| Fri, Jul 30 5:34AM (NZ) |
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This website is now dedicated to covering the Black Bullets. Current Black Bullets news is now provided on iSportz » with past news archived here for your continued reference.
Wellington rally driver Aaron Cook has one key goal for the upcoming NAC Insurance Hella International Rally of Whangarei, that's to come away with the teams Championship lead firmly in tact. Cook and Co-driver Jayson Stringer go into the event with a 31-point lead in the 2WD division of the Vantage Aluminium NZ Rally Championship, ahead of Auckland's Dave Strong and Bruce McKenzie.
When Cook lost nearly a minute with a puncture in the very first stage of the recent Otago Rally, Strong took a seemingly unassailable rally lead in the 2WD class, only to have a rare mechanical failure on Leg Two which basically handed the class win to Cook.
"We were pretty lucky to be honest, it was going to be a huge ask to peg Dave back after the puncture, but the luck went our way this time and we'll happily take the points", said a smiling Cook.
The Rally of Whangarei was far from kind to Cook last year however, with the Honda Jazz suffering from mechanical failures on the first stage of both the first and second days of competition. In stark contrast, Co-driver Stringer came away with the outright 2WD win in 2007 in a Ford Fiesta, it was a victory that he is very keen to replicate this year.
"I've asked Aaron to leave the gremlins at home this year and hopefully we can have a real shot at another 2WD class win. It'd be excellent for our Championship hopes if we can bring this one home" commented Stringer.
In addition to Strong, the team are expecting some serious competition to come from the Fiestas of Patrick Malley and Ben Jagger, and also the rapidly improving Nissan Micra of Reg Cook. The overseas entry of Brendan Reeves driving a Kayne Barrie prepared Fiesta comes as something of an unknown quantity, but the team has no doubt that this will be another down-to-the-wire battle.
The International Rally of Whangarei runs from June 7-8, and has 15 Special Stages totalling 256km. In addition to being Round 3 of the Vantage Aluminium NZ Rally Championship, the event is also a round of the Asia Pacific Rally Championship, the North Island rally Series, and also the newly formed "La Serie de Rallye".
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