After last year’s washout during the Anniversary weekend floods the Central Zone Club Truck Challenge returned to Sue Butcher’s farm for the Wairarapa Club’s round.

The organisers called the speed sections ‘timed sections’, saying Tthey are timed, but too much speed can get you into trouble”.

They managed to cram four timed sections into the day which played into the hands of Chris Mason.  He won the day overall in his unmodified Class 1 Suzuki with his usual mastery of the speed section.  It was decided to start the day with side by side drags to get the adrenalin flowing. Trucks were flying into the air off the start with Mikey Ward crashing within eight metres of the start and damaging his Suzuki’s suspension.  Alex Robertson waited until the second hazard to break a CV joint, leaving him in three-wheel drive for the rest of the day.

This year’s rounds have seen many new entrants trying the CTC for the first time.

George Purcell was a surprise package in his four door Pajero which acquitted itself well. Long wheelbase vehicles have an advantage putting power down on hill climbs.

A lot of the Wairarapa club members are National trials competitors, and they crafted a testing course with difficult hazards. Number four had a steep entry into an S bend on a sidling that proved too tight for most people to complete. Timed section six was inside a thick grove of trees which gave the illusion of being pegged wide but solid trees really defined the route. Hazard 11 was only for the bravest pilots having a difficult climb to start with, on to an off-chamber traverse with quite a drop if it goes wrong and finishing with another rutted climb. Wairarapa 4WD club drivers took out three of the four classes and the overall win.