By the numbers – Google Grant’s key numbers for Rally BOP
THE RACE TO THE GOLD STAR – NOW IT’S VIRTUALLY A 2 HORSE RACE – BUT OTHERS COULD STILL INFLUENCE THE FINAL OUTCOME:
Hayden Paddon’s faultless, resounding victory at the Daybreaker was nothing but expected and equally Ben Hunt’s runner up result was very meritorious, particularly with the back issue he has been having to contend with.
At the other end of the spectrum was the electrical problem that plagued previous championship leader Robbie Stokes, who unfortunately went away empty handed and his Gold Star aspirations now depend on the two front runners coming unstuck at either or both the final two rounds.
So the ball is very much in Hayden’s court to continue to extend his amazing sequence of perfect NZRC performances and keep heaping the pressure on Ben to hang on to his coattails to minimise the points loss at every opportunity.
Ben goes to Rally BOP with an 18 point advantage – it was 23 before the Daybreaker – so if/when Hayden wins again, it is vital that Ben finishes 2nd in both the rally and the power stage and thereby drops the least number of points possible, so he would then go to the two-day International Rally of Whangarei with a 14 point lead.
A repeat scenario at Whangarei – HP first rally, power stage and both legs with Ben second in each case – would see Hayden gain only 8 points, so Ben would have his 3rd Gold Star by 6 points, but any placing worse than 2nd and Ben’s advantage could diminish very rapidly.
And with other top contenders like Robbie Stokes, Jack Hawkeswood (who is hopefully due back for Whangarei), Emma Gilmour, and as our latest rising star Zeal Jones did in the power stage at the Daybreaker, all are more than capable of nipping in ahead of Ben and then the situation gets even tighter.
HAYDEN’S YEARS OF NZRC POINTS SCORING PERFECTION SINCE 2018:
As mentioned previously Hayden’s last DNF in an NZRC round was beached off the road in the Coroglen stage at the 2017 Rally Coromandel while leading, so winning the Daybreaker now makes it 22 consecutive round wins.
To reinforce his superb level of performance even further it has been 18 NZRC rounds since he has not scored maximum points – won the rally, fastest in each power stage and won both legs at Otago & Whangarei.
Once again it was Coromandel – this time in 2018 – where he missed out on any power stage points by placing 6th.
And yet another record for our most successful driver was notched up last month as the 6 minutes 27.4 seconds winning margin at the Daybreaker is now the largest at a one day NZRC round, surpassing his (and Jared Hudson’s debut win) 4 min 20.1 sec victory at South Canterbury in 2022.
His domination of the stage times was nowhere better exemplified than by their stunning run through Ridge Road North in treacherous conditions and in yet another record time. HP remains the only driver to have averaged over 70kph for the 10k (including that amazing hairpin), almost 4 seconds per kilometre quicker than anyone else and thereby increased their lead by over 40 seconds in that one short test.
HAYDEN MIGHT BE THE HISTORY MAKER BUT BEN HUNT HAS HIS OWN RECORD TO BE PROUD OF:
Since Ben Hunt stepped up into the NZRC Category 1 way back in 2013, he – with Tony Rawstorn alongside every time – has competed in all 60 NZRC rounds. They have finished on the podium no fewer than 37 times – 11 Wins, 2nd an amazing 20 times and 3rd on 6 occasions. Ben has won the Gold Star twice in 2015 and 2019, but due to two multi-champions (Richard Mason in 2014 and Hayden in 2018, 2021 and 2022) he has had to be satisfied with runner-up 4 times.
Adding to him possibly feeling a bit like a repeated best man rather than the groom, since HP returned to the NZRC in 2018 – and won all 21 rounds he’s started – Ben has finished 2nd on 12 of those.
And when Hayden wasn’t present for the other 10, Ben won 6 of them, including an almost 6 Round clean sweep of the 2019 series – until a very rare mechanical failure on the penultimate stage at the last round at Waitomo left him stranded.
So the big question remains whether he can finally turn the tables this year and hold off his arch rival of the last 5 seasons.
OUR NEXT RISING STAR:
Congratulations and best wishes to Zeal Jones as he flies out to Japan on October 22nd for his shot at the Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team WRC Challenge Program – an opportunity of a lifetime that could lead to a WRC career.
Zeal, who has Japanese heritage and is recognised as being Japanese, will be one of 100 participants, who will be whittled down to a small number that will be given the chance to be part of the team’s Generation 4 Drivers program.
Current TGR WRC star Takamoto Katsuta was a first generation driver, their second intake are currently in GR Yaris Rally2 cars, while their third group are competing in Rally4 cars.
The lucky few who get all the way through the 4-day program will then take part in a specially designed program that will see them based in Finland.
By finishing 3rd at the Daybreaker Zeal became our second youngest ever NZRC Driver podium placegetter at 19 years 9 months & 18 days, exactly one month older than Alex Kelsey was when he won at Whangarei in 2012.
However he has headed off Hayden who was 19 years 11 months & 27 days when he finished 3rd at Otago 2007, although HP then stood on the top step just a month later when winning Whangarei for the first of his 9 victories up there.
This is the second NZRC podium for both his co-driving Aunty Waverley and the car following Uncle Kingsley steering them both to 2nd at the 2019 Rally Waitomo.
Our current Rally Challenge champion has really got the pundits talking this year as he has been in very consistent form in his first season in a top class front running car.
He has learnt very quickly how to drive through a couple of technical issues and still bring the Skoda home for round results that far more experienced drivers would be proud of – 5th at Otago, 4th at South Canterbury, 6th at Southern Lights and that near history making 3rd at the Daybreaker – to be leading the Junior Championship and sit 4th in the Gold Star battle, still with a chance to take out that title too.
WE HAVE OUR FIRST CHAMPIONS FOR THIS YEAR:
Even with two rounds still to go we can unofficially announce we have two co-driver champions: Willy Hawes’ co-driver Jason Dwyer has an unassailable lead in Cat 3 while Jared Parker’s co-driver Kyle Shears has successfully defended his title from 2023.
And with Paul Fraser having a change of navigators in both the North Island rounds so far Helen Cameron is in the box seat to take out the Cat 4 co-drivers award to go with her classic title in 2009.
All the other titles are still too close to call, but the options will become very clear after Rally BOP.
THE CAT 5 RACES ARE NOT QUITE WHAT THEY SEEM DUE TO THE ‘DROP 2 ROUNDS’ RULE:
While all other titles are ‘All Rounds Count’ the Cat 5 Rally Challenge categories are not quite what the points tables on ChrisSport are showing now we have competed the first 4 rounds.
In the Challenge (and Cat 5A) the Top 3 have scored at all 4, so when taking their best 3 placings so far their positions and the points gaps change quite significantly.
Andrew Graves currently leads on gross 93 but his best 3 is still 88 – down just 5 points – as he scored only 5 power stage points at South Canterbury.
James Macdonald’s consistency has him 2nd on 83, but that consistency sees him drop his 16 Otago points to knock him down to 4th on 67 points.
Caleb MacDonald has 73, but his unfortunate late retirement at the Daybreaker means he only loses 4 power stage points to 69, and 3rd place on the table.
Carter Strang, who returns for Rally BOP, has just 3 scores from the 3 South Island rounds, so his points remain at 70, but he moves up into 2nd place 18 points behind Andrew Graves.
Jay Pittams is the only North Islander still in the running as his 3 scores total 53 for 5th Place.
Where Rally BOP will be really interesting is that although Andrew Graves is not there, he will still go to the final showdown at Whangarei in the lead by at least 10 points.
That is because all the others can only top ip their current 3 score total with the difference between their current lowest round score and whatever they can come up with this Saturday.
There is a maximum of 30 Points on offer – 25 for winning the Round and 5 for winning the power stage.
Therefore by winning both Carter can add 8 points to get to 78;
Caleb can do the same to get to 77 while James can add 10 to potentially overhaul both Carter and Caleb.
Jay stands to gain the most as he could add 15 to reach 68 which would still keep him in the contest should Andrew and the others strike trouble at Whangarei.
Cat 5B also has a swap around as Pat Norris’ 4 scores of 104 drop to 82 for his best 3, so Jared Parker takes over the top spot as his retirement at the Daybreaker means his 3 South Island results remain at 86.
Which means an intriguing contest is in prospect this weekend as they both have to win the category at BOP if they want to increase their current totals. If Pat wins he goes up 4 to 86 and Jared stays on 86 = a tie.
If Jared wins he goes up to the perfect 3 rounds score of 90 and Pat stays on 82 as he already has 1 Win (30) and 2 x 2nds (26 each), so another 2nd won’t advance his cause.
Cat 5C for the Group A 4WDs has similarities to the Rally Challenge although James Macdonald’s current gross lead of 9 turns into a net deficit of 9.
Currently James is leading with 104 points, but his best 3 total 81 – after dropping his 4th Score of 23 from Otago.
James can add 4 points from BOP, so his best possible total would be 85 after the first 5 rounds.
Andrew Graves is on Gross 95, but his best 3 is still 90, so he takes over at the top of the table and will remain there going to this category’s compulsory round at Whangarei.
Jay Pittams remains in 3rd with his 74 reducing to 71 and can add 7 this weekend, while Paul Cross keeps his 3 SI rounds on 65.
So again all these chasing three have a mathematical chance of catching Andrew at Whangarei.
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