High Profile Locals First Entries for Catlins Coast Rally

17 July 2012

High Profile Locals First Entries for Catlins Coast Rally

Three of the souths very best are the first entries for this years Catlins Coast Rally on Saturday 4 August.

2009 winner and defending champion Dean Bond of Balclutha, 2010 winner Andrew Graves of Gore and fellow Gore driver Derek Ayson, the victor in 2005, are all potential winners of this year's event.

Bond has won the event twice in the last three years and is keenly looking forward to this years rally. "The car is going pretty good and has been on the dyno to ensure it is bang on. It went well last time out at Otago and we can fit the bigger turbo restricter for Catlins. The car is solid. It is going so well. Apart from a spark plug problem at Otago it never missed a beat." Bond is particularly quick over the final stages at Catlins, territory very familiar to him. It was there he made his charge to victory in 2009 and where his opponents know he can eat into any margin they may have created.

One thing that could compromise Bonds rally this year is the fact that he is currently leading the Mainland Rally Series of which Catlins is the third round. Bond was third at the West Coast round and won in Otago. "We will see how it goes. If we are in the mix after the early stages we will have a go but otherwise we will settle for a good round result."

Bond rates Ayson, Graves and Regan Ross of Kaikoura, who is expected to enter, as the toughest opposition but also gives local Rhys Gardiner a mention. Gardiner is in his first season in a 4-wheel-drive car. "He knows the roads well. He will be very close. He might be just behind the leading group."

Meanwhile Ayson is hoping everything is right this year. He was leading the rally last year before going off during the third stage. "I made a silly mistake last year. I had been out of 4-wheel-drive cars for a while and it was my first rally in the Gulf Oil Mitsubishi." Ayson went off on the Cannibal Bay stage. "I was gutted. It is my favourite stage," he recalled this week. He rates Bond, Graves and, if he enters, Ross as likely to be his toughest rivals. "I'm really looking forward to it. They are all really good guys. Bondy is going good with new brakes on his car and Andrew (Graves) dusted me at Lawrence late last year where he drove really well." That was Ayson's last outing in the EVO 8 and the car has been "sulking in the shed since." A tune up is planned prior to Catlins as Ayson feels the car is a little down on power.

Graves won the rally in 2010 in his elderly Mitsubishi EVO 3. He has also won the event in the co-driver seat, alongside Ayson in 2005. His most recent rally outing was also as a co-driver, having just returned from Rally NZ where he sat alongside Duncan McCrostie. As usual Graves is taking a relaxed approach into the event. "It's time to dust off the car for another run. We will do what we do and if all is good and well we should have a good battle."

The local trio are sure to be at the front in what promises to be another action packed day in the Catlins.

This years Catlins Coast Rally again features eight Special Stages totalling 157 kilometres of competitive mileage along with a further 90 kilometres of Touring Stages. As is traditional the first car will leave from Owaka Motors in Owaka at 9.00am on Saturday 4 August.

The final stage will again be the very popular Riverside Reserve stage in Balclutha, a stage that always attracts an excellent crowd.

Support for the 2012 Catlins Coast Rally comes from MWH, the Rosebank Lodge, SouthRoads, Owaka Motors and Century Batteries.

ENDS

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