Rally novices impress and survive

THE FLYING WINDELBORN BROTHERS: Novice Hazely Windelborn survived the 2014 rally of the North on Saturday.

He's the captain of both the Kaitaia rugby and senior cricket teams, and also cuts a mean deck in bridge by all accounts.

Now, local real estate agent Hazely Windelborn can add rally driving to his resume following his more than respectable debut effort in the 2014 Rally of the North on Saturday. With younger brother Denny riding shotgun, i.e. as co-driver/ navigator, the Windelborns completed all eight stages of the event with aplomb, driving from Paihia north to Kaitaia and back again to finish 28th overall in a field of 62 cars.

The rookies competed in the Class E division - set aside for pre-1995 4WD cars under 2000cc - in Hazely's Mazda Familia, often keeping pace with faster, more expensive machines and soon had several experienced drivers looking over their shoulders on more than one occasion. Hazely said the pair started tentatively but quickly grew in confidence and were freewheeling through the latter stages as they came to grips with the car and the roads.

"For our first rally, wasn't too shabby. We went sideways, hit a couple of fence posts. I don't think Denny was too impressed with that, he just kept telling me to stay focused."

The pair also laid claim to being among the 36 cars who completed all eight stages, a startling number of casualties even for an event infamous its a high attrition rate. They certainly passed some carnage along the way, including seeing cars left upside down in the middle of the road, and they also heard another driver crashed shortly after crossing the finish line.

Hazely also particularly enjoyed driving recklessly - for the first and only time it must be said - along Church Road where he lives. While glad to have ticked the rally off his "bucket list", Hazely wasn't completely sure if he'd return and have another go. He also said the Mazda was a well known car, having been raced by an estimated half-dozen drivers in previous Rally of the North events over previous years including Kaitaia counterpart and mentor, Jay Sharp.

"Everyone knew the car," Hazely said, before giving credit to Sharp for helping the brothers prepare for the rally.

"Jay basically pointed me in the right direction. I don't know if we would have been able to do it without his input."

Unfortunately, Mr Sharp himself was one the casualties in that aforementioned attrition rate when his Subaru Impreza - which had suffered a spectacular and well documented wipeout in the 2012 event - broke down during Stage 2 with a shattered rear diff, a very disappointing outcome for the passionate rally driving enthusiast and his co-driver, Aaron Dean, who had entered the 2013 event with ambition.

The Team Mobi duo refused to let their their heads drop, and once they had the Impreza back on the trailer, went on to watch the remaining stages and root for their Kaitaia counterparts.

"It was awesome this year. The top 20 drivers were pretty awesome, a real quality field," Sharp said, adding he had campaigned strongly to have the rally bought back in the true Far North, after last year's event 'fell short' with most of the racing done in the Bay of Islands/ Mid North area, by encouraging organisers to again include local back roads in Kaitaia.

While he was among many who felt the event could have been better promoted, Sharp noted good crowds were seen at most of the stages as well as turning up to check out the cars at the rally's lunchbreak on Matthews Avenue.

Hawkes Bay's Stewart Taylor with co-driver Warwick Searle secured victory in the Tanoa Paihia Hotel Rally of the North on Saturday after a dramatic event that saw only 36 of the 62 starters completing the whole route.

The opening stage saw Patrick Malley set the pace in his Peugeot 208 Proto car before Taylor, suffering from the 'flu, moved his Mitsubishi Evo 10 into the lead of the rally on

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