The long standing record for the fastest time at the iconic Possum Bourne Rallysprint 2016 Limited Ashley Forest Rallysprint was broken several times over the weekend as local Matt Summerfield took victory from a very quick Sloan Cox.
The annual event held north of Rangiora in North Canterbury was run in dry dusty conditions which contributed to Kim Austin’s 1999 record of 56.57 seconds in a V8 powered Mitsubishi Starion 4wd, being broken.
Sloan Cox (Hillclimb Special Evo 8) was the first to break the record in his fifth run on Saturday afternoon (56.19) and then broke it again on Sunday morning (55.82) as the field started it’s elimination runs.
Thirty-two cars started the final day, reducing to 16, then eight, the four, leaving the two fastest to run off for the title.
Summerfield, driving the Brian Green’s Mitsubishi Mirage broke into the 56 second bracket as the field elimination took place. However, he never came close to Cox’s new record time of 55.23 set on his penultimate run of the day.
As the quickest of the top two decides the order of the last run, Summerfield was sent up the hill setting a time of 56.72 for Cox to beat. Unfortunately Cox’s run of fast times came to an abrupt end as it was clear from the start of his final run that there was a mechanical issue as he cruised around the course in a time of 1:47.08, handing victory to Summerfield.
Third home was Neil Webb from Michael Tall, both in Mitsubishi Mirages.
Fastest 0-1300cc was Chris Herdman (Toyota Starlet).
Fastest 1301-1600cc was Josh Mitchell (Toyota Starlet).
Fastest Classic 2wd was Phil Walker (Mazda RX7).
Fastest Unlimited 2wd was Chris Hey (Toyota MR2)
Fastest Rally 4wd was Matt Summerfield (Subaru Impreza).
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