Historic 2WD championship mid-season update 

The Historic 2WD title battle has become a two-horse race – and a close one at that – between defending champion John Silcock and Australian Stewart Reid.

The two combatants have each enjoyed dominance over the other across the 2023 championship so far and little separates them with two rallies left to contest.

Silcock, the 2022 Historic champion, got his campaign off to a near flawless start at Otago. He claimed the class win and banked the maximum 44 points.

Reid wasn’t at his best, plagued by mechanical gremlins across the weekend, but was still able score a valuable 35 points.

Tim McIver came home with five points for his day one efforts, but fell victim to one of the famous fords in Whare Flat.

At Whangarei the roles were reversed. Silcock was plagued with a fuel pump issue while Reid was able to streak away and score maximum points.

Silcock nursed his Mazda RX7 home to secure 36 points while Mike Cameron collected 31 points after a final stage scare when he went through a fence.

At round three in South Canterbury there were three Mazda RX7s and all were on-song. Silcock was back to his best on roads he loves and when Marcus van Klink retired, Silcock won the rally and the power stage to add 30 points to his season tally while Reid settled for second and a haul of 25 points.

McIver was right in the fight with Reid, beating him in the power stage to grab second there as well as third in the class to score 24 points. Cameron felll short at the final hurdle, missing one lap of Levels Raceway to record a DNF.

With two rounds remaining, Silcock leads Reid by six points. Cameron has a two-point lead over McIver for third.