Championship scenarios and contenders – Part 1
This week we take a look at where the first block of our championships are sitting, heading into the final round at Rally Bay of Plenty in October.
Teams Cup Cat 5:
The Teams Cup Cat 5 championship is currently lead by Jnr Masters team, which is made up of veteran driver Brian Green and impressive youngster Zeal Jones. They hold a 42-point lead over Team GCs (Jonty Brenssell and Jeff Ward), with Silage Stack Tyres (Tim Smith and Brett Maddren) three points further back.
The two chasing teams will require both of their cars to finish at Bay of Plenty but with Jonty Brenssell done for the season, the GCs are essentially out of the running.
The Jnr Masters really just need to bring home one of their two cars to secure the title – both drivers will be motivated by the thought of winning individual championships as well.
Teams Cup Cat 1-4:
The Celtic Aussies team comprised of two of our international drivers in Perth-based Irishman Glenn Alcorn and Australian Stewart Reid currently leads, ahead of Paddon Rallysport (Hayden Paddon and Ari Pettigrew). The Mainland Chargers (Robbie Stokes and John Silcock) are the only other team in theoretical contention, but would require Stokes as well as Silcock to enter, which is not likely.
With no Alcorn at the final round, after he badly damaged his Ford Escort at Daybreaker, and likely no Pettigrew, it’s a straight one-on-one shootout. Reid would require 22 points to fend off Paddon, which could be either second or better in his Historic 2WC class, or third with power stage points. Even if Paddon takes maximum points, he will need Reid to have a disappointing Bay of Plenty for the positions to trade places.
Manufacturers:
The Manufacturers championship sees Ford currently holding an eight-point lead over Skoda, with Hyundai a theoretical chance, 20 points back.
For Hyundai to win the title they would need no Fords to finish Bay of Plenty, which is very unlikely.
If Skoda took the win at Bay of Plenty, Ford will still be in a strong position. They’d have to be one of the top six manufacturers and one of the top five 2WD drive manufacturers, with the 2WD position going up as overall goes down i.e. 7th/4th, 8th/3rd etc.
Whatever way you look at it, Ford are almost there as champions for 2023 and it would take miracle for someone else to lift the title.
Gold Card:
This championship is a three-way fight and is still going strong. Championship sponsor Brian Green leads (50) from Dave Strong (47) and Mike Cameron (42). A DNF would be costly for any of them.
If Strong were to win and Green finished second, they’d be in a tie even through the countback rules. Cameron would need both of his rivals to DNF to take the title.
A finish from Green would go a long way to secure the title.
Junior:
With Jordan Grant unlikely to make the final round after his monster crash at Daybreker over the weekend, this is a two-horse race between Bryn Jones (76) and Zeal Jones (70).
Both have already had memorable seasons to date – Zeal announced himself with a class win at Whangarei while Bryn got a break-through win at Daybreaker.
If Zeal was to win, Bryn would need to finish second or third to take the title.
Rookie:
This one is all open between all five rookies competing. James MacDonald and Tim McIver (47) hold a three-point lead over the chasing bunch. Glenn Alcorn and Jared Parker are tied for third on 44 points while Nick Marston is only four points further adrift.
All five could all take the title so it essentially becomes a shoot-out with a winner-takes-all in Bay of Plenty.
Tweet
