Day 1 Report - 2016 NZ Silver Fern Rally

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2016 NZ Silver Fern Rally
Christchurch-Gore-Christchurch
Mon-Sun
Nov 28-Dec 04 2016

DAY 1 REPORT

28-11-16

Husband and wife pair Brian and Anne Stokes (#3 Ford Escort Mk 11) lie eighth in the Historic class after Day 1 of this year's NZ Silver Fern Rally.

BRISTOW HAS WORK TO DO AS SILVER FERN RALLY GETS INTO GEAR

Defending event title holder Vince Bristow has work to do after clutch and gearbox problems slowed he and co-driver Tim Sayer on the opening day of the 2016 New Zealand Silver Fern Rally today.

The clutch blew on the number one seeded Englishman's Ford Escort RS1800 on the very first stage and the winner of the 2014 event later damaged the gearbox as he tried to drive around the problem.

The result is that he and Sayer are 11th after the end of Leg 1, just over three-and-a-half minutes down on the day's Silver Fern Historic class pace-setter, 2014 event runner-up Simon Tysoe and co-driver Paul Morris, also from Great Britain, in an almost identical Mk11 Ford Escort RS 1800.

Today's schedule saw the 45-strong field leave Christchurch's Addington Raceway at 7.30am and head south and west for seven stages, three west of Temuka in the morning with a service park at Fairlie then four-through-seven on either side of the Waitaki Valley in the afternoon and evening before the first overnight stop in Oamaru.

Tysoe and Morris head into the second of the biennial event's seven full days tomorrow with a lead of just over six seconds over Australian Escort RS1800 pair Stewart Reid and Dave Neill with Welshmen Meirion Evans and Lestyn Williams third in their Escort and Yorkshiremen Matthew Robinson and Sam Collis the first of the non-Ford runners in fourth place in a Fiat 131R.

The Silver Fern Challenge, for newer front or rear-wheel-drive cars, meanwhile, is being led by the experienced Auckland pairing of Dave Strong and co-driver Rob Scott in Strong's Honda Civic Type R. Second, just less than a minute behind is the Ford Escort of Derek Ayson and co-driver Gavin McDermott from Gore, with another Escort, this time in the hands of expat Scot Ally MacKay from Christchurch and do-driver Andrew Graves of Gore, third and the Honda Civic 1800 of Hamilton driver Charlie Evans and co-driver Sue O'Neill from Wellington fourth.

Five-time Targa NZ tarmac rally winner Tony Quinn and co-driver Cassidy Solomon also had a good day in the Queensland-based Scot's first major marathon gravel event, the pair having worked their way up to sixth place in the Challenge class by day's end in Quinn's Toyota 86

Tomorrow (Tuesday) sees the event head south then west into the Maniototo for another 166kms of special stages before the first of two overnight stops in Dunedin.

For more information including itinerary and detailed stage descriptions and maps go to the event website www.silverfernrally.co.nz

Ends

2016 NZ Silver Fern Rally Christchurch-Gore-Christchurch Mon-Sun Nov 28-Dec 04 2016

Results

Day 1 Classification

Silver Fern Historic

1. Simon Tysoe/Paul Morris (Ford Escort RS1800) 1:34:04.4

2. Stewart Reid/Dave Neill (Ford Escort Mk2 RS1800) 1:34:11.2 +0:06.8

3. Meirion Evans/Lestyn Williams (Ford Escort Mk2) 1:34:41.2 +0:36.8

4. Matthew Robinson/Sam Collis (Fiat 131) 1:35:18.9 +1:14.5

5. Keith Callinan/Mary-Anne Callinan (Ford Escort) 1:35:34.6 +1:30.2

6. Jake Scannell/Chris Lancaster (Toyota AE86) 1:36:44.0 +2:39.6

7. Phil Squires/Nigel Hutchinson (Ford Escort) 1:36:48.0 +2:43.6

8. Brian Stokes/Anne Stokes (Ford Escort) 1:37:02.8 +2:58.4

9. Brian Green/Fleur Pedersen (Ford Escort RS1800) 1:37:05.5 +3:01.1

10. Allan Dippie/ Paul Coghill (Porsche 911) 1:37:19.6 +3:15.2

11. Vince Bristow/Tim Sayer (Ford Escort Mk2 RS1800) 1:37:44.4 +3:40.0

Silver Fern Challenge

1. Dave Strong/Rob Scott (Honda Civic Type R) 1:32:18.5

2. Derek Ayson/Gavin McDermott (Ford Escort) 1:33:14.5 +0:56.0

3. Ally MacKay/Andrew Graves (Ford Escort Mk2) 1:34:56.6 +2:38.1

4. Charlie Evans/Sue O'Neill (Honda Civic 1800) 1:35:56.9 +3:38.4

5. Brodie Anderson/Brad Lyons (Ford Escort Mk2) 1:36:26.5 +4:08.0

6. Tony Quinn/Cassidy Solomon (Toyota 86) 1:38:20.4 +6.01

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