An epic battle decided the winner of the 2023 Woodhill 100. Daynom (Slim) Templeman won the Woodhill 100 25 years ago; on June 4 he took the title again, starting from pole and defending against all challenges.
Donn Attwood qualified second and pursued Templeman in the opening laps, while fourth starter Boston Morgan-Horan in dad Raana’s mighty 4WD Nissan Titan carved through to second and battled to get past Templeman for several laps but lost touch later in the race.
Seasoned racer Attwood had been overtaken by Morgan-Horan at middle distance but stayed in touch and took second overall part of a class one domination of the podium.
The 2023 course started at the Auckland 4WD Adventure Park but was extended over the 2022 event, taking in the long, fast sections of Coast Road.
At the start, Templeman led the 40-strong pack into the forest, Donn Attwood second away. Starting third, and first truck, was Leigh Bishop.
Morgan-Horan was fourth away. The Horan truck has won Woodhill twice in dad Raana’s hands; Boston's early-laps charge had the crowd wondering if the day would end with another Horan on the top step of the podium. The truck decided otherwise, shedding a wheel on the penultimate lap.
With Morgan-Horan’s challenge ended, Templeman had a safe margin over Attwood and held it to the end despite Attwood setting fastest laps in the closing laps. Third was another V8-powered class one car driven by Shaun Russell. Russell’s teen daughter Holly finished 19th overall and won class five.
Class three racer Connor Nicklin’s Woodhill made up for disappointment from past races, though qualifying, he said, wasn’t encouraging.
“We had a good crack at it but I was not feeling good with making a few mistakes and trying to keep the car straight on the course. We ended up 29th on the grid, not ideal but something to work on.”
After the start Nicklin went on the attack.
“We made up six positions in the first lap and another five in the second. We started chipping away each lap pushing to get quicker and higher up the positions. With only a small gearbox fluid leak that I pulled into the pits to check on (since I am still a bit gun-shy with burning oil) we cracked on and made up 20 positions at the finish Tenth overall and first in class!”
Another teenage driver, Matthew Bishop, was 17th overall and won Challenger VW class. Sareena Paterson, on her first Woodhill race, was second in Challenger VW class.
This year’s race was the 40th Woodhill 100. The longer, faster course suited the unlimited-class cars, with the top five finishers all class one cars and the first UTV (side-by-side) finishing sixth. Due to offroad racing’s unique ‘60 per cent’ rule, Boston Morgan-Horan was classified fourth overall and winner of class 8, Keri Louie was the second unlimited truck home in 12th place.
