Rising Stars, Jagger and Barker, make strong debuts at Otago

Rally New Zealand Rising Stars award recipients Ben Jagger and Stephen Barker have made strong debuts in their respective classes in the opening round of the New Zealand Rally Championship (NZRC), Rally Otago.

Last year, Whangarei’s Jagger (age 20) competed in the two-wheel-drive production car (Group N N3) class in a Ford Fiesta. For the 2010 season, thanks to the help of the Rally New Zealand Rising Stars Development Award, he has taken the opportunity to step up to the top category of New Zealand rallying, the four-wheel-drive production car (Group N N4) category, driving a Subaru Impreza.

During the two-day Otago event, Jagger impressed many, setting stage times as high as the top three on the opening day against 17 other competitors in the top Group N 4WD class which included former national champions such as Richard Mason and Chris West. Despite a minor off-road excursion on the second day’s opening stage, the infamous Whare Flat, Jagger still recorded the eighth fastest time and continued to press on, holding seventh when the crews headed to the day’s first service.

Throughout the day’s remaining five stages, Jagger worked his way up to his eventual finishing spot of sixth overall and fifth amongst the NZRC Group N 4WD competitors.

“We are really stoked to come away with a result like that,” said Jagger. “We didn’t really know where we would end up prior to the rally and to finish this high up in such a quality field is really cool.”

Twenty-one year old Barker, from Hamilton, stormed onto the national championship scene last year before winning the Rising Stars Scholarship that sees him provided with a professionally-prepared two-wheel-drive Group N Ford Fiesta in which to contest this year’s NZRC.

Barker also started strongly in Otago. He led the Group N 2WD class from the outset, heading off all his direct competitors as well as some of the more powerful and sophisticated 4WD crews.

After taking a 51 second class victory on day one, Barker set out to repeat the result on day two and made the right moves in the opening stage, turning in a time a second a kilometre faster than closest rival Ben Hunt, from Nelson, to take a thirteen second lead. Barker continued a day long battle with his rivals, trading stage times before finishing the day 35 seconds ahead to take maximum class points.

“I am really happy to start off the season with a good result and maximum points. Now hopefully we can keep building on this pace and work towards our goal of the championship,” Barker said.

“Both Ben (Jagger) and Stephen (Barker) have come away from the first round with great results and strong positions in their respective classes,” commented Rally New Zealand chairman Chris Carr.

Both Jagger and Barker now prepare for the second NZRC round, Rally New Zealand, the World Rally Championship event running from 6 to 9 May from an Auckland base.

Photo Rally New Zealand’s 2010 Rising Stars Scholarship winner Stephen Barker, age 21 from Hamilton, splashes his way to victory in the Group N two-wheel-drive class at Rally Otago. Credit Geoff Ridder