Dean Buist (Toyota Corolla) will want to defend his current lead in the 2022 Mainland Rally Championship competing in the Lawrence Rally this Saturday (5 November 2022). It’s the sixth and penultimate round of the series and Buist has a narrow 19-point lead over Tim McIver (Ford Escort) (main photo) who won the last MRC event, the Nelson One-Day Tarmac Rally, back in mid-October.
With third and fourth placed competitors, Marcus van Klink and Josh Marston, not having entered, the leader board is in for another shakeup in the fight for the overall podium. Sean Haggarty (Subaru Impreza WRX), Ray Casey (Subaru Impreza WRX), James Macdonald (Subaru H6) and Nick Marston (Subaru H6) (5th-8th positions) are all within three points of each other.
Macdoanld beat home Buist in Nelson for second place behind McIver while Haggarty and Marston gained key points to move up the ladder board.
Autotech Services, RDL Performance and Brita Safety have put up cash prizes for each Class winner at the end of the Mainland Rally Championship season. $500, $250 and $100 for 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively for each class as well as trophies for all classes and overall, for both driver and co- driver. Vehicles are divided up into seven different classes according to engine size, year of manufacturer and two or four-wheel drive.
Leader of Class A (2WD 0-1300cc), Jay Ritchie (Toyota Starlet) will be on the start line having missed the Nelson round which allowed Pat Norris (Toyota Vitz) to close gap between them to just six-points.
Kerry Sloan (Toyota Starlet) will want to make the most of Class B (2WD 1301-1600cc) leader William Hawes missing the rally. At Nelson, Hawes increased his advantage to 18-points over Sloan. Jared Parker (Toyota Levin) was first home in the Class and moved into third overall. The Lawrence Rally will see Jeff Judd swap his Ford Escort for a Toyota Corolla AE86, allowing him to also compete in Class B.
In Nelson, Buist doubled his lead to 16-points over van Klink in Class C (2WD 1601cc and over) and could put his lead beyond contention with one round remaining.
Sean Haggarty took over the lead in Class D (4WD 1601cc and over) in Nelson and has a seven-point gap back to Dave Ollis (Subaru Sti).
Eric Clark (Subaru STi) has a 26-point lead over Nigel Ede (Subaru Legacy) who will carry on their rivalry in Class E (Pre 1996 Classic 4WD), while leader of the Historic Class F&G, Tim McIver (Ford Escort) has a 27-points lead over Ally MacKay.
The battle in Class H6 still remains tight with just 14-points separating the top three. James MacDonald took Class honours in Nelson and moved into third overall while Nick Marston continues to lead by just five-points to Tom Milliken (Subaru H6). Also in the mix is Amy Keighley (Subaru H6) who missed the Nelson round but is just two-points behind Macdonald in the fight for third.
The one-day event is run by the Otago Sports Car Club starting and finishing in the township of Lawrence in Otago. Five Special Stages will take place over the day totalling 77.3km with 79km of touring.
Overall Points after 5/7 rounds (Top 15)
1/ Deane Buist 94
2/ Tim McIver 75
3/ Marcus van Klink 66
4/ Josh Marston 62
5/ Ray Casey 61
6/ Sean Haggarty 61
7/ James Macdonald 61
8/ Matt Summerfield 58
9/ Michael Tall 58
10/ Nick Marston 58
11/ Regan Ross 53
12/ John Giltrap 51
13/ Dave Ollis 50
14/ Brian Green 48
15/ Ray Wilson 46
2022 Mainland Rally Championship Calendar
1/ Westland Rally Sprint 19 March 2022
2/ Rally Otago – 9/10 April 2022
3/ Rally Canterbury – 6 June 2022
4/ Rally South Canterbury – 18 June 2022
5/ Rally Nelson (Day 1) (Tarmac) – 15 October 2022
6/ Rally Lawrence – 5 November 2022
7/ Silver Fern Rally (Day 1) – 20 November 2022
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