick Redfern, Evo 8 and Karl Adnitt, RX8 4wd were the only ones to do so on the first run in this class, a couple of the 2wd guys managed to do this, showing that perhaps a few of the class E guys were caught napping. However, this was a wake up call for them. Run 2 saw a few more make the cut, Graham Featherstone and Carl Davies were added to the list, great to see Carl now challenging for the fastest times, last season was a difficult time for Carl, development with the Toyota AP4 proving costly and frustrating, let’s hope this season proves more rewarding.

It was this run 2 that seemed to be the “Trouble area”. Rallysprint is an elimination competition and as I mentioned above a few 2wd guys were really pedalling hard, setting times that were mixing it with the class E guys, thus when the overall elimination process started dwindling down (16-8-4-2) several guys uncharacteristically missed out. These guys however were still well in contention for class positions, so all was not lost!

The competition carried on, with Warwick posting the fastest time of the field on the 3^rd run, followed by feathers then Matt Jensen in his Evo, Carl Davies and Carl Adnitt rounding off the top 5. So we are now heading into the 4^th  run were the two quickest runners of this class will proceed to the top two run off for the grand final….!!….of the class.

For the overall win we have Graham Featherstone (as he was the fastest on the 4^th run) V’s a Class G driver, that being Brendon Oakden. Rather a strange scenario and one I have never come across before, but there you go! Making the class E run off up against feathers was Warwick, Feathers posting a 3: 38.4 against Warwicks 3:39.4.

So a bit of a strange one. Warwick drove his arse off, looking either really committed or really pissed off, whichever, it was not quite enough. He posted a 3:34.3, against Feathers time of 3:34.1….unbelievable, extremely close and fantastic to watch out on the stage. Incidentally, Brendan Oakdens time up against Feathers for the overall was 3:44.1….some 10 seconds adrift, and 9 seconds adrift of Warwick….!!!

Now, to summarise this event, it was in fairness an absolutely brilliant occasion, extremely well supported, a stunning location, well organised, albeit with a little grey area, plenty of spectators at the junction, in fact for the level of competition you could not wish for better.

What is apparent, are the standards that are being set, the series is growing, and it is without doubt becoming very competitive. We now have more females becoming involved due to the co-drivers championship, (Thanks to Suspension Tech) and all in all it is THE BEST it’s been for quite a few years. We need to keep developing and improving, and now that we have a co-drivers series I hope the co drivers can be a little more vigilant and not only steer their drivers around the stage but also check out their times more thoroughly and follow through on procedures if they feel times are wrong, it’s not uncommon to have re-runs as incidents, accidents and general mistakes are occasionally made.