A former national hill climb champion, 11-time Otago Sports Car champion and reigning Otago speed champion, Saxton finished the second round of qualifying for the national event in Dunedin at the weekend as top qualifier.
But he is ineligible for the championship because of race regulations concerning the status of his Evo III.
Saxton's vehicle is considered a road car, which does not have some of the fittings required to compete in the national championship round.
At the weekend, Saxton stamped his authority on the field right from the first of three runs over the gravel road section on Saturday.
The 2km Whare Flat course yielded to his skill and power as he recorded a time of 1min 23.68sec on his third and final run of the day.
Saxton was top qualifier in the first run earlier in the day, recording 1min 26.6sec.
Balclutha's Dean Bond (Evo VI) took over the lead in the second, recording 1min 24.6sec, but this just proved to be the carrot Saxton required to clinch the day's honours.
He finished his third run almost a second clear of Bond, with Dunedin's Craig Molloy (Evo III) and Timaru's Lyndon Galbraith (Evo III) tied in third.
The tarmac stage held on the 1.5km Waitati course yesterday had not been used in more than a decade and proved to be technically challenging with its uphill twists and sharp turns.
Dunedin engineer and former Ashley Forest and Bluff hill climb champion Glenn Frew (Evo III) quickly made up for a disappointing result over the gravel stage on Saturday with a seal-burning 35.27sec on his first run, 1.21sec clear of Saxton and 2.28sec clear of his nearest rivals for national qualification, Molloy and Galbraith.
Frew continued to set the pace on his next two runs, clocking 35.26sec and 35.3sec.
Saxton was the only driver to come close, finishing the day with the second-best time of 35.95sec on his third run.
This came as some relief to Saxton who, by his own standards, disappointed on his first run and missed a gear on his second.
Despite Galbraith clocking the third-fastest time of 36.19sec, it was Molloy who finished the weekend as Otago's top eligible qualifier with a combined time over both events of 2min 1.83sec, from Galbraith (2min 1.88sec) and Frew (2min 3.06sec).
Saxton's combined time was 1min 59.63sec.
Of the top eligible drivers, none was ready to commit to the third and final round of qualifying in Westport on February 19 and 20.
The national final is in Christchurch a month later.
