By the numbers – Google Grant’s key numbers for Rally Canterbury
CANTERBURY AS AN NZRC ROUND:
The Canterbury Rally became a regular round of the NZRC back in 1983 when Robbie & Jack Stokes’ dad Brian won in an Escort 1600.
Brian won it on two other outings in 1988 and 1989, both times in the Sierra 4×4.
A number of the sport’s legends have been successful here and include Paul Adams, Inky Tulloch (twice), Les Harris and then Hugh Owen (both in the Opel Manta), Neil Allport (twice), Possum Bourne, Joe McAndrew (twice), Greg Graham and Wayne Muckle.
The Rally took a break from its NZRC involvement during the late 90’s before returning as a one-off in 2000 when Brian Green steered his Ford Escort WRC to the win.
Interestingly Jim Robb was a winning Co-Driver on three occasions, each time with a different driver – Neil Allport in 1993, Greg Graham in 1995 and Greeny in 2000.
It then returned for a seven-year stretch between 2013 and 2019 and apart from Ben Hunt’s victories in both his Gold Star winning years (2015 & 2019) there has been a different winner each time: Chris West in 2013, Richard Mason (2014), Emma Gilmour (2016), Matt Summerfield (2017) and Josh Marston (2018). All South Islanders except Richard – although Sara comes from Nelson as do Ben Hunt & Tony Rawstorn.
Also conspicuous by his absence from this list is one Hayden Paddon, who has never actually done this rally as an NZRC round and along with Gisborne, these are the only two NZRC rounds since he joined the championship in 2006 that are missing from his 41-round winning CV.
THIS YEAR’S STAGE WINNERS ACROSS THE CATEGORIES:
We know who the round winners have been so far this year but dig a bit deeper and some interesting performances and pace come to light when analysing the stage winners.
There have been 22 stages run – 14 at Otago and 8 at South Canterbury.
In Cat 1 Ben Hunt’s clean sweep at Timaru saw him add all eight to the six he won at Otago. Although he failed to fire at South Canterbury Jack Stokes is second with his four stage wins at Otago.
Brother Robbie has three and Jack Hawkeswood one.
Cat 2 is much closer with Bryn Jones on 12 (eight plus four) and Tim Mackersy on 10 (six plus four).
Cats 3 & 4 are dominated by both double round winners – Dave Strong 20 (14 plus six) – Paul Cross has the other two in Cat 3 at Timaru – and Deane Buist 21 (13 plus eight) with Stephen Gill going faster on the Dunedin Street Stage.
Cat 5A’s combined 16 stages has Caleb MacDonald on 10 (two plus eight) from Ben Huband six (six plus 0).
Cat 5B sees Thomas Paul also on 10 (six plus four) clear of Darren Galbraith four (DNS plus four) and Charlie Evans two (two plus DNS).
In Cat 5C Josh Keighley has an even bigger advantage with 12 (seven plus five) well ahead of Kevin Laird two (0 plus two), Glenn Alcorn (one plus DNS) and Ben Huband (DNS plus one).
THIS YEAR’S POWER STAGES:
A look at the Power Stages so far shows they have been clean swept by all but one of the current category leaders.
Ben Hunt has won both in Cat 1 and this is replicated by Bryn Jones in Cat 2, Dave Strong in Cat 3, Deane Buist in Cat 4, Thomas Paul in Cat 5B and Josh Keighley in Cat 5C, thereby boosting their points tallies by the maximum possible.
The only category with different winners is Cat 5A where Ben Huband beat Caleb MacDonald at Otago and Caleb headed off Josh Keighley at South Canterbury to extend his lead in the category overall.
JUST HOW FAST DO THESE GUYS ACTUALLY GO:
There were four different stages at Otago where category drivers hit their top speeds, and in only one of these the overall stage winner set the top speed.
That was young Jack Stokes who reached 192.9kph in Stage 10 Akatore.
However, the top speed by a Cat 1 car went to Josh Marston in SS6 Bald Hill 2 with 196.9kph. Robbie Stokes won this stage, but his top speed (183.4) was only the 13th highest.
Tim Mackersy was the fastest Cat 2 in SS10 Akatore at 179.3kph.
Dave Strong hit the top speed for the whole rally in SS5 Hartfield South at 198.1kph. Ben Hunt won this stage, but his top speed (181.8) was only the 12th highest.
Deane Buist recorded 189.7kph in SS4 Longdale for the fastest Cat 4 speed. Jack Stokes won the stage, but his top speed (187.5) was only the sixth highest.
Brian Green grabbed the Cat 5A honours with 194.5kph in SS6 Bald Hill 2 – which was the second quickest speed in there (to Josh Marston).
Cat 5B and 5C were both also achieved in Bald Hill 2 with Thomas Paul reaching 173.4kph for 5B and Josh Keighley 183.0kph for the 5Cers.
South Canterbury was a different story to Otago in that top speeds for all categories were set in the same stage – SS6 Southburn – where there was a 1.4km long straight that enabled cars to really stretch their legs.
Dylan Thomson in his Subaru was the fastest of everyone at 220.0kph.
Tim Mackersy at 180.6kph just headed off Bryn Jones’ 180.2kph in Cat 2.
Cat 3’s Dave Strong was again very quick on 213.0kph for fourth highest overall.
Stephen Gill grabbed the Cat 4 crown at 201.2kph while Greeny did it again in Cat 5A with a 218.7kph repeating his second quickest overall in a stage at Otago.
Thomas Paul topped Cat 5B at 178.3kph and Cat 5C again went to Josh Keighley on 204.5kph which was seventh highest overall.
And as at Otago the stage winner Ben Hunt’s top speed with ‘only’ the 16th highest speed of 182.9kph.
A SHOUT OUT TO SOME MISSING FRIENDS THIS WEEKEND:
My generation grew up with the age-old adage that things happen in threes and it appears this may be the case this weekend as Emma Gilmour (family member unwell), Jason Farmer (injured) and Kevin Laird (illness) have all withdrawn.
Wishing all three of you all the best and we hope to see you back in action after the mid-season break at Coromandel in August.
ONE DOOR CLOSES AND ANOTHER ONE OPENS:
Jason Farmer’s unfortunate sidelining may have caused a bit of disruption for the Hawkeswood Force Motorsport Team, but with Jared Hudson filling the breach, Jack will still be in very good hands and a unique piece of NZRC history is set to be created.
This will see a crew combination from a previous generation revived as Jared’s dad Rocky co-drove for Jack’s dad Andrew 15 years ago (2008 – 2012).
Who will ever forget the forestry gate incident in the Evo 7 at the 2009 Rally Otago? It’s still on YouTube Hawkeswood crash Otago 09 and, yes they still finished on the podium.
And wait for it – the dad’s won their first rally together – Wairarapa in 2008, so could we be on for a repeat this weekend?
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