Results change Rally’s Rising Stars standings

Wairarapa results change Rally’s Rising Stars standings

With this weekend’s Trust House Racetech Rally Wairarapa completed, Geraldine’s Hayden Paddon and Whangarei’s Ben Jagger still feature at the top of the points’ tables for the two Rally New Zealand Rising Stars Awards. But now Rotorua’s Sloan Cox and Auckland’s Patrick Malley have closed in on Paddon and Jagger in the International Award and the Development Award respectively.

The Rising Stars driver development programmes see competitors, aged 26 or younger, select four rallies in which to collect points towards either of the two awards.

Paddon did not nominate the Wairarapa event for Rising Stars points, having already completed three of his four nominated events. This allowed Cox and other International Award competitors Matt Jansen and Josh Marston, both from Christchurch, the opportunity to score points towards the Award which provides the winner with professional mentoring and funding towards their 2010 rally campaign in a package worth at least $50,000.

In each of the Awards, the top two drivers, plus a wildcard entry, will attend a one day Rising Stars shoot-out to decide the winner in November after the final two points’ scoring opportunities – the Possum Bourne Memorial Rally in August and September’s Rally Nelson – are complete.

Paddon, with 30 points, and Cox, with 26 points, have a handy advantage over third-placed Kieran Hall, from Nelson, who has 18 points.

In the Development Award for drivers competing in two-wheel-drive cars, Jagger also elected not to nominate the Wairarapa event to score points. Jagger currently has 29 points ahead of archrival Ford Fiesta driver Patrick Malley now with 27 points. Ben Hunt, who won the first tier of the Rising Stars programme late last year, the Rising Star Scholarship, holds third place with 18 points ahead of fellow Nelson young drivers Daniel Harris and Dominick Unterberger.

“We’re particularly delighted to see Ben Hunt do so well in the Trust House Racetech Rally Wairarapa,” says Rally New Zealand chairman Chris Carr after seeing Hunt finish a well-deserved 13th place overall, ninth amongst the Vantage New Zealand Rally Championship contenders and best in the two-wheel-drive class.

“Ben hadn’t rallied on the Wairarapa roads before and given their wet, slippery condition, this was a great drive from his starting position of 18th on the road. While Ben wasn’t collecting points this weekend for the Rising Stars Development Award, we watch his progress with great interest as our inaugural Scholarship winner. This is a fine result for Ben against competitors will a lot more experience.

“We’re also delighted to see several of our Scholarship applicants competing in Wairarapa and doing well. Hamilton’s Stephen Barker was sixth overall with Lower Hutt driver Piran Pigneguy coming home eighth. Right behind Ben Hunt in 13th was current Development Award leader Ben Jagger with another Rising Stars Scholarship and Award contender Daniel Harris in 15th. This is a particularly noteworthy effort from the 18-year-old Harris as he rolled heavily in Whangarei in June and has had the logistical and financial challenges of rebuilding his Ford Fiesta to be ready for this event.”

The Rising Stars Development Award is for competitors currently running in the N3 or production car front-wheel-drive championship, and offers the 2009 winner support to run a four-wheel-drive car in Rally New Zealand and the New Zealand Rally Championship in 2010. The Rising Stars International Award provides the 2009 winner with significant funding and support to contest a major international rally in 2010. Each award prize package is worth at least $50,000 and compliments the Rising Stars Scholarship for a rookie driver.

Drivers interested in competing for the 2010 Rising Stars Scholarship can now register their intentions with Rally New Zealand by emailing the Rally office, info@rallynz.org.nz, to receive all relevant information. Applications will open in August with the 2010 Scholarship weekend shoot-out expected to take place at the same time as the shoot-out for this year’s Development and International Awards in November.

The current points for the 2009 Rally New Zealand Rising Stars programme can be found at http://www.chrissport.co.nz/points/2009/risingstar.htm, while the weekend’s Rising Star’s results can be tracked via the Rally Wairarapa link on the left hand side of www.chrissport.co.nz.

ENDS

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