Rod Millen’s purpose-built driveway in the Coromandel Peninsula will once again host the annual battle for hill climb supremacy, as Alister McRae aims for his third consecutive victory this weekend.
Brother of the late, great Colin McRae, he has become the long-term guest driver of the ex-Possum Bourne Subaru WRX STI WRC car over the past four years.
Owned by Bourne’s former co-driver Craig Vincent’s company Vantage, the black beast collected the final Race to the Sky trophy in 2015, back-to-back victories at the Leadfoot Festival in 2017 and 2018 and the coveted Ashley Forest Rallysprint trophy last year, in McRae’s talented hands.
The contest for Leadfoot glory is likely to be between him and Rotorua fast-man Sloan Cox, who has been bridesmaid the past two years and is keen to oust McRae from the top spot in his high-horsepower Mitsubishi hill climb special.
●The four-round New Zealand Motocross Championship revs into action this weekend in Taranaki, with the fight for MX1 honours likely to be a transtasman see-saw.
Defending champion Kirk Gibbs has returned — riding for Yamaha this season — and is hoping to take the silverware back across the ditch with him. However, Mt Maunganui’s Cody Cooper is in fine form to wrest back the red plate, especially after his convincing wins of both the premier MX1 races to claim the outright win at the New Zealand Grand Prix at Woodville last weekend.
by Catherine Pattison
Photo: Geoff Ridder
