Phil Campbell has leapt back to the top of the North Island Rally Series standings and holds a slender one point advantage over Quentin Palmer ahead of the final round after winning the Battery Town Bay Rally in the Bay of Plenty on Saturday.
While Zeal Jones/Waverley Jones (Skoda Fabia R5) led for most of the day, consistency from Campbell and co-driver Brianna Little held them in good stead to pick up the win when Jones faltered late in the day.
“A really good day for us,” commented Campbell who now leads the overall points table with one round remaining.
“The event is close to home, and we were on familiar roads so a successful day in all. The key was making sure that we were there at the end and finishing”
Having missed the last gravel NIRS round, this was the first non-tarmac rally for the crew this season.
“We had a few challenges over the day particularly early on with fuel pressure. The biggest challenge was with the pace-notes. Brianna did an awesome job, I just needed to get up to speed.”
The event also doubled as the penultimate round of the Brian Green Property Group New Zealand Rally Championship with a total distance of 428km with 150km of Special Stages run on public roads in the Te Puke and Matata areas.
While Campbell was the fastest NIRS car in the opening Special Stage, Jones was quickest through the next seven with Campbell, Quentin Palmer/Noel Maloney (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 5), Todd Bawden/Dave Neill (Ford Fiesta R5 MkII), Hayden Mackenzie/Shane Reynolds (Toyota Yaris AP4) and Ben Huband/Tania Cresswell (Subaru WRX) fighting over the other top five positions.
Behind them was an impressive performance by Carlin Leong/Nathan Roa (Subaru Impreza WRX) having fully rebuilt their car after completely wrecking it back in July by rolling upside down in a stream.
Heading into SS 10, Campbell was a minute down on Jones who then punctured at the start of the stage. Campbell won his second stage of the day reducing the gap to 21 seconds.
Both SS 9 and 11 were cancelled, meaning Campbell had one last chance in SS 12 which he won. Jones dropped to tenth for the stage, 21 seconds behind Campbell. Third home was Bawden followed by Mackenzie, Palmer and NIRS Driver of the Day, Ben Huband.
“We had a great day,” said Huband. “It’s been a fantastic event. The team was organised really well and it all went smoothly. Initially we were quite slow to start off with and wanted to make sure we finished so the times slowly improved over the day.”
First home in Class A (2WD 0-1300cc) was Steve Cox (Toyota Starlet) who shares the lead with Tony Young (Datsun 1200 SSS).
Class B (2WD 1301-1600cc) sees Rodney James (Toyota MR2) and Phillip Broadbent (Toyota Starlet) tied on 20-points each while Kaden Wood (Nissan Skyline) has a 10-point lead over Stephen Dill (Nissan Pulsar) in Class C (2WD 1601-2000cc), and leads the Rookie Driver standings.
Despite retiring from the event, Charlie Evans (Honda Civic) holds a 20-point lead over Daniel Haines (Ford Escort Mk2), who also had a DNF, in Class D (2WD 2001 and over).
Adrian Smith (Ford Escort Mk2) is tied with David Ayling (Ford Escort RS1800) in Class E (2WD Classic) and Phil Campbell now has a 21-point lead over Hayden Mackenzie in Class F (4WD 1601-1999cc).
Quentin Palmer is second on the points table just one-point behind Campbell with one round remaining. He also has an unbeatable lead of 46-points in Class G (4WD 2001cc and over).
Jamie Rodgers leads Class H (Subaru H6) and Shaun Wade (Mitsubishi Mirage) has an unbeatable 40-point lead in Class 4WD Pre 1996.
There is one final round to complete the 2024 NIRS season with the Newstead Lodge Waitomo Rally, Piopio, underway 20 October 2024.
