Sport + Motorsport
Hayden Paddon of Cromwell and co-driver Jared Hudson claimed a dominant win in the 2026 Barry Robinson Memorial Rally Southland in their Hyundai i120N Rally2 on Saturday.
Paddon won every Special Stage, extending his lead throughout the day to eventually finish with a 2 minute 43 second margin saying, "it was a great day, it was awesome fun. The car ran faultlessly. The stages were very fast in places. All around it is a big tick." It was Paddon's first rally in New Zealand this year after doing selected events in the World Rally Championship. Barry's wife Jane presented the Barry Robinson Memorial Trophy to Paddon and thanked the Eastern Southland Car Club for keeping Barry's name and legacy alive. "Most of the roads were in our old backyard," she said, remarking that Stage 2 finished just 1km from the front gate of the property they used to farm.
The rally was Round 3 of the NZ Rally Championship and the first championship competitor was second placed Jack Stokes of Waikuku in his Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo. Stokes and his co-driver Hayden Graves of Gore arrived at the event with a slender lead in the championship over Jack Hawkeswood of Miller's Flat. Hawkeswood had the better of them early on before Stokes got ahead in stage four pulling away to finish second 24 seconds ahead of Hawkeswood and Jason Farmer in their GR Toyota Yaris Rally 2. Stokes said the roads were "insane" while Hawkeswood said the changing weather conditions had made things "tricky".
Robbie Stokes of Waikuku was fourth in his Skoda Fabia, achieving his goal to finish after a horror start to the championship. Quentin Palmer of Taumarunui was fifth in his Skoda followed by Ari Pettigrew of Ohoka in his Porsche 911 WRC in sixth place and first 2-wheel-drive car, admitting to "a few scary moments," along the way.
Andrew Graves of Gore was seventh in his Mitsubishi EVO 3 on an emotional day as he competed in memory of his former co-driver, Jared Leebody, who passed away recently. Graves later introduced the Jared Leebody Memorial Trophy to the event which will be awarded to the leading Class E co-driver at every ESCC rally. Fittingly it went to Graves' co-driver on Saturday, Amy Hudson.
Australian Stew Reid, Thomas Paul of Cromwell and Harri Silcock of Rangiora completed the top ten.
In the class battles, Paddon took Class D, Pettigrew Class C, Graves Class E and Thomas Paul, Class H. Others to take their classes were Rory Lawn of Christchurch in Class B with fifteenth place overall, Class F - Paul Cross of Gore in twenty-sixth, Class G - Roger McKay of Taupe in twenty-eighth and in Class A Mike Matheson of Auckland.
Tim Mackersy of Dunedin won the Glen Shirlaw Memorial Trophy for the first Otago Sports Car Club driver home in nineteenth place while Thomas Paul and Bridget Airey won the Barry Robinson Memorial Challenge Trophy for the first Central Otago Motorsport Club crew home, the trophy presented by Barry's daughter Anna Robinson and Neil Whitford, a former neighbour of Barry's.
Maurite Balzarini took the Novice Driver Award while Jaimee King took the Novice Co-Driver Award. The trophy for the first 'Blind' crew home (crews that did not use notes) went to Jeremy and Dayne McIlwrick of Winton in twenty-second place.
A new trophy donated by Ray Wilson for the youngest driver in the rally went to 16-year-old Ryan Howden of Invercargill while Thomas Paul won the H6 Cup's Driver Of The Day and the Cup's cash prize.
Sixty-three crews started the event after last year's Wyndham Rally winner Caleb Macdonald and 2010 National Rally Champion Dean Sumner were forced to withdraw from the event before the start.
The rally claimed several competitors. Four-time National Champion Ben Hunt of Pukekohe went off the road early on before rejoining later while Invercargill's Adam Smith had mechanical problems, he too rejoining later in the event.
Mark McMillan, Josh Cooper, Hamish Garrick, Richard Ford, Alan Garrick, Murray Christofferson, and Craig Schumacher all succumbed to mechanical problems throughout the day while others who failed to finish were Josh Keighley and Richie Chadwick with electrical problems and Phil Terry with suspension troubles.