BUBBLY: The celebrations begin for Richard and Sara Mason after their history-making win in the Rally of Wairarapa. PHOTOS/ANDREW BONALLACK
BUBBLY: The celebrations begin for Richard and Sara Mason after their history-making win in the Rally of Wairarapa. PHOTOS/ANDREW BONALLACK
The Masterton husband-and-wife pairing of Richard and Sara Mason could not have sealed their record-making fifth New Zealand Rally Championship title in more emphatic fashion.
The only difficulty after their remarkable victory in the Trust House Racetech Rally of Wairarapa on Saturday, was coming up with superlatives to do justiceto an effort in which they won all nine stages to clinch the 2014 national title with still two of the six rounds to go.
That the Masons produced an absolute masterclass of driving over a series of flowing, gravel roads in their bright yellow BNT Subaru Impreza goes without saying. Their dominance of the 163km event is evidenced by their winning margin of 2mins 44secs over second-placed Ben Hunt of Nelson and they made their intentions known early - setting such a hot pace on the first stage over 33km, that they led Hunt by all of 49.6secs at the end of it.
Not surprisingly, Richard Mason was ecstatic with the result. He said the wrapping up of the national title at home was the "icing on the cake". Making it even more special was that it had been the dying wish of long-term supporter and sponsor Greg Horne, who passed away earlier this year, that they would take out the championship for a fifth time, "and we've done it for him".
Saturday's success was the fourth scored by the Masons in as many rounds of the NZRC this year, having followed on from previous impressive wins in Whangarei, Canterbury and Otago. They now sit on 144pts, a thumping and unassailable 86pts ahead of Hunt who is next best on 58pts.
Not only did the latest win seal a historic fifth national title for the Masons - it also means Sara Mason has equalled Bob Haldane's record of 24 successes as a co-driver in the NZRC.
She will get the chance to hold that record on her own when the fifth round of this year's championship is held in Coromandel on August 23.
If the Masons win there and again in the Daybreaker Rally of Manawatu on September 27 it will be the first clean sweep in the NZRC
Third place in the Wairarapa rally went to David Holder of Tauranga, who had a trouble-free run, with Graeme Featherstone of Te Aroha fourth and Matt Summerfield of Rangiora fifth.
Holding down second on the points table going into this event was Lance Williams but an off-road excursion ended his hopes while Dunedin's Emma Gilmour rolled out of the rally on special stage two in her Suzuki Swift and Brian Green retired with a broken gear selector.
Current NZRC points are: Richard Mason (Masterton-Subaru Impreza) 144, Ben Hunt (Nelson-Subaru Impreza) 58, David Holder (Tauranga-Mitsubishi Lancer) 54, Matt Summerfield (Rangiora-Subaru Impreza) 49, Lance Williams (Te Aroha-Subaru Impreza) 46, Graeme Featherstone (Te Aroha-Mitsubishi) 30, Phil Campbell (Tauranga-Mitsubishi) 20, Matt Jansen (Christchurch-Subaru Impreza) 18, Richard Baddock (Christchurch-Subaru) 18.
