Consistency proved the winner as Palmerston North's Brian Green and Fleur Pedersen took the honours in the New Zealand championship-deciding Rally Gisborne yesterday.
Green and Pederson, in a Mitsubishi Lancer EVO X, finished over a minute ahead of the field after just over 295 kilometres of the fifth and final round of the New Zealand Rally Championship - of which Green's business is the overall sponsor.
Gisborne combination Marcus Beaufoy and Robyn Hollamby, in a Subaru STi, were fourth yesterday and first in the D class. They were 8mins 5secs behind Green and just 12secs ahead of the next-best combination in their class.
Masterton driver Richard Mason, with wife Sara beside him, led after day one of the Gisborne Vehicle Testing-Waikanae Beach Holiday Park-sponsored rally, securing enough points to wrap up the NZRC overall honours.
He extended his lead after two special stages yesterday morning only for disaster to strike in the 20.57km stage three through Ihungia when he was forced to retire with a clutch problem. Up to then Mason had won the previous six stages.
Green was sitting fifth overall after the first day but was on the pace through yesterday's five special stages in the Tolaga Bay area. He steadily climbed the standings, helped by others falling away.
The retirement of Auckland's Dave Strong (Ford Fiesta S2000) saw Green take the overall lead and he extended his advantage through to the ceremonial end at Reads Quay in Gisborne.
Consistency was key. They were 17th in the first stage and 13th in the stage two but over the last seven stages were never worse than fourth
"We feel very happy and I'm very tired," said Green after the champagne finish that marked his first championship win in New Zealand since 2001.
"The team has worked really hard and Fleur has done a great job in the car
. . . we're extremely happy. Gisborne has always had really good roads. They were smooth and fast but also very tricky - lots of crests, with corners straight after them."
Veteran Green missed the opening two rallies but his performance over the weekend was good enough to place him sixth overall. He was joined on the podium yesterday by Nelson's Ben Hunt and Tony Rawston (Ford Fiesta) in second, with non-championship Cambridge competitors Brent Taylor and Chris Ramsay (Toyota Corolla) third.
Hunt was 1min 2sec behind Green and Taylor 3.47 adrift of the winners.
The 24-year-old Hunt's fine finish, however, earned him the 2WD championship category win, despite missing the first half of the season.
"It was pretty awesome today," he said.
"We had quite a bit to do to try to hold Brian Green off but he got ahead. That's to be expected when you're in a 4WD compared to our 2WD. We are looking forward to next year and seeing what we can come up with."
Rangiora's Matt Summerfield was forced to retire earlier in the day but gained enough points to head off rival Alex Kelsey for the open class 4WD overall title.
Kaiapoi's Marcus van Klink won the historic category after a nail-biting finish. Van Klink retired on Saturday, giving his rivals a chance to leapfrog him, only for main rival Miles McElwain to leave the road and retire. With it went his title chances.
Van Klink was back in action yesterday and had more drama before getting home safely to collect his first championship win.
"We very nearly didn't make it though," he said.
"We had to do the last 10km with no brakes which made it very interesting, especially along those cliff faces."
Re-joining the rally after breaking their front suspension on Saturday, Timaru's Chris West and Palmerston North-based co-driver Chris Cobham set the fastest time in the final three stages in their new Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X.
They also picked up a further three bonus points from the event's "power stage" - the 23.59km Waimata Valley. West finished fourth overall in the championship, having finished only one event this season.
Christchurch's Matt Jansen secured the junior rally championship title and Tauranga's David Holder won the rookie title.
Subaru won the manufacturers crown on 251 points, from Mitsubishi (119) and Ford (80).
- Gisborne Herald
