Christchurch's Jeff Judd has one hand on the victory Champagne in the epay Silver Fern marathon car rally after the penultimate day's stages finished in Alexandra yesterday.
Judd leads Paraparaumu's Shane Murland by 2min 19sec going into the final day's 108km of special stages in Central Otago.
Murland made a strong bid to regain the top spot he held for the first four days by nearly halving Judd's advantage as the field tackled six stages in central Southland, having started the day 4min 02sec behind.
Murland was fastest through five of the day's six stages as he held nothing back. Both he and Judd had spins on the back-country and forestry gravel roads, and Judd slid wide, demolishing a letter box on the final stage as he fought back.
The pair have continued to pull away from the rest of the field as their battle for the lead has intensified in their Escort RS 1800s.
Third-placed Geoff Portman, a double Australian champion, is 12min 24sec behind Murland after conceding about 3min 30sec yesterday.
Australian Brad Goldsbrough, in a Datsun 1600 with a 2.4-litre engine, lost the lead in the Challenge event for cars with greater modifications.
Christchurch's Deane Buist, in another Escort, was 38sec faster through the day's first four stages, and at the end of the section at Pyramid, near Gore, after 880km over five and a-half days, he and Goldsbrough were tied.
Over the day's final two stages - 53km between Waikaia and Moa Flat, then 25km at Roxburgh - Buist romped away to take a 1min 31sec lead into the final day.
Andrew Hawkeswood reached his home town of Alexandra in a secure third place, having been faster than the two cars in front of him, but too far back to make much more than a dent in their advantage.
However, there will be some nervous drivers going into the final stages today. There are four stages north of Alexandra in the Omakau, St Bathans and Wedderburn area, followed by the sting in the tail, a double crossing of Duffers Saddle, the highest public road in New Zealand, through the Nevis Valley near Lake Wakatipu.
It is not open to traffic in winter and has some rougher sections which could easily cause punctures, which would be enough to reverse the leading positions as they stood last night.
After that, it is simply a matter of driving to the finish in Queenstown, seven days and 1060km of stages after the event started in Christchurch last Sunday.
