Paddon dominates day one of Rally NZ

Rally New Zealand 2011, incorporating High Octane on Hampton
Media release
7 May 2011

Paddon dominates day one of Rally NZ
Hayden Paddon demonstrated his considerable talent behind the wheel of a rally car during day one of Rally New Zealand 2011, establishing a convincing margin of 2 minutes, 17.3 seconds over Richard Mason and a close-chasing pack.

As top seed for the two-day rally, Paddon led from the first stage of the day. The Geraldine-based Subaru driver, who has just turned 24, was nearly 13 seconds faster through the opening 32.3km Te Akau stage than former New Zealand rally champion Chris West, from Christchurch. Then, with each competitive stage, Paddon, a two-time New Zealand rally champion, added to his leading margin and winning six of the day’s eight stages.

Mason, from Masterton and driving another Subaru, finished the day in second place, just 10.4 seconds ahead of Dunedin’s Emma Gilmour. This pair, along with West and defending champion Dean Sumner, from Taupo, had an intensely competitive day, changing positions on the leader-board behind Paddon. Gilmour held second place until the day’s final super special stage, but a fuel surge meant the Subaru driver lost some time and allowed Mason to take back the runner-up position.

Paddon said he and co-driver John Kennard had a really good day. “It’s fantastic to be in the lead and great to know all the testing we’ve done with the car in recent days has worked.”

With another six stages to run on Sunday, including the iconic Whaanga Coast stage, Paddon acknowledges it’s another big day of competition. “The road conditions should be very similar to today – wet on the road, but fine. However a bit of rain could help us at the front. We’re in a really good position from here.”

Mason, a back-to-back rally champion, said the day was somewhat up and down. “I didn’t make the best choice with tyres in the morning, but was happier with the option we ran this afternoon. We’re a lot closer now and are very happy with the car so we’ll keep things as they are and push on tomorrow.”

The honour of winning the other two stages – both the super special stages at Hampton Downs – went to New Plymouth driver Neil Marshall who is known as a tarmac specialist. Competitors are required to run regular gravel-spec tyres on their rally cars for the high-speed tarmac sprint around nearly two laps of the Hampton circuit. Marshall set two new records for fastest Kiwi on the Hampton special stage on each of his runs, with the Group N Mitsubishi driver ending Saturday with a very quick time of 2:46.7 for the 4.68km stage.

The top five competitors overall – Paddon, Mason, Gilmour, Sumner and West – are also the top contenders in the Brian Green Property Group New Zealand Rally Championship standings. Saturday’s action also involved competitors in the Smartwood by Alpwood Possum Bourne Memorial Rally with Aucklander Kingsley Jones running strongly all day to win the Possum Bourne Memorial Trophy for the first time. Jones also finished the day ninth overall.

The event also involves the Rally New Zealand Historic Rally with Kaiapoi’s Marcus Van Klink in a Mazda RX7 leading this field overnight ahead of fellow Kaiapoi resident Brian Stokes in a Ford Escort RS1800.

Rally New Zealand continues on Sunday with six stages taking competitors to Raglan and Whaanga Coast before returning to Hampton Downs Motorsport Park for the final super special stage.
ENDS

Rally New Zealand: Provisional overall results after day one
Position, Driver/Co-driver, Driver’s Hometown, Car, Total time/Margin to leader
1, Hayden Paddon/John Kennard, Geraldine, Subaru STI, 1:32:47.3
2, Richard Mason/Sara Mason, Masterton Subaru STI, +2:17.3
3, Emma Gilmour/Glenn Macneall, Dunedin, Subaru STI, +2:27.7
4, Dean Sumner/Paul Fallon, Taupo, Mitsubishi EVO9, +2:34.5
5, Chris West/Erin Kyle, Christchurch, Mitsubishi EVO9, +3:12.9
6, Ben Jagger/Ben Hawkins, Whangarei, Subaru STI, +5:25.3
7, Neil Marshall/Richard Carr, New Plymouth, Mitsubishi EVO8, +5:54.6
8, Kingsley Jones/Waverley Nation, Auckland, Mitsubishi EVO8, +8:29.7*
9, Matt Van Tuinen/Nathan Long, Queensland Australia, Subaru STI, +8:54.7
10, Brian Green/Fleur Pedersen, Palmerston North, Mitsubishi EVO10, +9:17.0
* Entrant in the Possum Bourne Memorial Rally which ran for day one of Rally New Zealand only. All others are New Zealand Rally Championship competitors.

Smartwood by Alpwood Possum Bourne Memorial Rally: Provisional overall results
Position, Driver/Co-driver, Driver’s Hometown, Car, Total time/Margin to leader
1, Kingsley Jones/Waverley Nation, Papakura, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 8, 1:38:13.4
2, Lee Robson/Aaron Foss, Howick, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 4, +3:36.1
3, Ben Thomasen/Rachel Pittams, Tauranga, Subaru Impreza, +3:48.1
4, Justin Glavish/Michele Brunt, Warkworth, Toyota Starlet, +4:47.8
5, Paul Muldoon/Dave Devonport, Hamilton, Subaru Impreza, +5:14.4

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