Masterton pair lead rally from start to take points

Richard and Sara Mason, the husband and wife rally driving duo from Masterton, led from start to finish in the Drivesouth Rally Otago over the weekend, to win the event and take the lead in the 2012 Brian Green Property Group New Zealand Rally Championship.

The Otago event is the third NZRC round of the season and Sunday's conditions included bouts of strong winds during the morning stages, before teams returned to an unseasonably calm and warm Dunedin for the afternoon ceremonial finish.

The first three stages were run in the dark on Friday and the Masons took an early lead of 35 seconds over Rotorua's brother and sister pairing of Sloan and Tarryn Cox.

On Saturday, despite determined challenges from Cox and Timaru's Chris West and Chris Cobham, the Masons extended their lead to 53 seconds after eight further competitive tests.

By the end of Sunday, they had a comfortable margin of 2min 13.7s over West, while Dunedin's Emma Gilmour and co-driver Anthony McLoughlin wrapped up the event's 17 stages in third overall.

Winning both legs in Otago earned the Masons maximum points toward the five round NZRC series, and the defending NZRC champions also set the quickest time in the power stage to earn three bonus points. Richard Mason, in the overall NZRC drivers' championship, now has 90 points, 20 points ahead of Gilmour in second place.

Mason said Sunday's stages were "a bit heart-stopping at times", with the fast turns and twists over the Otago crests, but they had managed to survive the challenges posed them.

The victory means Mason is one shy of triple New Zealand rally champion Neil Allport's record of 22 round victories.

NZRC points

Richard Mason (Masterton) 90pts

Emma Gilmour (Dunedin) 70pts

Alex Kelsey (Coromandel) 51pts

Matt Jensen (Christchurch) 48pts

Chris West (Timaru) 44pts

Sloan Cox (Rotorua) 22pts

Kingsley Thompson (Auckland) 21pts

Marcus van Klink (Kaiapoi) 20pts

Matt Summerfield (Rangiora) 12pts

Dean Bond (Balclutha)10pts