August 22, 2025 • 6 mins
The New Zealand Rally Championships continue this weekend with the fourth round taking place in the Coromandel.
Featuring iconic Coromandel routes, it's an exciting weekend for both racers and spectators.
D'Arcy spoke with NZ Rally Championship racer Jack Stokes to preview the event and discuss his career as a rally driver.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the All Sport Breakfast podcast with Darcy
Waldgrave from News Talk SEDB.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
We're talking race cars now, Skidding on the Mud, the
Rally of Coremandel, Jack Stokes, it's going to join us.
It's the fourth round of the championship. Some iconic stages,
some incredibly difficult peddling and navigation as well. If you
want to follow it, you can your Inland Rally Championship
(00:33):
on the YouTube channel or check out the Facebook page.
Jack joins us now, you.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Know, mate, you're good ready for the rally?
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Massive skid time. It's quite a curly rally, isn't it.
You're gonna spend a lot of time on the handbrake,
an't you.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (00:49):
Yeah, I've just finished the Wreki now and there's suddenly
lots and lots of corners, so it's going to be
pretty tough on the old mind keeping up with the
past notes.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
But it's going to be a good challenge.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Tough on the car too. You're going to really punish
that right of yours.
Speaker 4 (01:05):
Yeah, you're It sort of depends a bit on what's
going to happen with the weather and how much the
tires are going to wear out. It's my first time
doing the rally, so there's a few unknowns for me,
but yeah, pretty excited to see what we can do.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
You guys are rally jobs. You're not freaked out by anything.
You're all insane behind the wheel. But is there any
aspect of this rally that maybe gives you calls for caution?
Speaker 4 (01:29):
Certainly the road surface up here is probably something I
haven't seen before. I think with a bit of rain
it will certainly get pretty slippery and quite unpredictable, certainly,
especially underbreaking. So yeah, you just have to have your
wits about you and be mindful of that.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
I think who's sitting in the I won't say idiot's seat,
but I know that's been described before. Who's the poor
bugger setting navigation wise? Who's that?
Speaker 3 (01:55):
So I've got Hayden Graves.
Speaker 4 (01:56):
He's from down from gord and his dad's been co
driving in the National Championship for probably many years now,
so he's sort of picked it up off him.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
And then men haven't got.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
Together at the start of this year and sort of
haven't looked back really, So it's been really good.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
That relationship between yourself and the co driver is enormous.
I don't think you can overstate how big that is.
How long does it take for you guys to get
in some kind of rhythm, So not second guests, but
you appreciate what each other does and makes it work
for the rally itself.
Speaker 4 (02:31):
Ah, yeah, it's quite quite a unique relationship. You know,
you're spending sometimes over twelve hours a day together in
the car, so you sort of I think you've got
to get along and sort of probably have similar interests,
which we do, which I think we sort of understand
each other quite well, which certainly benefits benefits our relationship
and in terms of the actual performance, you know, we
(02:52):
both understand our roles and what we need from each other,
so it works pretty well.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
But a sibling rivalry going on as well, right with
yourself and your older brother. He's running second in the
champ at the moment, isn't he.
Speaker 4 (03:04):
Yeah, yeah, he's got the new you to go to
the seal, which has certainly been a big upside for him,
sort of hoping to follow that path next year.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
But yeah, I mean people call it a rivalry, but
it's always just a lot of banter and we love
competing against each other.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Well, when you were little, did you get like hand
me down clothes because you've got his hand me down
car from last year, haven't you.
Speaker 4 (03:27):
Yeah, yeah, not quite hand me down clothes. It's sort
of I'm actually bigger than them now so but no,
we sort of I'll grow up in grass cards and
stuff like that. So yeah, I mean we've always been
racing against each other.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
I guess success so far this year? You I think,
sitting nine, ten eleven, off the top of my head,
where have things not quite worked for you on the
rally because you've you've got speed, You've done well in
some but not all.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
Yeah, sir at Otago.
Speaker 4 (03:57):
We actually won our first stage, first ever stage in
the car wach is pretty awesome. And then we're leading
the rally for quite a large chunk of day one,
and then on day two we sort of slipped wide
and got a puncture and then unfortunately put a stick
through the radiator, so that was.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
The end of our rally.
Speaker 4 (04:15):
And then round two at South Canterbary we made it
about ten k's and I think the sort of hangover
from that that incident the car overheated again.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
So that was a shame.
Speaker 4 (04:25):
But then at the third round in Canterbury. We managed
to come home third, which was my first outright podium
in the rally, which is pretty special.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Did you make your dad proud, wouldn't you. He's got
a bit of a history thing. He's picked up a
couple of national championships way back in the day.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
Yeah, yeah, it was.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
It was my first podium and Robbie's first ends at
RC Rally one, so it was a double special day
pretty much.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Towards it back in the eighties that Brian won some
national champs himself.
Speaker 4 (04:54):
Yeah, so in nineteen eighty five and then nineteen eighty
eight as well, So yeah, heritage.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Does he spend all the time telling you how good
he was?
Speaker 4 (05:05):
He certainly lets us know when we think when he
thinks we're getting too big for our boats. Yeah, I know.
He's bloody awesome. He's super supportive and basically just lets
us do what we want and there's probably more more
committed to it almost than we are sometimes.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
So it's yeah, it's pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
You've had a great year because you're involved in something
that's very impressive and you'll know what I'm talking about.
Around the Elite Motorsport Academy. You're really popped through that
the top athlete. This is huge for motorsport. It's got
a fine history of this academy. So what does it
mean to be top of the tree there.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
Yeah, it's a it's a huge honor really, Suddainly a
pretty challenging week down at the the Otago Academy of Sport.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Down in Dunedin.
Speaker 4 (05:52):
There lots of learning and physical and mental testing and
lots of workshops and stuff like that. But I suddenly
learned a lot, took away a lot and already employing
what I learned down there too this weekend. So yeah,
it was super special and to come out on top
was yeah. The cherry on the cake, I guess.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Massive day for you, hard work all day in the
super tight corners gold Rush action of the Cora Mandal
and Jack Stokes. We thank you very much for your time.
I go well keep it on the track if you can.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
No, thank you very much for having me.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
For more from the All Sport Breakfast with Darcy Watergrave.
Listen live to News Talk said Be on Saturday mornings,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the All Sport Breakfast podcast with Darcy
Waldgrave from News Talk SEDB.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
We're talking race cars now, Skidding on the Mud, the
Rally of Coremandel, Jack Stokes, it's going to join us.
It's the fourth round of the championship. Some iconic stages,
some incredibly difficult peddling and navigation as well. If you
want to follow it, you can your Inland Rally Championship
(00:33):
on the YouTube channel or check out the Facebook page.
Jack joins us now, you.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Know, mate, you're good ready for the rally?
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Massive skid time. It's quite a curly rally, isn't it.
You're gonna spend a lot of time on the handbrake,
an't you.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (00:49):
Yeah, I've just finished the Wreki now and there's suddenly
lots and lots of corners, so it's going to be
pretty tough on the old mind keeping up with the
past notes.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
But it's going to be a good challenge.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Tough on the car too. You're going to really punish
that right of yours.
Speaker 4 (01:05):
Yeah, you're It sort of depends a bit on what's
going to happen with the weather and how much the
tires are going to wear out. It's my first time
doing the rally, so there's a few unknowns for me,
but yeah, pretty excited to see what we can do.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
You guys are rally jobs. You're not freaked out by anything.
You're all insane behind the wheel. But is there any
aspect of this rally that maybe gives you calls for caution?
Speaker 4 (01:29):
Certainly the road surface up here is probably something I
haven't seen before. I think with a bit of rain
it will certainly get pretty slippery and quite unpredictable, certainly,
especially underbreaking. So yeah, you just have to have your
wits about you and be mindful of that.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
I think who's sitting in the I won't say idiot's seat,
but I know that's been described before. Who's the poor
bugger setting navigation wise? Who's that?
Speaker 3 (01:55):
So I've got Hayden Graves.
Speaker 4 (01:56):
He's from down from gord and his dad's been co
driving in the National Championship for probably many years now,
so he's sort of picked it up off him.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
And then men haven't got.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
Together at the start of this year and sort of
haven't looked back really, So it's been really good.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
That relationship between yourself and the co driver is enormous.
I don't think you can overstate how big that is.
How long does it take for you guys to get
in some kind of rhythm, So not second guests, but
you appreciate what each other does and makes it work
for the rally itself.
Speaker 4 (02:31):
Ah, yeah, it's quite quite a unique relationship. You know,
you're spending sometimes over twelve hours a day together in
the car, so you sort of I think you've got
to get along and sort of probably have similar interests,
which we do, which I think we sort of understand
each other quite well, which certainly benefits benefits our relationship
and in terms of the actual performance, you know, we
(02:52):
both understand our roles and what we need from each other,
so it works pretty well.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
But a sibling rivalry going on as well, right with
yourself and your older brother. He's running second in the
champ at the moment, isn't he.
Speaker 4 (03:04):
Yeah, yeah, he's got the new you to go to
the seal, which has certainly been a big upside for him,
sort of hoping to follow that path next year.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
But yeah, I mean people call it a rivalry, but
it's always just a lot of banter and we love
competing against each other.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Well, when you were little, did you get like hand
me down clothes because you've got his hand me down
car from last year, haven't you.
Speaker 4 (03:27):
Yeah, yeah, not quite hand me down clothes. It's sort
of I'm actually bigger than them now so but no,
we sort of I'll grow up in grass cards and
stuff like that. So yeah, I mean we've always been
racing against each other.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
I guess success so far this year? You I think,
sitting nine, ten eleven, off the top of my head,
where have things not quite worked for you on the
rally because you've you've got speed, You've done well in
some but not all.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
Yeah, sir at Otago.
Speaker 4 (03:57):
We actually won our first stage, first ever stage in
the car wach is pretty awesome. And then we're leading
the rally for quite a large chunk of day one,
and then on day two we sort of slipped wide
and got a puncture and then unfortunately put a stick
through the radiator, so that was.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
The end of our rally.
Speaker 4 (04:15):
And then round two at South Canterbary we made it
about ten k's and I think the sort of hangover
from that that incident the car overheated again.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
So that was a shame.
Speaker 4 (04:25):
But then at the third round in Canterbury. We managed
to come home third, which was my first outright podium
in the rally, which is pretty special.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Did you make your dad proud, wouldn't you. He's got
a bit of a history thing. He's picked up a
couple of national championships way back in the day.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
Yeah, yeah, it was.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
It was my first podium and Robbie's first ends at
RC Rally one, so it was a double special day
pretty much.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Towards it back in the eighties that Brian won some
national champs himself.
Speaker 4 (04:54):
Yeah, so in nineteen eighty five and then nineteen eighty
eight as well, So yeah, heritage.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Does he spend all the time telling you how good
he was?
Speaker 4 (05:05):
He certainly lets us know when we think when he
thinks we're getting too big for our boats. Yeah, I know.
He's bloody awesome. He's super supportive and basically just lets
us do what we want and there's probably more more
committed to it almost than we are sometimes.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
So it's yeah, it's pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
You've had a great year because you're involved in something
that's very impressive and you'll know what I'm talking about.
Around the Elite Motorsport Academy. You're really popped through that
the top athlete. This is huge for motorsport. It's got
a fine history of this academy. So what does it
mean to be top of the tree there.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
Yeah, it's a it's a huge honor really, Suddainly a
pretty challenging week down at the the Otago Academy of Sport.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Down in Dunedin.
Speaker 4 (05:52):
There lots of learning and physical and mental testing and
lots of workshops and stuff like that. But I suddenly
learned a lot, took away a lot and already employing
what I learned down there too this weekend. So yeah,
it was super special and to come out on top
was yeah. The cherry on the cake, I guess.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Massive day for you, hard work all day in the
super tight corners gold Rush action of the Cora Mandal
and Jack Stokes. We thank you very much for your time.
I go well keep it on the track if you can.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
No, thank you very much for having me.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
For more from the All Sport Breakfast with Darcy Watergrave.
Listen live to News Talk said Be on Saturday mornings,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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