Motorsport: Herbert makes history, Mason unstoppable

Palmerston North's Bruce Herbert bowed out in style when he became the most successful rally driver in national championship history today.

Herbert, 45, became the first person to win the Parker Enzed-sponsored series four times after finishing second in the final round at rally Hawke's Bay in his championship swansong.

The Subaru driver surpassed the efforts of Rod Millen, Tony Teesdale, Neil Allport and Joe McAndrew, who all won the national title three times, with Herbert achieving his four championship victories in succession.

He won his first national title in 2000, taking over from fellow Manawatu driver Geof Argyle, who has also announced his retirement from the championship scene.

The changing of the guard in the domestic rally scene was ushered in with current Propecia scholarship winner Richard Mason, of Masterton, defending the Hawke's Bay title he won last year and narrowly missing runner-up spot in the national championship.

Mason, 25, totally dominated the Hawke's Bay event, scoring fastest time in all eight special stages in the Mitsubishi Evo 5 to finished almost four minutes ahead of Herbert.

Mason made his mark with the two night forest stages yesterday, taking a 32-second advantage over Herbert into today's stages in the Wairoa region.

Herbert wanted to go out on a winning note, but after finding himself in arrears on last night, he was content to drive with a degree of circumspection today when needing only to finish to claim his place in New Zealand rally history.

Mason continued in a class of his own, completing today's third special stage at Hereheretau 21sec ahead of Argyle and 19sec ahead of Auckland's Todd Bawden on special stage four.

Midway through the rally Mason had a lead of 1min 35sec over Herbert with Argyle another 12sec in arrears.

Mason went on to win by 3min 56sec ahead of Herbert, with Hawera's Glenn Smith gaining his first podium place in the championship a further 1min 39sec behind.

Auckland driver Daynom Templeman 6) was the leading group N driver in the absence of Timaru's Chris West, who successfully wrapped up the national title before the final round.

Provisional results of the rally of Hawke's Bay:-

Richard Mason/Laurie Brenssell (Masterton, Mitsubishi Evo 5) 1hr 36min 46sec 1, Bruce Herbert/Rob Ryan (Palmerston North, Subaru) at 3min 56sec behind 2, Glenn Smith/Colin Smith (Hawera, Mitsubishi Evo 6) at 5min 35sec 3, Brian Green/Fleur Pedersen (Palmerston North, Ford Escort) at 6min sec 4, Wayne Parker/Brendan McKay (Palmerston North, Mitsubishi Evo 5) at 6min 33sec 5, Malcolm Stewart/Michael Fletcher (Dannevirke, Mitsubishi Evo 6.5) at 7min 42sec 6, Daynom Templeman/Kingsley Jones (Auckland, Mitsubishi Evo 6) at 8min 20sec 7, Emma Gilmour/Glenn MacNeall (Dunedin, Mitsubishi Lancer) at 8min 29sec 8, Peter Trotter/Murray Trotter (Paraparaumu, Mitsubishi) at 9min 39sec 9, Struan Robertson/Belinda Hatton (Palmerston North, Mitsubishi) at 9min 39sec 10.

Provisional final national series points: Herbert 166, Argyle 122, Mason 120, Andrew Hawkeswood (Auckland) 83, Todd Bawden (Auckland) 73, Chris West (Timaru) 59, John Giltrap (Christchurch) 55, Smith 47, Templeman 46, Mark Tapper (Auckland) 41.

Group N: West 129, Giltrap 114, Templeman 93, Tapper 89, Dean Sumner (Rotorua) 79.

Junior championship: Mason 161, Tapper 105, Sumner 96, Hideaki Ito (Auckland) 64, Emma Gilmour 41.

Two-Wheel drive: Deane Buist (Christchurch) 111, Sara Randall (Nelson) 95, Jason West (Dunedin) 86, Kayne Barrier (Auckland) 75, Dave Strong (Auckland) 40.

Rookie award: Sumner 115, Ito 80, Gilmour 50.

- NZPA