The fifth round of the NZ National 4x4 Trial Series was organised by the Windy City Club of Wellington but located just north of Masterton in the foothills at the end of Kiriwhakapapa Road.

The area was dry and the expectation, initially, was of a day of dust…until everyone arrived at the venue and discovered a number of bogs and water holes.

Though a lot of obstacles were set out in a similar way to those at previous events at the venue it didn’t seem to help those entered this time around.

Some very good thinking plus a number of tactical obstacles placed strategically round the base of the hill tested everyone. As did the wet, slippery grass on what otherwise looked like easy obstacles.   

The speed section through the rushes also gave a jolt to those who didn’t walk it.

The bogs proved very gluggy and sucked the tyres in and those who managed to pull through had their engines on the limiter as they rooster-tailed the crowd – the latter not always appreciated!

The log and rock obstacles also cut many entrants short as they couldn’t clamber over the logs without getting hooked up; and if they did the rocks and a bit of mud on the tyres created their own bit of havoc.

In terms of overall results, Andrew Garner with Paula Hadland as navi dominated the three speed sections but it wasn’t enough to get them in the top three placings.

First in C Class and overall then was Kevin Hermansen & navi Kirk Grant in a Cowper truck with SR 20 Nissan motor. Second was Dan Cowper & Andrew Bielby (Class D),  third Phil Conwell & Paul Chapman (Class C).

To read the full story in the May 2016 issue of NZ4WD go to Zinio.com (April 25) or purchase your own hard copy at the Adrenalin store.