Jagger Tightens Grip on Championship

Ben Jagger with co-driver Ben Hawkins claimed second place at Racetech Rally Wararapa at the weekend all but securing their top slot in the Vantage Aluminium Joinery New Zealand Rally Championship 2009.

But the competition is far from over with the nation's best rally drivers heading to Rally Nelson in September for a two day grand finale.

Jagger and Hawkins will head to that final with a very healthy 60 point lead in the Group N 2WD category with second placed Rising Stars Scholarship driver Ben Hunt fighting over second place with last year's championship Patrick Malley a further 10 points adrift.

With just a maximum point haul of 74 points available at Rally Nelson that makes Malley and Hunt the only drivers other than Jagger still in contention for this year's title.

However Jagger will merely have to finish either one of the two days at Rally Nelson to claim enough points and wrap up the championship.

"At the rally this weekend what really helped me was the mind skills learned at the academy which took some of the pressure off."

"We went to the rally looking to finish both days and get points to keep our lead and give us a strong position before Nelson." he said.

At the weekend's Racetech Rally Wairarapa Jagger finished second to Ben Hunt on Saturday and third behind Patrick Malley and Daniel Harris on Sunday earning him enough points to place second overall for the round.

Those valuable points have given him a stranglehold on the championship although the race to the finish line is not quite over yet.

In motorsport, anything can happen and Jagger will be looking at the mind skills learned at the Elite Motorsport Academy last week to keep his mind on the job and not make any unnecessary errors in the final.

Before the final round of the Vantage Aluminium Joinery New Zealand Rally Championship, Rally Nelson held 19-20th of September, Jagger and Hawkins will compete at the Possum Bourne Memorial Rally held 22nd August.

There Jagger is aiming to earn points towards this year's Star Driver scheme which he currently also leads, and if does win could see he and co-driver Hawkins competing in the four wheel drive category in 2010 with financial aid from the scheme.

Recently graduating from this year's exclusive Elite Motorsport Academy Ben Jagger was part of a nine member strong group of drivers who Motorsport NZ Scholarship Trust manager Ian Snellgrove was immensely impressed by.

"I am still up on a cloud as the attitudes the nine arrived with were even better than previous years - and they were bloody good as well - and there were no real negatives all week,"" said Mr Snellgrove.

"The academy was pretty awesome, I went down there not knowing what to expect and a little worried about what I was about to go through." said Jagger.

"At Rally Wairarapa it helped me with my mind-set and the skills they taught me helped to take some of the pressure of at the rally and being in the lead." he said.