Andreassend takes 2011 offroad racing championship title

Dennis Andreassend has dominated a full weekend of racing at Quail Valley near Nelson to become the 2011 Mickey Thompson New Zealand Offroad Racing National Champion.

From his pole run at qualifying on Saturday for the opening 165 km enduro to the greasy farm paddock tracks of Sunday’s short course racing, Christchurch-based Andreassend was unbeaten – and unchallenged – on his way to his third national title.

He made the most of his Cougar Evo VW’s traction and power throughout the weekend, starting with the qualifying prologue for the endurance race where he was one of only two to lap the short course track in less than one minute, posting a 58.56 ahead of the tiny Barracuda of Hamish Lawlor.

Though the farm-based short course track used for qualifying was still slick with morning dew, Andreassend sent the 41-strong field an emphatic message with his time, which was only the fourth to be set for the day.

Few of the early runners were able to get closer than 1:05. As the track dried out, racers were able to set times closer to the 1:01 mark, but none except Lawlor broke through the minute barrier.

The endurance race combined farm and forest roads and tracks, and many competitors would fall foul of thick, cloying dust that cloaked the course in the hilly sections of the forest.

Off the start line, Andreassend dived into the fastest line for the first corner with the field bunched behind him, but when he emerged from the short course area he had a fifteen second lead over Tim Culling in a Jimco Honda single-seater, with Nelson driver Ashley Kelly holding third.

Christchurch driver Wayne Moriarty had come to the event with top points in class three and needed a podium finish in the enduro to challenge Andreassend for the outright title, but his car’s throttle linkage disconnected in the starting melee, forcing him to pull off the track at the first corner. It was the start of a nightmare day that put paid to Moriarty’s hopes of a title, the car’s throttle linkage failing two more times during the race his title prospects fading when he crashed off the road in the dust of another car. Though Moriarty would start the Sunday races, he was destined to drop out early on the second day when his gearbox disintegrated.

Ashley Kelly slipped past Culling in the forest, emerging second behind Andreassend at the end of the first lap, though he was more than two minutes adrift.

Like Andreassend and Moriarty, Pukekohe racer Nick Hall had likewise come to the event with top points in his class five race car, but there were insufficient entries in Leader Products Class Five to enable him to mount a full challenge for the title.

Hall had qualified fifth fastest with a late-session 1:01.57, and after the first lap he had forged through to third overall. Next out of the forest on that first decisive lap was Whakatane's Clive Thornton, with the first truck - the V8 Toyota Hilux of Winton's Donald Preston - emerging close behind.

The big movers in the pack were Wayne Moriarty - fighting back from dead last to within the top ten - and Hamish Lawlor, carving through the field in his Suzuki Hayabusa-engined Barracuda.

None, however, could match the pace of Andreassend, who completed the second lap with a lead of almost three minutes. Ashley Kelly had dropped out with gearbox problems, bringing Nick Hall up to second overall with Nelson racer Gordon Adamson taking third close behind Hall.

Clive Thornton went out when his Desert Dynamics Chev destroyed a rear wheel hub, the failure also smashing the car's brake disc and caliper. The demise of the Thornton car brought Donald Preston up to fourth.

Preston was slowed in the closing laps of the enduro when his truck suffered a flat rear tyre; Tim Culling's fight to the front was also slowed when his car shredded a rear tyre.

Whakatane's Malcolm Langley, third in the championship last year, went out when he ran over a tree stump in the forest. Darrin Thomason of Nelson crashed into a ditch in the thick dust, but was able to regain the road and win class four in his Nissan Navara utility.

Out front, Andreassend was averaging 100 km/h over the 14 km lap of the course. None of his pursuers could mount a credible challenge.

Andreassend ran out the winner, setting up his second day sprint to the title.

On Sunday, steady sleeting rain turned the farm-based short course track greasy but Andreassend was once more able to dominate at will. Starting from the second row in each race, he won all four of the Whakatane Commercial Spares short course heats for the top unlimited class cars and was the fastest car overall in the last of these, which was run as an all-in heat.

In rain or dust, wind or mud, Andreassend’s Cougar Evo had once more proven itself the best in the championship.

Class winners

By winning the championship outright, Dennis Andreassend also takes the national class title for Whakatane Commercial Spares class one, the unlimited race car class. He amassed 216 points for the weekend ahead of Tim Culling, who raced hard all season in a car with a smaller and less powerful engine, giving little away to the top cars. Culling finished the event with 186 points, second in class one and four points clear of Waikato’s Colin Meredith on 182.

In AFWE class two for production utes and four wheel drives, Steve Boyd was the only class two to enter the final round and thus had a clear run to the title in his giant-killer Suzuki Vitara.

Wayne Moriarty’s nightmare weekend stole from him any chance of winning the Bu_mac Engineering class three for 1.6-litre race cars. He ended up fourth in class behind eventual class winner Ron McPhail, Bruce Rolls and John van Dyk who survived a rollover on the second day.

The finishing order in AFWE class four for sport trucks was a close-run battle, which eventually went to Nelson driver Darrin Thomason in his rear wheel drive Nissan Navara, who won the class in the enduro race and then netted a strong of second placings in the short course heats. Defending class champion Paul Milne did not finish the enduro, and Simon Smith who won the short course heats had cracked his chassis the day before and likewise missed a top finish.

In Leader Products class five for 1.3-litre race cars, Pukekohe’s Nick Hall dominated and was unchallenged on the second day after Clint Densem was unable to start the short course races.

AFWE class six went to Tauranga’s Jason Delahunty, who had a two-day battle for the class wins with Nelson’s Neville Taylor. Taylor has just bought the Chev-powered Mitsubishi Pajero campaigned to class wins by Pete Weatherley in the North Island in recent championships.

Young racer Taine Carrington became the sport’s most youthful champion when he was unchallenged in Coms4U class 7 for race cars with VW 1.2-litre engines.

The class honours in AFWE class eight for the spectacular V8 trucks went to Winton’s Donald Preston, who took his V8 Supercharged Toyota Hilux to class wins in each short course race on the back of a strong performance in the endurance race. He amassed 208 points to be second overall in the championship.

A strong field in Coms4U Challenger class for race cars with 1.6-litre VW engines was headed by Terry Munro, whose hard-charging style saw him win the class title.

The final class title, for the diminutive but fast Odyssey-style race cars, fell to Hamish Lawlor, who has dominated the class at every South Island regional round and was fourth overall for the championship.