A few late withdrawals left 52 competitors to take on the challenging course and the strong, intermittent wind gusts. The one positive of the windy conditions was the lack of residual dust which in previous years has drifted across onto the downhill side of the course; however the dust combined with the wind gusts was unpleasant for the marshals dotted around the infield and worse still for the starters who copped showers of dust and stones from the cars leaving the Supa Karts start line.

Rob McKenzie’s weekend finished before it had really started as his Toyota Corolla ground to a halt with drive issues a few centimetres past the Supa Karts start line on the first qualifying round of the day.  Another Rob having issues was Rob Lewis in the Ford Escort MK2 who spun at Noters and had a moment at The Plough Dipper. 13 proved to be unlucky for Stefan Moser-Rust as his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6 had a gearbox issue that caused him to miss this run. A second Mitsubishi Lancer driver having issues was Jeremy Beaton in the Evo 1 who came to a halt at the Repco hairpin but managed to get going again and finish the run. Topping the leader board at the end of the round was Hayden Paddon in the Hyundai i20 on 57.13 with Sloan Cox, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 8, hard on his heels .01 behind. Paddon’s other car, the Hyundai Kona EV, rounded out the podium with a 58.81. There was a close battle developing for 4^th, 5^th and 6^th between Phil Campbell, Ford Fiesta AP4, who was making an impressive debut with a 1:02.46 to lead the Brand Mechanical Rally 4WD class, David Quantock in the Pub Charity Unlimited 4WD class leading Skoda Fabia AP4 on a 1:02.62, who had unfinished business after qualifying for the Top 16 last year but an issue with the car prevented him showing its full potential, and Ari Pettigrew, driving the 4WD Holden Barina AP4 here for the first time and right on Quantock’s tail on a 1:02.63. In the Waimak Bins Cross Car class Matt Penrose was comfortably leading from Jarrod Owens and Harri Silcock.

The course threw up challenges for some of the drivers in Run 2 with Chris Herdman’s Starlet giving the tyre at the Repco hairpin a decent nudge which cost him 1.5 seconds. Some of the Escorts in the field experienced difficulties on this run. Rob McKenzie was the first to experience an issue with a spin at The Kink. The MK2 Escort of Tim McIver returned to the Supa Karts start line with a flat tyre which clearly didn’t slow him down as he knocked 2 seconds off his first run time. The Repco hairpin tyre also pulled in Willy Hawes’ Toyota 86; however he lowered his previous run time by 1.5 seconds. Glenn Alcorn, one of the two Australian competitors at the event this year, gave the tyre a nudge causing damage to the right front bumper of his Ford Escort RS2000. Dave Ollis spectacularly rolled his appropriately number plated AWWNOO Subaru Impreza at The Plough Hotel Dipper. Fortunately Dave was OK but the first of his Impreza’s would take no further part in the rally sprint. The rest of the run was drama free. Jeremy Beaton sat this run out as he continued to work on his Evo 1. Hayden Paddon continued to top the time sheet with a 56.11 from his Kona EV .85 behind with Sloan Cox a further 3 seconds adrift. Ari Pettigrew, Neil Webb, Mitsubishi Mirage, Mike Tall, Mitsubishi Mirage and Phil Campbell had all set 1 minute times with 0.6 seconds separating the four drivers. Defending Skip 2 U 0-1300cc class champion Chris Herdman was having a good battle with the Starlets of Paul Roughan and Peter Murch to qualify for their class runoff.

The third and final run of day one of competition was uneventful apart from a spin by Scott Johnson in the Toyota Supra on the uphill section of the course. Sloan Cox opted to sit this run out. Hayden Paddon’s two entries were holding the top two spots on a 55.78 and a 56.14 respectively. Neil Webb and Ari Pettigrew both broke the minute mark with .02 separating them. Also going under the minute was David Quantock who was half a second ahead of Neil and Ari. Phil Campbell and Mike Tall were also close with .18 separating them. Jeremy Beaton had sorted the issue with his Evo 1 and showed what he and his car are capable of.

The 4^th and final qualifying run was a good spectacle as drivers took their last chance to qualify for the Top 32 round and the class run offs. Unfortunately for Harri Silcock his Starlet would go no further as he rolled it on the downhill leg. John Ward’s Subaru Impreza WRX STi had an issue on the way downhill which cost him 4 seconds but his previous run time was good enough for him to go through to the next round. Daniel Feck had an altercation with the bank on the uphill in his Mitsubishi FTO with no obvious damage. Josh Mitchell’s weekend came to an end on this run with a broken gearbox. The run had a final sting in the tail for Sloan Cox as he crashed just after crossing the Kumho Tyres Finish Line. Hayden Paddon stood the i20 down on this run having done enough to qualify for the Top 32 but did take the opportunity to take the EV for another blast around the course. Phil Campbell joined the battle for 3^rd as he went under the minute on a 59.76.

The first elimination run was uneventful apart from Steve Pabst spinning his Holden Commodore within sight of the Supa Karts start line.  Hayden Paddon continued to hold the first two spots on the leader board with a 54.08 and 55.51 respectively. Also breaking the minute mark was Mike Tall who moved into 3^rd overall on 58.05 closely followed by Neil Webb, Phil Campbell and Ari Pettigrew.

There was a good battle developing for 13^th to 16^th between Stefan Moser-Rust, 1:04.00, Dave Ollis, .02 behind, Corey MacAskill, Subaru Impreza on 1:04.51 and the Mitsubishi Galant of Shane McKenzie .26 behind.

With the first elimination round completed it was onto the class runoff for the Waimak Bins cross cars.  Matt Penrose was fastest on a 59.95 from Jarrod Owens and Harri Silcock. Next up was the Skip 2 U 0-1300cc class runoff. Defending champion Chris Herdman had no answer to Paul Roughan who took the title in a 1:10.85. Filling the final step of the podium was Peter Murch.

The sole incident in the top 16 was a spin by Jeremy Beaton after the Kumho Tyres finish line, wiping out one of their signs and backing his Evo 1 into the bank. Fortunately he had recorded a time of 1:00.85 before his spin. Hayden Paddon was still holding 1^st and 2^nd overall; he withdrew the EV at the end of this round. 2.6 seconds covered the next 5 drivers who were Neil Webb, Phil Campbell, Mike Tall, David Quantock and Ari Pettigrew.

The Parks Engineering 1301-1600cc class run off was contested by Shane Paget, Ford Escort MK2, and Tim McDonald, Toyota Corolla and Kerry Sloan, Toyota Starlet.  Kerry Sloan defended his title from Tim McDonald, who also repeated his 2022 class placing ahead of Shane Paget.

Filling the space vacated by the withdrawal of Hayden Paddon’s EV was Jeremy Beaton.   6 of the 8 drivers in this round went under the minute.   Hayden Paddon continued to lead the way from Neil Webb.  The next three drivers, David Quantock, Ari Pettigrew and Phil Campbell, were covered by .13 of a second. 

Next up was the Demon Decals and Design Classic 2WD Class run off with Stewart Reid, Mazda RX7, runner-up in this class in 2022, taking the win from Tim McIver and the RX7 of Phil Walker.

This round was the remaining four competitor’s last chance to make it to the final.  Hayden Paddon remained at the top of the leader board setting a 54.25 with Neil Webb less than a second behind.  David Quantock and Ari Pettigrew had been trading places over the last few rounds with Ari Pettigrew taking 3^rd overall by .61 of a second.  Also decided at the end of this round was the Brand Mechanical Rally 4WD and Pub Charity Unlimited 4WD class results.  Phil Campbell took out the Brand Mechanical Rally 4WD class on debut from Corey MacAskill and Shane McKenzie.  The Pub Charity Unlimited 4WD class win went to David Quantock followed by Mike Tall and Jeremy Beaton.  The final class run off was for the Secure Fence and Scaffold Unlimited 2WD class.  Chris Hey, Toyota MR2, won his 13^th title from Glenn Alcorn and Steve Pabst.  With the top 2 contenders decided Hayden Paddon opted to run first setting a new course record time of 52.00 becoming the first four time winner of the event.  Neil Webb put in his second fastest run of the weekend but couldn’t match Paddon’s pace with a time of 55.63.

Congratulations to Hayden for taking the outright victory and a new course record.

Thanks to the competitors who travelled from all around New Zealand and over from Australia for making the latest chapter in the rallysprint's history a memorable one.

Thanks to the organising committee and all those who helped before, during and after the event. We would not have been able to run the event without your invaluable assistance.

Click here for results.

Photo Credit: Mad Angles Photography

Article added: Monday 18 September 2023