Paddon: I can only control what I can control
Haydon Paddon heads to the final round of the Brian Green Property Group New Zealand Rally Championship in Whangarei next month in unfamiliar territory.
The seven-time national champion is no stranger to being in the title battle obviously, but he has never found himself relying on other results to go his way and needing maximum points himself to secure a title.
Ben Hunt (Skoda New Zealand i20 Rally 2) holds a 12-point lead over Paddon heading into the final round and can win the title by finishing second in Whangarei.
Should he do that on both legs and in the power stage, Hunt would have a three-point buffer even if Paddon (Hyundai New Zealand i20 Rally 2) claimed maximum points.
That means Hunt only has three points to work with if he were to drop an extra spot in the power stage or finish third on a leg.
“It is all we can do all year – we can’t control or worry about what others are doing,” Paddon said. “We just need to take maximum points at each rally and so far we have done that.
“Whangarei is a whole new kettle of finish – it is a two-day rally, and tyres are going to be very demanding up there in November, so it is going to be hard for everyone.
“We’ve taken it down to the last round and that is what is good for the championship.”
If results go his way, Paddon could well complete a year for the ages by winning an eighth national title, a European Rally Championship (he defended his crown from a year ago last week) and could also win the Asia Pacific Rally Championship at Whangarei.
“The accumulation of a pretty hard year in terms of travel – it all comes down to the last events of the year, so we have ourselves in a good position in all of them and it is up to us now to cap it off,” Paddon said.
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