Mainland Challenge heats up the south

Racing at the 2010 Mainland Challenge will bring new heat to competition between the South Island’s top Super 1600 teams with new cars arriving and a northern invader threatening the established order.

Christchurch driver Wayne Moriarty took an early lead in the 2010 Asset Finance New Zealand Offroad Racing Championship when he won the second round (first South island round) at Nelson in his Cougar Toyota.

At that event he headed home a three-car podium for Big Posters Super 1600 cars, which have unrestricted suspension design and use 1.6-litre engines. Second home was Nelson’s Grant Adamson, with Christchurch driver Nigel Sutherland third.

For the second South Island round, Sutherland has upgraded, bringing one of the fastest North Island cars south in a bid to close in on Moriarty. He has bought Alan Butler’s Cougar Evo Toyota, a car that has won the two-day Taupo 1000 and the Woodhill 100, the longest and toughest endurance races in New Zealand.

A third Super 1600 driver in with a chance is Bruce Rolls in the Chenowth Honda formerly raced by Dennis Andreassend.

Also racing at this weekend’s event is North Island driver Richard Crabb, who can race and score weekend points but not championship points. Crabb’s car is a unique mid-engined design with a 1.6-litre Toyota engine. His motivation for coming south is two-fold: more time racing, and also the chance to show the new ORANZ youth category race cars to the South Island.

At the beginning of the month, South Head’s Raana Horan made history at the 30th annual Woodhill 100 offroad endurance race, becoming the first driver to win the event in a four wheel drive vehicle. His win boosted him into the top five in the championship and served notice that the title itself may well be under serious threat from the AFWE four wheel drive classes for only the second time ever.

Behind the ThunderTrucks but enjoying a resurgence of interest this year are the sport trucks of AFWE class four. Nelson leads the way, with Paul Milne and Darrin Thomason joined by Clayton Burrow and possibly another entry; while multiple class four champion Simon Smith has built a new truck for this year’s championship.

There have been three different winners and three leaders to the championship this year. Donn Attwood won the first round, held at the Whitianga Festival of Speed in the Coromandel peninsula; Wayne Moriarty won the nelson endurance race and Horan the Woodhill. The current championship leader is Mal Langley of Whakatane in a Southern Lakes Transmissions unlimited-class Mitsubishi Evo II-powered Bakersfield single-seater.

Racing in the Crusin Limousines sponsored 2010 Mainland Challenge starts at 11.30 am on Saturday June 19 at The Rock Offroad Raceway, Weedons Ross Road, West Melton with “short course” stadium-style racing. Racing will be in class-by-class format, with three heats of five laps per class. This will be followed at 12.00 noon on Sunday with a 175km enduro through farmland at No.10 Road, Ohoka, Swannanoa.

Spectator admission to the short course racing at West Melton is $10 per person.