The event itself:
My objectives for the event were to get some camera time in rally conditions and to catch up with different people. The competitors of course, were looking to finish and gain points. But, starting proved to be a problem for some.
Championship leader Hayden Paddon and co-driver John Kennard were missing a vital part of their rally team at the ceremonial start on Friday night (25th).....
...Their car!
This minor missing detail was because of that storm hitting the country that I mentioned earlier, the ferries crossing Cook Straight were halted and the Team Green car was stranded in Picton. The Paddon story was not the only one of this nature, many people were stranded around the country from grounded planes etc and ended up late or found other routes to the rally.
The Paddon car arrived in the wee hours of the morning and they had their scrutineering organised for before the first stage on Saturday, which, as it turned out, the effort was worth it. Hayden Paddon took away top points and the win of the rally for the weekend, followed by Chris West, Brett Martin, Dean Sumner and rounding out the top five, local Stewart Taylor. The top five also pulled a Subaru-block-out, all five cars being Mitsubishi Evolution 9s.
The weekend for me started out on Thursday afternoon, making my way down the country with the Meiersport team and staying with them that night just out of Napier. Friday was a bit strange for me as I'm used to getting to a rally destination and working non-stop henceforth, but we basically just mucked around for the day until the car show and ceremonial start later on. I had a bit of drama myself though, passing out in the supermarket, which I can tell you was not especially fun-needless to say I took it easy for as long as I could on Friday.
Friday night I made my way out to Wairoa ready to make a full assault on the first day's stages with Lance Hastie and Geoff Ridder. Mud, mud and mud, oh and rain and stones. But, it was very awesome to be back out spectating on a rally, definitely thrilling. I really thought that I was over the whole 'spectating' thing after being so involved with big rallies and after spectating at so many when I was younger. I really enjoyed it, until I got cold and wet. But it is good to know that just being out on a stage in the middle of nowhere is still thrilling for me.
This minor missing detail was because of that storm hitting the country that I mentioned earlier, the ferries crossing Cook Straight were halted and the Team Green car was stranded in Picton. The Paddon story was not the only one of this nature, many people were stranded around the country from grounded planes etc and ended up late or found other routes to the rally.
The Paddon car arrived in the wee hours of the morning and they had their scrutineering organised for before the first stage on Saturday, which, as it turned out, the effort was worth it. Hayden Paddon took away top points and the win of the rally for the weekend, followed by Chris West, Brett Martin, Dean Sumner and rounding out the top five, local Stewart Taylor. The top five also pulled a Subaru-block-out, all five cars being Mitsubishi Evolution 9s.
The weekend for me started out on Thursday afternoon, making my way down the country with the Meiersport team and staying with them that night just out of Napier. Friday was a bit strange for me as I'm used to getting to a rally destination and working non-stop henceforth, but we basically just mucked around for the day until the car show and ceremonial start later on. I had a bit of drama myself though, passing out in the supermarket, which I can tell you was not especially fun-needless to say I took it easy for as long as I could on Friday.
Friday night I made my way out to Wairoa ready to make a full assault on the first day's stages with Lance Hastie and Geoff Ridder. Mud, mud and mud, oh and rain and stones. But, it was very awesome to be back out spectating on a rally, definitely thrilling. I really thought that I was over the whole 'spectating' thing after being so involved with big rallies and after spectating at so many when I was younger. I really enjoyed it, until I got cold and wet. But it is good to know that just being out on a stage in the middle of nowhere is still thrilling for me.
So, for Saturday we were out on stages one and five, with a stopover at the service park in Wairoa in between.
It was definitely a long day, and I found myself falling asleep as we made our way back into Napier at about dinner time.
The big and interesting thing about this rally was the sequence of events on the Sunday. I was woken up at about 6am by Andre and Jason as they got ready for their second day of assault on the area's roads. Literally about five minutes after they had left I got a phone call from Geoff to say that the day was possibly cancelled and he would call me back when there was some more information. It turns out that the main road to Wairoa had various slips along it, though the stages were still pretty much fine apart from one or two with flooding, the main access route was stuffed for the day. So, Sunday's rallying was cancelled. I was able to make all my phone calls before I got out of bed! Contacts are great.
For something different, there was an 'official finish' at 10am Sunday morning, with the podiums and finish ramp for those that wanted to drive over it. Then we pretty much just made our way home. Getting back into Hamilton at about 2pm, a lot earlier than a normal home time after a rally!
In the Meiersport Camp:
Andre and Jason brought in another consistent effort, the same cannot be said for Subaru comrades Richard and Sara Mason, who failed to finish because of mechanical problems.
Andre brought the car home in 9th place overall, third in junior just behind Sloan Cox and first in the rookie section. He remains just ahead of Cox in the junior standings in second and is still leading the rookie section outright. Andre only needs to complete one more leg to take away the rookie section this year.
The car has once again had a bit of a spruce up on the outside, with some slight changes in sponsors and layout. The team is now preparing for the mighty Rally NZ.
- Picture above is of preparation of the car on the Friday morning of the Rally of Hawkes Bay, when the weather was still being merciful.
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