Next: Do it again ?and do it better

NEWLY-crowned New Zealand rally champion Richard Mason is still coming back to earth after the excitement of Sunday's victory in the final round, the Rally of Nelson.
He and arch-rival Chris West, of Auckland, the defending champion, slugged it out toe to toe for hundreds of kilometres, with the Masterton man just seconds ahead most of the time in an older, and theoretically, inferior car.
It was all on right from the start in the final event. Overturning a 19-second first stage deficit to leader West, Mason came out of Sunday's opening stage to put himself 16.1 seconds ahead in a faultless run through the 48.84km. West was lucky to survive the opener ? mishearing a note called by co-driver Garry Cowan that put him off the road briefly. West added to the misery by picking up a puncture late in the stage.
In the end, it came down to the final stage in the six round series that decided the 2005 championship.
Mason's consistent stage wins in the Nelson event inched him to start the final 48.84km stage with a 30.6 second buffer to West. And while West won the final test, proving the level of competition, he was only able to take 0.5s out of Mason's lead.
"We're over the moon, it's just awesome," said Mason. "We were jumping for joy at the end of the stage. We just about got out of the car and jumped on the roof ? just so over the moon.
"To do it with one round (less) out of the championship has made the biggest difference. We've really had to fight for it, we've been committed to doing it, it's gone our way, sometimes things just go your way don't they," he said.
Second place was a consolation West was realistic in accepting: "In hindsight, at the end of the day there was no way we could have taken 30 seconds out of Richard in that last stage ? unless he had a problem. Look how close we've been all year. The bar is just now so high; it's too close to be able to get back a gap like that," West said on Sunday.
"We've had some really good years, it just didn't go our way this year ? like punctures, making a mistake in the first stage this morning. You've got to have a bit of luck on your side. At the end of the day, look at the punctures, you could say it cost us the championship today.
"But regardless, Richard has done a fantastic job anyway ? he hasn't put a foot wrong in a stage all year, he deserves it."
The victory came right on schedule, with Mostly Motorsport predicting in 2000 that Mason would be champion within five years.
He and partner and co-driver Sara Randall have been great ambassadors for Wairarapa, and their success is well-deserved. As privateers up against a factory team, they have had a lot of support and have been quick to express their gratitude. For the final event Trust House pitched in with funding. Enzed helped too, and others supplied tyres and other help.
"Tyres are the most expensive part," Mason said. "We used 22 tyres in Nelson, and they're all stuffed."
There were other, less obvious costs.
Mason prepared for the Nelson event with a full day of testing, which cost the team $5000 - $6000 on top of the normal $10,000 per event budget.
"In effect, it was another rally. We did 140km of testing, and that's about the length of Hawke's Bay."
From the moment the deciding Nelson Rally finished Mason's phone has run hot, day and night.
So far they haven't included offers of drives or sponsorship, but with the title under his belt they will come.
"Already we're thinking about next year," he said. "We need a sponsor if we're going to do a good job. We need to work out what we want to achieve, and how to go about that."
There could even be a change of car. The Impreza Mason drove to victory is one formerly campaigned by West, who moved up to his current car, originally built for the late Possum Bourne and upgraded substantially.
"I think we could defend the title in this car, but we're talking to some of the guys driving older Subarus to see if they might be interested in buying it," Mason said.
"It's a Version 7 model and there's already Versions 8 and 9, with 10 due out next year."
For her part, Sara Randall has some unfinished business. A university student, she missed out on one round of the championship due to exams. Mason's brother-in-law and former co-driver Hamish Fenemor returned to the Impreza for that round, and Randall thus missed out on the navigator title, which went to West's co-driver Garry Cowan.
Richard Mason's a patient man. His approach to this season's series was simple: to do the best he could in each stage. String a lot of those together and you have a New Zealand championship.
He's taking the same measured approach to his motorsport future.
"Our immediate goal is to do it again, and to do it better," he said.
"In the meantime, we couldn't be happier."