A little bit sideways Rallying in New Zealand, where we like to get A Little Bit Sideways! Up to date Rally News from teams around the country together with event reports.
Rangiora’s Matt Summerfield heads to the final round of the Brian Green Property Group New Zealand Rally Championship, the Mahindra Goldrush Rally of Coromandel, looking to find some speed on what he considers his ‘bogey’ event in the NZRC.
Summerfield has twice come to the Whitianga based event with good speed, only to be stumped by a lack of speed on the tight and technical roads.
After winning the final round of the 2015 season, Summerfield and co-driving sister Nicole have shown massive speed across the opening three rounds of the championship, but their car speed has been punctuated by mechanical failures.
After skipping the fourth round of the NZRC, the team took the opportunity to tackle a couple of club rallies, including a victory in the Tauranga Clubman’s Rally, and are riding high on confidence, as well as trying a couple of tweaks to the Castrol Edge Impreza, to fight for the top step of the podium.
“We’ve certainly had a tough run at Coromandel in the past, we’ve just not managed to get the car to click on those roads and we’re not 100% sure why, although we’ve got a few theories and we’re working on sorting those,” says Summerfield. “At the end of the day, I can guarantee you we’ll be giving it everything and it would be great to go into the off-season with a win again.”
The Mahindra Goldrush Rally Coromandel takes place on Saturday August 20 based from the holiday destination of Whitianga. Competitors covering 121 kilometres of special stages split into 10 special stages before the ceremonial finish in Blacksmith Lane from just after 5pm.
Matt Summerfield Rallisport would like to acknowledge their sponsors, without whom their 2016 campaign would not be possible: Castrol Edge, Autotech Services, Brita Safety, Clearwater Painting, North Canterbury Energy Centre, The Gearbox Company, I C Frith Insurance Brokers, Chatterton Builders, Liquorland Rangiora, Good Street Dental and No Limit Construction.
Press Release by BB Media
