Mark McMillan prevails in close finish at Wyndham Rally

Invercargill driver Mark McMillan took his maiden rally victory when he won the MLT Barry Robinson Memorial Wyndham Rally on Saturday in a very close finish after 128km of competition.

McMillan and co-driver Murray Wright prevailed in their Subaru Impreza WRX Sti by just 6.3 seconds from Carter Strang/Catriona Flynn of Wallacetown in a Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 10 with brothers James and Harry Worker of Mossburn third in their EVO.

McMillan and co-driver Murray Wright won the opening two stages, building a margin of 19.2 seconds over Strang. That would be as big as the margin got as it ebbed and flowed throughout the day. Top seed Caleb Macdonald of Queenstown in his EVO 6 won the third stage with Carter Strang second and McMillan third which shrunk McMillan’s advantage to just 6.7 seconds over Macdonald. McMillan and Strang shared the fastest time on the fourth stage while Macdonald’s challenge ended as he lost a lot of time when a tyre came off the bead in the stage. With one stage remaining McMillan’s lead was back out to 14.4 seconds over Strang. Strang won the final stage with a time 8.1 seconds quicker than McMillan’s which left McMillan with a 6.3 second advantage and the Barry Robinson Memorial Trophy.

At the finish McMillan said, “it was good to have a bit of luck. The car was good all day. I wanted to push in the first two stages and I was really happy to be up but I was a bit worried after Stage 3 when Caleb (Macdonald) cut the lead. After he went out Carter must have made a massive push on the last stage as we were pushing hard ourselves.” McMillan also praised the efforts of both Strang and Worker.

Strang said, “I wasn’t paying attention to the times. I was just doing my own thing. After the first Service Park my crew said go out and push and after the second service they said go and win the stage! I didn’t really know how we were placed. It was a good battle. I was using all the road and then some. The car was perfect, we did nothing to it all day. The roads were fantastic. We were on the limiter 4 or 5 times. On the last stage I almost overshot a couple of corners.”

Worker was third, 1 minute 48.3 seconds behind Strang with Deane Buist of Christchurch fourth in his 2-wheel-drive Toyota Trueno. Buist was well within the top ten on every stage and took victory in Class C. Jeremy McIlwrick of Winton was fifth and with the first three placegetters not eligible for class honours he took out Class D for 4wd vehicles. Gareth O’Hara of Oamaru in a Toyota Corolla finished sixth, taking the Glen Shirlaw Memorial Trophy for the first Otago Sports Car Club driver home with current New Zealand and Mainland Rally Championship leader, Robbie Stokes of Waikuku, in a leased Subaru Impreza H6 seventh and the Class H win. Stephen Gill of Winton was eighth in his Ford Escort FJ20 taking the win in Class G while David Clearwater of Christchurch (EVO 4) was ninth. Shane McKenzie of Rangiora completed the top ten and took the Class E spoils.

Jake Thomas of Mosgiel in a Toyota Corolla AE86 finished eleventh and in doing so claimed Class F.

The other class winners were Ian Warren of Dunedin who won Class B after finishing seventeenth in his Nissan Pulsar VZR and Pat Norris of Nelson who won Class A after finishing fortieth in his Toyota Yaris.

Tom Milliken of Queenstown won the Barry Robinson Memorial Challenge Trophy for the first Central Otago Motorsport Club member home.

Twentieth seed, Taylor Judd of Christchurch, set a fine seventh fastest stage time in the opening stage on his way to sixteenth place.

Rally Clerk Of The Course, Craig Jessop said, “the weather was brilliant and the roads were in amazing condition. There were no retirements due to accident damage. The support from the locals was amazing and it was great to see groups out on the farms watching and getting behind the event.”

Fourth seed Derek Ayson was out early with diff problems in his leased Ford Fiesta AP4 while other retirements included Phil Terry (gearbox), Bradley Ruddenklau (mechanical), Richard Ford (gearbox) while Harri Silcock, Brian Green and Steve King also all succumbed to mechanical issues. Murray Garrick of Wanaka in a Ford Escort MK2 had problems early but rejoined the event and made it to the finish.

The rally was supported by the Mataura Licensing Trust, Traffic Management Services, Yuasa Battery plus Rayonier Matariki Forests, the Southland District Council, Gore District Council, Prime Range Fresh Shop Lorneville, Matt McRae and the landowners on the rally route plus the Special Stage and Class Sponsors.