Hawkes Bay’s Stewart Taylor along with co-driver Warwick Searle have taken victory in the Tanoa Paihia Hotel Rally of the North after a dramatic event that saw only 36 of the 62 starters completing the whole route.
The opening stage saw Patrick Malley set the pace in his Peugeot 208 Proto car before Taylor, who was suffering from the ‘flu, move his Mitsubishi Evo 10 into the lead of the rally on stage two with a time almost 17 seconds faster than his nearest competitor. Two more stage wins would leave him with a comfortable lead over Dylan Turner at the lunch break.
Stage four would see the rally turn on its head with four of the top ten cars going off the road. Both Malley and Matt Jensen would end their rallies while Carl Davies and Nigel Adams would continue to the end of the stage with damage, the latter doing so on three wheels.
With a repaired car, Adams and rally returnee Shannon Chambers would set the pace across the afternoon but when Turner retired after stage five, Taylor’s lead would be safe for the afternoon.
While Taylor made the top spot his own, the battle for second would be between Chambers and Phil Campbell, with the pair separated by less than three seconds heading into the final stage. A charge from Campbell and overheating problems for Chambers meant Campbell would take second, while Geof Argyle and Lee Robson would round out the top five.
Class wins would go to Justin Glavish (Class A), McCrae Sloper (Class B), Anthony Jones (Class C), Stewart Taylor (Class D) and Rex Visible (Class E).
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