Rising Star, Barker, takes 2WD championship

This year’s Rally New Zealand Rising Stars Scholarship winner Stephen Barker won the Group N (production class) two-wheel-drive class of the Vantage New Zealand Rally Championship.

Barker’s win came at the final round of the national championship, Rally Wairarapa, but the other Rising Stars’ competitor at this event, Ben Jagger, this year’s Development award holder, unfortunately had a promising start at the event cut short when he left the road early on day two.

Kerikeri-based Barker started the final round needing simply to finish the two-day rally to claim his first national title. The 21-year-old took an 8.7 second victory over main class rival Ben Hunt on the first day with Barker driving the Rising Stars-backed Ford Fiesta to three stage victories.

Day two saw Barker and Hunt again involved in a big battle, but thinking about the 2WD championship victory Barker drove sensibly, eventually finishing 10.7 seconds behind Hunt for the day and just two seconds behind for the weekend. Barker’s previous results over the course of the season meant that he and co-driver Richard Ellis claimed their first national championship titles by a convincing 33 points.

“Obviously I’m stoked, not just for me, but for the whole team,” said Barker. “A huge thanks has to go to Rally New Zealand and the Rising Stars Scholarship for making this happen, plus my personal sponsors Rintoul Civil, Bakerboys Nurseries, Carters, Craig Howser Panel & Paint and Kayne Barrie Motorsport, who have prepared me a fantastic car all year.”

Whangarei’s Jagger experience handling problems early on the first day but still ended the day’s six stages amongst the top ten Group N four-wheel-drive cars after sorting his handling issues during the morning service. Jagger set about climbing up the leader-board with four stage times inside the top eight to leave him seventh overall by day’s end.

Day two saw the 20-year-old and co-driver Ben Hawkins lurk around the top ten, however an off-road excursion on the day’s third stage, special stage nine, left the pair’s car stuck with bent suspension. While officially out of the running, Jagger was able to rejoin the event in order to get the experience, so after the car was pulled out and repaired by his service crew, Jagger contested the remainder of the day, breaking into the top five on the final two stages of the rally.

“It wasn’t really the result we expected, but at least we showed where we should be in the afternoon,” said Jagger. “Obviously we really have to thank Rally New Zealand. Without the Rising Stars Development award we wouldn’t have had the funding to compete this year and their support has been fantastic.”

“Stephen has done a really good job this year and has been rewarded with the 2WD championship title, the best reward for him as well as everyone involved in the Rising Stars programme,” said Rally New Zealand Clerk of Course Willard Martin. “Ben has had a tough year but has shown some great speed including this afternoon and, with some consistency and good luck, will be a real force to be reckoned with in the future.”