Rallies take separate routes in road to Whangarei

Whangarei gets a double helping of international rallying action this year but it seems there will be very little overlap between roads used for the New Zealand round of the World Rally Championship event in early May and the Whangarei-based rally in July.
Yesterday Rally New Zealand officials released details of the roads in the Kaipara and Whangarei districts that will be used for the International Rally of Whangarei on the weekend of July 2-4.
The Rally of Whangarei is a round of both the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship and the Vantage New Zealand Rally Championship. The two-day  event covers 285km of gravel racing, divided into 16 special stages.
Only one section, the Swamp Road stage at Wairere, will be shared between the events, organising committee chairman Willard Martin said.
"The only part that is the same is Hella Bridge, we've purposely kept the roads that we've closed separate so we are not imposing on the nearby residents," Martin said.
Starting with the 33.99km Mititai stage near Paparoa, the Saturday route also includes two new stages to the rally - the Girls High School and Otuhi road stages - before returning to Whangarei for the popular super special stage at Pohe Island.
"These two new stages - the 27km Girls' High School and 9.35km Otuhi - are both high quality roads. Girls High School we have looked at before, but it now fits perfectly. With Whangarei home to the event base and service park, this stage now completes the loop back into the city.
"The road itself will be very challenging with quick, slow, wide and narrow sections, plus surface changes - so it'll be a highly technical stage for drivers," he said.
 The event will start with a ceremonial start in Whangarei's Cameron Street Mall on July 2. The real test begins on Saturday morning as the cars leave the service park in the Town Basin to compete in the four stages before returning to town for a 20-minute midday service break, and then repeat the morning's loop.
Sunday's remaining eight stages are almost identical to last year with respected roads such as Batley, Wairere, Millbrook and Waipu Caves. Competitors return to Whangarei for a late morning service before repeating the four stages and again returning to the Town Basin for the ceremonial finish.
For specific route and event information, Rally Guide 1 and detailed itinerary are now published online in the "competitors" section of the official website: www.rallywhangarei.co.nz