Whangarei rally : Oakden top spot

Local driver Brendon Oakden claimed his third Rally Whangarei title at the weekend when he won the Clubmans Rally section of the event in his Subaru Impreza.
The Clubmans event is a class inside Rally Whangarei for drivers not competing in the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship and New Zealand Rally Championship.
"We won it in 2008 and 2009 but last year we had a technical difficulty but this year we got it again." said Oakden.
'We had a fairly smooth weekend but we had a few things go wrong and some close calls. An early spin and then some close calls throughout the rally but without ever really losing control overall things went pretty well for us." he said.
Alongside him once more was sister Tasha, who has been calling the notes for her brother for several years now. "Today was all about consolidating our lead from Saturday and making sure we held on until the end of the rally.
"We were using our same tyres so they're a bit stuffed now but we made it holding on to our lead," Brendon Oakden said. Taking second place behind Oakden was fellow Northlander Doug Adnitt from Te Kopuru also in a Subaru Impreza and then Whangarei's Ben Haseldon again in an Impreza, making it a Northland-only podium.
Australian Chris Atkinson won the International Rally Whangarei ahead of New Zealanders Hayden Paddon and Richard Mason.