Motorsport: Taylor dominates on home roads

Stewart Taylor capitalised on the home advantage big time in Saturday's Hawke's Bay Rally.

Taylor, who works for one of the rally's major sponsors Tomoana Warehousing, and his co-driver Warwick Searle won all nine stages to claim a two minute victory from fellow Bay driver Grant Blackberry and his co-driver Campbell Ward.

An all Hawke's Bay podium was completed when Hawke's Bay co-driver Fleur Pederson and Palmerston North driver Brian Green secured third place in a Ford Escort.

Both Taylor and Blackberry brought their Mitsubishi Evo Lancers home without a scratch on them after completing more than 150km on Central Hawke's Bay roads which are considered to be some of the best for rallying in the country. Taylor rammed home one of motorsport's old adages - "to finish first you must first finish."

At the other end of the luck scale were two of New Zealand's top drivers, Timaru's Chris West and Manawatu's Geoff Argyle, who arrived in the Bay with big hopes but left with considerable damage in West's case and mechanical issues in Argyle's.

West's Mitsubishi Lancer had been in the country for less than a week and lasted just three corners. From the start of the first stage there were two corners on seal before drivers hit the shingle. On the first shingle corner the experienced West lost control and his car collected so much damage he was forced to withdraw.

West and his team face a mammoth task to get the car repaired in time for the Rally of New Zealand in a fortnight. Stage One also saw the demise of Hawke's Bay's Evan O'Leary who had a huge crash. He and co-driver Daniel Haines escaped with some sore bodies from their seat belts but soon after their crippled car was hit by another competitor. Early assessments indicate O'Leary's car may be written off.

Another contender for top honours, Argyle, suffered engine bearing failure between Stages Four and Five. A recent arrival in Hawke's Bay, Andrew Spier, survived one roll but his car succumbed after it's second crash.

Manawatu's Tony McConachy and Simon Johnstone got their tiny Class A Toyota Starlet into a creditable seventh overall placing, beating many much more powerful Class D four wheel drive turbocharged cars.