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The Christchurch 22 year old finished 6th overall after an event-long battle with fellow Subaru driver, and top Nelson local, Kieran Hall, who wrested 5th place away from Matt on the very last stage, to take out 5th by just 1.7 seconds - after almost 3 hours flat-out driving.
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"It's been a challenging season so far - both on and off the road,"Â said Matt. "but this result is extremely satisfying as we have regained not only the speed we have been searching for, but also the consistency that saw us run comfortably inside the Top Ten throughout the entire event."
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In fact, an analysis of their stage times further reflects this improved performance and consistency, in that the MITECH WELDERS Subaru was significantly faster on the second pass of every stage,
and the stage placings ranged between 6th and 9th for all 12 stages.
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Matt puts a lot of this down to the benefits he gained by attending the Elite Motorsport Academy last month, and the excellent work done by Co-driver Jason Farmer, whose expertise both preparing and delivering the pace notes - particularly on Nelson's very high speed roads - is 'second to none'.
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"Jason is definitely at the top of his game and his confidence really helps motivate me," said Matt, "When you are flat out in 5th gear, there is no margin for error or a moments hesitation and Jason never 'missed a beat'. We really worked well together."
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"My time at the [Elite Motorsport] Academy certainly paid off as I noticed a big difference in my physical and mental state, both before and during the rally, especially in the latter part of each day - as our quicker [stage] times indicate."
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"And all aspects of the car, from the Proflex Suspension to the Dunlop Tyres, and the PMT Motorsport Team - even being down one with [brother] Taylor being unavailable - all worked faultlessly and made this our most enjoyable rally for some time."
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"So now we can turn our attention to the final round of the [NZRC] series, at Wairarapa in three weeks' time, with a great deal of confidence, as we 'go for broke' to move further up the GoldStar points table," concluded Matt.
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