In a dramatic penultimate day in North Otago and South Canterbury, Welsh pair Meirion Evans and Lestyn Williams took the lead of the 2016 New Zealand Silver Fern Rally from fellow Ford Escort Mk2 RS1800 runners Stewart Reid and Dave Neill, ensuring the final result goes down to the wire in Christchurch tomorrow.
Heading into the sixth day of the biennial international event in Dunedin this morning, experienced Australian historic rally ace Reid and Kiwi co-driver Neill had held the lead for a second day, but only had a 49 second buffer on Welsh historic rally specialists Evans and Williams.
Though he professed on Thursday that he was more used to sprint rather than marathon, multi-day events like the Silver Fern, Evans obviously found a second-wind today, beating Reid to the line in six of the seven stages to turn that 49 second deficit into a 28.9 second surplus by day’s end at Timaru’s Caroline Bay.
Third on the day were father and son Stuart and Brad McFarlane who thanks to consistency as well as speed are now seventh overall heading into the final day of the event tomorrow.
Third overall heading into the final day, but now over eight minutes behind Evans and Williams, and Reid and Neill are Australian husband-and-wife Keith and Mary-Anne Callinan in their Mk 2 Ford Escort RS1800. They like fellow Escort RS1800 runners Brian and Anne Stokes, Simon Tysoe and Paul Morris, and Peter Scharmach and Jacob Bennett showed speed but lacked consistency today, leaving the way open for others, like Brit pair Phil Squire and Nigel Hutchinson, and local duo Brent Rawstron and Ian McKee to work their way up the leader board in their Mk 2 Escorts.
After another swashbuckling day yesterday runaway Challenge category leader Derek Ayson and co-driver Gavin McDermott from Gore played more of a percentages game today, the pair only claiming a class win in one of the seven stages.
However with early event rivals Dave Strong and Rob Scott out of the picture Ayson and McDermott arrived at Caroline Bay in Timaru in their Nissan FJ20-engined Mk 2 Ford Escort with a healthy 36-and-a-half minute lead over Australian rally legend Ed Mulligan and his co-driver Tony Brandon in Mulligan’s BMW 325i.
The vastly experienced Mulligan admitted to playing a waiting game earlier in the event, picking up places as others either crashed or had mechanical issues.
Hamilton driver Charlie Evans and co-driver Sue O’Neill were second at the start of the day but ran off the road in a stage this morning and lost time, slipping to fifth overall.
Former NZ champion Bruce Herbert and co-driver Jim Hey won the class on two of the stages today but remained sixth in the overall classification after incurring penalty points early in the week when they broke a diff.
That left third place in the Challenge category to popular Dunedin pair Brodie Anderson and Brad Lyons. The pair have had their own share of off-road excursions in Anderson’s Mk 2 Ford Escort but continue to entertain with a take-no-prisoners approach to each stage which – so far – is paying off!
The final day of the 2016 NZ Silver Fern Rally tomorrow (Sunday Dec 04) sees six stages between Timaru and Christchurch before a ceremonial finish back where the event started last Monday, Addington Park Raceway.
Overall classification after Day 6
Historic
1. Meirion Evans/Lestyn Williams (Ford Escort Mk2 RS1800) 9:05:28.1
2. Stewart Reid/Dave Neill (Ford Escort Mk2 RS1800) 9:05:57.0 +0:28.9
3. Keith & Mary-Anne Callinan (Ford Escort) 9:13:31.1 +8:03.0
5. Phil Squires/Nigel Hutchinson (Ford Escort Mk2 RS1800) 9:17:06.4 +11:38.3
6. Brent Rawstron/Ian McKee (Ford Escort Mk2 RS1800) 9:24:18.2 +18:50.1
7. Stuart & Brad McFarlane (Porsche 911) 9:25:17.0 +19:48.9
8. Shane Murland/John Benton (Ford Escort Mk2 RS1800) 9:31:24.7 +25:56.6
9. David Hills/Paul Bennett (Ford Escort RS1800) 9:32:02.0 +26:33.9
10. Keith Stewart/Jason Sutherland (Ford Escort Mk1) 9:37:10.4 +31:42.3
Challenge
1. Derek Ayson/Gavin McDermott (Ford Escort Mk2) 8:57:24.4
2. Ed Mulligan/Tony Brandon (BMW E30 325i) 9:33:53.8 +36:29.4
3. Brodie Anderson/Brad Lyons (Ford Escort Mk2) 9:40:58.1 +43:33.7
4. Darryl Campbell/Phil Walker(Toyota Altezza) 9:46:50.3 +49:25.9
5. Charlie Evans/Sue O’Neill (Honda Civic 1800) 9:47:58.2 +50:33.8
6. Bruce Herbert/Jim Hey (Mitsubishi Lancer EX Turbo) 9:53:58.0+56:33.6
7. Mike Wheatley/Tudor Davies (Ford Escort Mk2) 10:13:25.5 +1:16:01.1
8. Brent Taylor/Chris Ramsay (Toyota FT 86) 10:33:13.3 1:35:48.9
9. Tony Quinn/Cassidy Solomon (Toyota 86) 10:54:05.3 +1:56:40.9
10. Warren Briggs/Gerry Bashford (Ford Mustang) 11:45:57.7 +2:48:33.3
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