News

Taylor takes second successive Gisborne rally win

Havelock North based Stewart Taylor made good on his intention to win Saturday’s 10 September 2011 Gisborne Vehicle Testing Rally, taking his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X to a three minute 28 second margin over second placed Hugh Spence from Gisborne in a Subaru STI.

Covering six gravel road stages through the remote and rugged Huiarau range north-west of Gisborne the one day event started with a field of 35 teams, dropping to 20 finishers by the time they completed the 173.86km journey.

Taylor took an early but narrow lead after the first special stage, however the 36-year-old business manager had to dig a little deeper when Tauranga’s Ben Thomasen edged his Subaru STI to the front.  Mid-way through the day 4.1 seconds separated the top three, with Pukekohe’s Shannon Chambers in third.

Attrition claimed early hopeful Alex Kelsey from Coromandel with gearbox woes, followed by Thomasen and Chambers in the fourth test when they both left the road.  That left local driver Marcus Beaufoy in second, until he lost 11 minutes on his way to the final stage, to finish behind Taylor and Spence by the time teams returned to Gisborne.

Again taking the top step of the podium after winning the event in 2010, Taylor says the win was still a challenge despite the final winning margin: “It was a beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky or breath of wind, so it did go through my mind others might be struggling in dust.  But we had to counter that with the thick gravel and slippery conditions by being first on the road.  I know the first time we came across a used piece of road, the tail end of stage four, we had grip for the first time in the event.

“We didn’t really have a good idea on how the times were unfolding, so when I discovered I was behind we got to the fourth stage thinking about what we were going to do for the remainder of the event and how hard we were going to push.

“We had enough pace to keep the other guys on their toes and maybe that’s what led to their off-road incidents when they were trying to push on a bit hard. 

“It was quite hard on the car; a lot of the stages were going downhill and were incredibly tough on the brakes.  I got to the end of the last stage and found we had boiled the brake fluid, leaving us with no brake pedal at all.”

First two-wheel-drive finisher was Tauranga’s Phil Campbell in the Ford Fiesta ST.  Fifth overall, behind the Mitsubishi of Graham Featherstone, Campbell had over a three minute gap to fellow Brian Green Property Group New Zealand Rally Championship competitor Ron Davey, in sixth place.

Among the retiree’s; Palmerston North’s Brian Green suffered fuel pressure issues in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X, similarly, Christchurch’s Jeff Judd, in a Ford Escort.

Run by Rally New Zealand in conjunction with the Gisborne Car Club, the event used roads and regions made famous during past rounds of the World Rally Championship.  It was also the penultimate round of both the Geartech Central Region Rally Series and Stilo Top Half Series.

Results:
Gisborne Vehicle Testing Rally, 10 September 2011 – top-ten overall.
Pos.,No., Driver/co-driver, Hometown, Vehicle, Time
1, 1, Stewart Taylor/Warwick Searle, Havelock North, Mitsubishi Lancer EVO X, 2:04:48.2
2, 8, Hugh Spence/Tim Eddington, Hastings, Subaru STI, +3:28.6
3, 7, Marcus Beaufoy/Robyn Hollamby, Gisborne, Subaru STI, +4:08.5
4, 19, Graham Featherstone/Heather Wise, Te Aroha, Mitsubishi Lancer EVO III,     +5:38.7
5, 11, Phil Campbell/Venita Fabbro, Tauranga, Ford Fiesta, +5:44.1
6, 21, Ron Davey/Ross Gordon, Havelock North, Ford Escort, +9:23.5
7, 10, Aaron Cook/Len Fisher, Porirua, Honda Civic R, +9:59.4
8, 14, Charlie Evans/Sue O'Neill, Hamilton, Honda Civic, +10:03.1
9, 16, Chris Woudenberg/Tim Sheehan, Auckland, Toyota Corolla, +10:05.9
10, 24, Jason Timmins/Gareth McLachlan, Hastings, Mitsubishi Lancer EX, +10:16.9