Tauranga rally heats up ahead of show down

Papamoa's Andy Martin will be out on his home event this weekend with his classic Mazda RX3. Photo/GREG HENDERSON PHOTOGRAPHY

Motorsport Bay of Plenty Inc. has what every rally-organising car club in New Zealand dreams of these days - a full entry with a waiting list for a place in its annual rally.

The 2014 edition of the Tauranga Clubmans Rally takes place on Sunday with a capacity 50-car field expected to assemble at the TECT All Terrain Park for the 8.45am start.

The rally will test crews with seven gravel stages on a mixture of closed public roads and forestry stages in the Pyes Pa, Oahutiti and Mamaku districts. The Motorsport NZ Clubmans Rally format limits events to 50 crews and a maximum of 80km of special stages.

Much of the events popularity is based on its focus on novice competitors. The short duration - the first car will have finished back at the TECT Park at 1.43pm - along with lower entry fee and centralised servicing is an ideal format for new rally competitors.

"The field has got a really good balance to it this year with good numbers across all of the classes," said Clerk of the Course David Loughlin.

"There's a few experienced competitors but there are 18 novice drivers and only 15 four-wheel-drives have entered."

Heading the entry list are national rally championship regulars Sloan Cox (Rotorua), Phil Campbell (Tauranga) and veteran Brian Green (Palm Nth) in late model Mitsubishi Lancer Evolutions.

Cox finished runner-up at the Tauranga event last year, only 8secs behind the Subaru of rally winner Ben Thomasen.

Also likely to be front runners are Subaru Impreza drivers Brad Ayling (Inglewood) and Hugh Spence (Gisborne) and Manawatu's Tony McConachy (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo7).

Tauranga's Mitch James who has performed well in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo5 in recent car club events and is the top-seeded novice driver at seven in the seeding order. His closest competition is expected to come from South Auckland's Warwick Redfern (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo7).

A wide-open battle looms among a varied line-up if two-wheel-drive cars.
Among the drivers likely to figure are Rotorua's Ian Wood (Toyota Corolla Turbo), Cambridge driver Brent Taylor in a new Toyota 86, Hawke's Bay driver Richard Chalmers (Honda Civic) and Papamoa's Andy Martin with his Mazda RX3 classic rally car.

The start and finish for the rally is the Motorsport hub at the TECT All Terrain Park and the cars return there for 20 minutes of servicing after stages 2, 4 and 6.

Mid-stage spectator viewing is provided at two locations, allowing access to three of the stages. Stages number 3 and 7 run on the western side of Highway 36 and a mid-stage junction is reached from the underpass at the TECT Park headquarters.

Stage 5 is the familiar 4km loop within the Te Matai Motorsport area of the TECT Park with mid-stage viewing within a few hundred metres walk from the service park.

A rally map and any late updates to the entry list is available on the Motorsport BOP website: www.mbop.org.nz

RALLY SCHEDULE
Start - TECT All Terrain Park, 8.45am
Stage 1 - Mangatoi Rd (11.01km) first car 8.58am. Spectator point at the finish, or accessed via No 2 Road.
Stage 2 - Taumata Rd (8.47km) first car 9.28am. Spectator point at the start or finish.
Service (20mins) at TECT All Terrain Park
Stage 3 - Ngawaro Rd (11.55km) first car 10.13am. Spectator point accessed via TECT Park underpass from main hub site.
Stage 4 - Mangapapa/Kaharoa Rd (19.52km) first car 10.43am. No spectator access.
Service (20 mins) at TECT All Terrain Park
Stage 5 - Te Matai Motorsport (4.05km) first car 11.48am. Spectator point accessed from TECT Park rally service.
Stage 6 - Mangatoi Rd (11.01km) first car 12.03pm. Spectator point at the finish, or accessed via No 2 Road.
Service (20 mins) at TECT All Terrain Park
Stage 7 - Ngawaro Rd (14.41km) first car 1.03pm. Spectator point accessed via TECT Park underpass from main hub site.
Finish - TECT All Terrain Park, 1.43pm