Scott Pedder remains in charge of the latest round of the Australian Rally Championship despite encountering a puncture at the Coates Hire Rally Australia.

The Walkinshaw prepared Renault Clio driver picked up a puncture on the second run through the mammoth 48.92km Nambucca stage.

However, the scare failed to dent his healthy lead over the Volkswagen of Michael Boaden.

While Pedder maintained his lead, title rival Brendan Reeves proved to be the the star driver of the day as he picked up four of the six stage wins.

Reeves, who won Thursday’s Power stage, retired from Friday’s leg as a result of a broken camshaft.

However, he returned to action on Saturday showcasing his very best to dominate the majority of the day’s stages.

“The puncture wasn’t ideal but I always knew we’d managed to build a strong gap that would allow us a bit of room in case we had any sort of problems,” said Pedder,

“Brendan was fast today (Saturday), and that forced me to push too, which makes it a lot more enjoyable than cruising round on your own, so hopefully we can carry that fight into tomorrow’s (Sunday) remaining stages.”

Pedder leads the Volkswagen duo of Boaden and Mick Patton into the final day with the field set to tackle eight stages totaling almost 90kms.

In the Australian Off Road Championship, reigning champions Shannon and Ian Rentsch topped the timesheets at the end of the opening day of the Coffs Coast 400.

After three 50km laps of the Lower Bucca Forest, the leading Pro Buggy team gained five places on their starting position of sixth to secure the coveted pole position for Sunday’s final dash to the chequered flag.