Over just four stages Pedder managed to hold Brendan Reeves at bay with a final margin of 14.5 seconds.
It wasn’t an easy run for Pedder, despite initially opening a 3.6 second lead over arch rival Reeves on the very first stage, who in turn trailed briefly in the dust left by a limping Eli Evans who had broken a driveshaft in his Honda Civic.
Recognising tyre wear was going to be a significant role Reeves took the time between the first and second stages to front-to-rear his Kumho tyres, and managed claw back 6 seconds, propelling his Mazda2 into the lead.
With a plan to make the same move between the third and fourth stages, Reeves suddenly found himself on the back foot when a high-pitched banging began from the rear of his car and what felt like a rear puncture midway through the third stage.
“I was certain we had a flat in the rear,” said Brendan. “When we got to the end of the stage we realised we’d broken the sway bar, and it was rubbing against the rim which was what was making the noise. It took us about five minutes to untangle everything, and that meant we had no time to change the tyres.”
Pedder meanwhile had elected to run hard tyres on the front of his Renault Clio, which were proving more adept at handling the punishment from the road. With Reeves faltering on the third stage Pedder moved back into the lead, and then extended it on the fourth stage as Reeves’ medium tyres wilted, to finish the day with a final advantage of 14.5 seconds.
“As I spun through the air this morning I never thought I’d be in this position,” said Pedder.
“The car has been a dream to drive, the team have done an amazing job, I have nothing but praise for the Walkinshaw team.”
After Reeves claimed the ARMOR ALL Power Stage this morning, which cut Pedder’s points lead in the title race back to 22, victory during today’s Heat One has pushed Pedder’s advantage back out to 30 points.
It means that short of a major failure, Pedder needs only finish fifth or higher tomorrow, but with tyre wear already playing a part and with tomorrow one of the longest days in the Championship, there is still a lot to play for.
“It’s not over yet but I do need to rely on Scott having problems,” said Reeves.
“It’s a very big day tomorrow and if Scott and I push as hard as we did this afternoon then tyre wear is going to become a big concern.
“We’ve kept the Championship alive by winning the Power Stage and keeping up with Scott this afternoon. I could have given up but I’m going to continue to have a really good crack!”
Steve Mackenzie, having set a strong pace during this morning’s Power Stage qualifying, was back on a red hot pace during the afternoon stages to sit comfortably in third. That was until just two kilometres before the end of the final stage when he stuck his Ford Fiesta off the road and was unable to extract it.
That elevated the battle between Citroen teammates Adrian Coppin and Tony Sullens, the pair swapping times over all four of the stages.
In the end Coppin was relegated to fourth after his front tyres were nearly destroyed on the final stage, promoting Sullens into the final podium position behind Pedder and Reeves.
In the two horse race for the Kumho Tyres Australian Junior Rally Challenge South Australian Guy Tyler holds the upper hand despite a sick engine in his Renault Clio, finishing the day just ahead of rival Tom Ryan who himself struggled with diff and gearbox dramas.
In the Classics Neal Bates found he was playing sweeper for the rest of the field on the first two stages, with huge amounts of loose gravel hampering his efforts. His times though allowed him to open a sizable lead over second placed Porsche driver Jeff David, the eventual margin 1 minute 39.8 seconds, with Grant Walker’s Ford Escort further back in third.
The fight for the National 4WD title claimed an early casualty when Henry Nott stopped, leaving Ritchie Dalton in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo to grab the lead ahead of the returning Darren Windus’ Subaru Impreza WRX by just over 22 seconds.
And in the Side-by-Side Challenge Cody Crocker continues his barn storming run to a third straight title, taking today’s Heat by 19.4 seconds over the identical Polaris of Ian Hughes, Michael Guest relegated to a distant third in his Can-Am.
Nine stages makes up tomorrow’s second Heat, including two runs over the 24.06km Bennies Up stage, while the final stage takes drivers back to Lardner Park for a 2.28km spectator-friendly blast around the showgrounds.
VIDEO: Action from the opening heat
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