Chris Hey has continued his unlimited 2WD class dominance at the Ashley Forest Rallysprint, winning the category for a staggering 12th consecutive year and breaking its record with a 1min:00.9secs time.
The Mosgiel driver had his 14-year-old son Koby on board in the co-driver’s seat as his mighty Toyota MR2 powered up the 1.7km horseshoe-shaped course, near Rangiora, over the two-day event. Heading into the elimination runs Hey struck trouble with a misfire and enlisted Cromwell driver Hayden Paddon’s technicians to help out.
‘‘Thanks to them. They diagnosed the problem and did a temporary fix,’’ he said.
Paddon broke the existing record of 54.96secs, lowering it to 52.77secs in his Hyundai i20 AP4++ car that was modified for the event.
Dunedin’s Mike Wellington also had a strong showing making it into the top eight with a fastest run of 59.91secs in his Mitsubishi Evo 8 RS.
- by Catherine Pattison
