Mason blasts away top lineup

National rally champion Richard Mason, of Masterton, came from behind to beat Australian title holder Cody Crocker to win the Rotorua International Rally yesterday.
The event doubled as a round of the Asia Pacific and national championships. Crocker put light years between himself and his Asia Pacific rivals, while Masterton's Mason won both heats of the national series.
Crocker, who has won the Australian title for the last three years, finished 8.9 seconds behind Mason after 265 kms of special stages.
Mason took over the lead with a blistering time through the 19 kms long tenth of the 12 stages when he beat Crocker by 17.8 seconds to turn an 11.1 seconds deficit into a 6.7 seconds advantage.
The pair were both driving Subaru Impreza WRX STIs, as were third and fourth placed Sam Murray (Palmerston North) and Todd Bawden (Auckland), cementing another Subaru clean sweep of the top placings.
In Sunday's second heat of the national championship, Mason led home Murray by more than a minute and Bawden.
2004 national champion Chris West had a weekend he and the Winger Motorsport team would rather forget.
After the turbo blew on the final stage of Saturday's first heat, he restarted on Sunday morning with a new turbocharger fitted, but withdrew after two stages rather than risk engine damage.
"We knew we might not make it through the day," said West. "The motor didn't feel quite right from the first stage. But we had to give it a go for the championship points."
The team believes the initial damage to the turbo may have been caused by ingesting some water in one of the fords in the Motu stage on Saturday morning.
The retirements on both heats have pushed West back to sixth place in the championship standings after starting the event tied for first on points with Mason.
"We've been in worst positions in the past," said West. "Once I got used to the new centre diff settings the pace was certainly there. Now we've just got to focus on the Whangarei event and the rest of the season."
The victory was Mason's first on an international event and Murray's first podium finish at an international level.
Rally of Rotorua, Round 2 National Championship, Heat 2
1, R Mason, S Randall (Subaru Impreza WRX STI) 1 hr 03 mins 53.6 secs;
2, S Murray, R Ryan (Subaru Impreza WRX STI) 1.05.32.2;
3, T Bawden, D McLachlan (Subaru Impreza WRX STI) 1.06.19.8
4, B Martin, R Bennett (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo9) 1.06.29.9;
5, E Gilmour, C Cobham (Subaru Impreza WRX STI) 1.06.55.6;
6, B Taylor, C Ramsay (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo6) 1.06.59.0.
International Rally of Rotorua Overall
1, Mason, Randall, 3 hrs 12 mins 38.2 secs;
2, C Crocker, B Atkinson (Subaru Impreza WRX STI) 3.12.47.1;
3, Murray, Ryan, 3.20.59.9;
4, Bawden, McLachlan, 3.21.53.6;
5, Martin, Bennett, 3.25.05.7;
6, R Sungkar, H Mohamad (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo8) 3.27.59.0;
National Championship Points
1, Mason, 123 points; 2, Murray, 97; 3, Bawden, 73; 4, Gilmou