With four rounds down, and one to go, and 26 teams, who is going to take out 2017? Vicky Newport reports on Round 4, Timaru.
Mid-September 24 teams headed to the small settlement of Makikihi, just south of Timaru, in weather that was perfect – but not so for the condition of the stages – a bit of rain a couple of days before any event makes it a bit more challenging.
Show and shine of the trucks was held at the Makikihi Country Hotel. We still hadn’t had anyone enter into the Open Class, so we were running with just two classes again, Outlaw with 18 and Clubman with six, and teams from Blenheim, Nelson, Christchurch, Timaru, Dunedin, Balclutha and Queenstown.
Night stages
From Makikihi they headed to the four night stages, only 10 minutes inland. Some tracks from the previous year were used, but there were also some new tracks. However, I decided to stay at the hotel rather than go to the night stages – must be an age thing as I feel the cold a bit more these days, plus the hotel beckoned with good food and nice wine; the hotel was full, and the teams were arriving back around 10pm.
A couple of teams (Richard/Matt and Rick/Brian) hadn’t made it to the night stages as they were still working on their trucks, but fingers crossed, we were hopeful they would arrive Saturday morning. Albie Fisher was competing in his first round, but he only managed to finish one night stage, although he was determined to get the truck going again and back into it on Saturday, which he did.
However, Brent Holden didn’t have such a good run. This is his first year competing in the Mainland Superwinch Series, and he’s doing well, up there in the top placings; however, he had a mare of a first stage. Just five minutes into night stage 3 something made contact with the front diff housing and right knuckle, causing major damage to the steering and housing.
They managed to finish the stage just using the fiddle brakes, but with it not being your average OEM diff housing (3.5 inch chromoly Pro Series Spidertrax axles) the damage was enough to put them out for the rest of the round. Hopefully they get it fixed and we see them in Dunedin next month.
Leigh Kirby, driving the bright orange Hilux had a wee mishap in one of the night stages, putting the vehicle on its side, but Mr Leigh, now the co-driver, managed to right the Hilux and they finished in time.
The rest of the teams finished all stages.
Saturday stages
Saturday dawned bright and early, and there were nine day stages for Outlaw and eight for Clubman.
Clubman Class teams were running it very close this round, with Brock and Nic winning eight of the 12 stages, Callum and Ben taking three wins, and new competitor Tom Green winning two. Yes, that calculation confused me for a bit too, but Callum and Tom scored the same time on day stage 9. Tom Green managed to drag an old competitor out for this round; known to most as Buzz, he used to co-drive for Woody about five years ago in the Clubman Class. Great to see him back out there.
Father and son team Richard and Will from Blenheim had a much better round, completing all stages and no DNFs. Tim Engel, a first year competitor, also was smiling at the end of the day, coming in at third place with all stages completed and no DNFs. However Tim Lucas had a bit of a mare in a few stages, with three DNFs for the round.
At the end of the day the results for Clubman was extremely close; between second and fourth places there was only four points difference.
In the Outlaw Class I have to start with a bit of a spiel on one team in particular. As the 2016-017 season has progressed it has been interesting from my view how this team and their truck have changed.
Last year the “Glenorchy Boys”, Richard and Matt, were totally new to winch challenges of any sort. They entered in their Toyota Hilux and were out for a new challenge in life.
With a few pointers and advice from fellow members when needed they soon picked up their new sport and ran with it. They asked questions, watched other competitors and took it all on board. All through 2016 their motivation and love of the sport saw them grow in the placings each month.
Challenge
Come 2017 Richard wanted more of a challenge, so he bought an ex-trials truck from the North Island, retired the Hilux, and spent a huge amount of time (and probably money) on the new truck.
And it certainly has paid off for him, as he is now in the top four of the 2017 Series entrants. Even up to this round he hasn’t stopped. On the Thursday before the round was due to start he was loading the truck on the trailer and he had no gears. Thinking that was it for them, he put a post on Facebook to say they were out.
That post just showed how the Mainland Superwinch Challenge members pull together to help a fellow member. It’s not all about winning for these guys/girls it’s wanting to compete – and you need your competition there to do that.
Before long Richard had an offer of a gearbox, but it was in Christchurch and he had to go get it. So they took the broken one out, loaded the truck on the trailer, and off to Chch they headed. Some 42 hours later, and with a huge thanks to Andrew Reeves, Rick Crosbie and crew, they made it to Timaru to start the Saturday stages. Rick Crosbie you are a legend; not only was he working on his own truck and winch trying to get ready for Timaru, but he also stayed up all night Friday night helping Richard.
Saturday morning both Richard/Matt and Rick/Brian arrived on site ready to start the day, and they went straight into and completed all nine day stages. Rick and Brian didn’t have such a good run, with three stages started and finished, but that was it. With winch problems and some mechanical issues they packed it in.
However, Rowan and Chad in the bright red cut-down Jeep Cherokee, had a good day, finishing all 12 stages, no DNFs, and were finished by 11.30am. Everything seemed to just run in their favour this round; times weren’t the fastest, but they were pleased they finished everything and with no damage.
Moon buggy
Andy Reeves and Aaron Eades are certainly getting used to the newly-built and unusual looking buggy which I call it the Moon Buggy. This round they won one stage and got second in four stages; they have done extremely well, finishing the round with first equal on points to Scotty and James.
Meanwhile Scotty and James just cruised through the day in the bright yellow cut down Jeep Cherokee. The aim was to finish the day with reasonable times and no breakages which they did. But James kicked himself for a slip-up on a stage for not yelling “stand clear winching”. So one penalty for the day.
Nic Aymes and Andrew Dempsey in the Suzuki buggy had a bit of the mishap in stage 10. Rolling over and not managing to recover, they called a DNF. The day finished around 3pm. With the final score sheets in the scorers, Keri and Megan, had a big task ahead of them. Dinner and prizegiving was held at the Makikihi Country Hotel.
With only one round to go it’s all getting very exciting to see who will take out the Series top places in the Outlaw and Clubman Classes. Dunedin is the next venue, mid-October. See you there.
Teams profiles
Last month we had 10 Teams/Trucks Profiles in NZ4WD Magazine. You can now check out our Facebook page: “Mainland 4WD winching” for all our 2017 Series competitors profiles.
