Mark Baker
401 posts | 446 images
Nelson racers Nevil Basalaj and Darrin Thomason have won their classes in the opening round of the 2016 Polaris New Zealand Offroad Racing Championship, held in Tadmor Valley on Saturday.
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Auckland driver Callum Quin says he is aiming to close the gap on leader Ash Blewett as the 2015-2016 Toyota Finance 86 Championship heads for its final round at Taupo next month.
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The road to the 2016 title begins here: Pukekohe racer Carl Ruiterman is ready to defend his 2015 northern title against all comers when the championship starts on Easter Saturday at Mangawhai.
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Championship offroad action hits the sleepy seaside village of Mangawhai this Easter as the best race drivers in New Zealand contest the opening round of the New Zealand Offroad Racing Championship.
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Tony McCall’s bellowing BSL Chev V8 single-seater is the headline offroad racing entry for next weekend’s inaugural Baypark rallycross event in Tauranga.
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Auckland racer Ash Blewett’s charge toward the 2015-2016 Toyota Finance 86 championship title continued almost unchecked in the third round, held over the weekend.
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Ash Blewett is in dominant form with six wins from six starts in the 2015-2016 Toyota Finance 86 Championship.
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Experienced single make racer Ash Blewett of Auckland is watching his mirrors going into the second round of the 2015-2016 Toyota Finance 86 Series with a pursuing pack of 15 drivers looking to topple him from the championship lead.
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Auckland driver Ash Blewett has set the 16-strong grid for this year’s Toyota Finance 86 Championship an emphatic challenge with three wins from three starts.
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Multiple clean sweep of class heats Championship titles to be won in Sunday enduro New Zealand’s fastest offroad racers have scored a clean sweep of heats in the first day of racing at the final round of the national championship.
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Aucklander Ash Blewett has taken pole for the opening round of the 2015-2016 Toyota Finance 86 Series, setting the only 1:14 lap of the 16 strong field with rookie Reid Harker alongside him for the first race tomorrow morning.
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New Zealand’s leading single make ‘tintop’ championship has attracted its strongest-ever entry going into this weekend’s opening round, promising close and spectacular racing action.
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Going into his third championship season, Auckland’s Callum Quin has a new weapon in his arsenal: endurance.
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Six years of karting competition and two Formula Ford championships have paved the way for Christchurch student Ryan Yardley to step into a drive in New Zealand’s leading single make sports car championship.
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Race driver Kenny Smith is unstoppable.
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Tiffany Chittenden, the first woman to contest the Toyota Finance 86 Championship comes to the sports car series with a wide range of experience.
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Tauranga’s Ben Thomasen is celebrating his most successful motorsport weekend ever after winning both days of the punishing Polaris NZ 1000 driving one of the smallest cars in the event.
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Tauranga’s Ben Thomasen says winning the first day of the Polaris NZ 1000 was a matter of staying clear of the duelling unlimited-class cars in his Polaris RZR1000 and taking his opportunities as they arose.
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New Zealand’s toughest and longest offroad race returns in late September with an all-new course and has confirmed its first three-car international race team entry.
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Final regional rounds of the 2015 ENZED Offroad Racing Championship have put two of the most exciting driving talents in the sport head to head going into November's final in Hawkes Bay. Tony McCall of Manukau and Nevil Basalaj of Nelson carry maximum points to the event, having dominated the Achilles Radial backed unlimited class.
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Last minute drama for leading offroad racer Nevil Basalaj ahead of this weekend's Greg Winn Contracting/Hire Now Ruf'n'Tuf 250.
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What odds a home town victory? At this month's Nelson Ruff'n'Tuff endurance race, the odds are stacked.
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Young New Zealander and current Formula Ford champion Taylor Cockerton is the first to commit to the 2016 Toyota Racing Series.
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Four times World Rally Champion Tommi Mäkinen will head Toyota’s return to the FIA World Rally Championship in 2017.
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• Clean sweep in stadium racing heats for six drivers • Spectacular programme of stadium racing • Basalaj and Chang set sights on national title Hard charging Nelson offroad racer Nevil Basalaj had an easy ride to maximum points in his four races at West Melton on Saturday.
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Toyota has welcomed Post Haste Couriers, the first sponsor to the Kiwi Driver Fund, a new initiative to help aspiring New Zealand race drivers contest the Toyota Racing Series.
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Toyota Racing Series and the Toyota Finance 86 Championship will be part of a revival of New Zealand motor racing with an agreement to unite the country’s top racing categories under one Premier Racing Calendar.
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Earl Bamber wins historic motor race on debut,starring roles in toughest race for four Toyota Racing Series graduates New Zealand driver Earl Bamber has won the punishing 24 Hours of Le Mans sports car race on debut with Kiwi Brendon Hartley placing second overall.
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New Zealand has its strongest representation at the iconic 24 Hours of Le Mans in many years with four young drivers lining up to start the race this weekend.
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• Record entry for most punishing race • Father-son combinations take class doubles Manukau’s Tony McCall had a tough fight on his hands in Woodhill Forest on Sunday as he set out to win his sixth Woodhill 100 offroad race.
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A titanic battle under the pines is in store this weekend as a record field of offroad race cars and trucks contests the 35th annual Woodhill 100 offroad endurance race.
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Auckland racer Nick Cassidy continued on his winning way with a victory and second place at the most recent round of the All-Japan Formula 3 Championship over the weekend.
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The factory Audi team won the Six Hours of Spa endurance race at the weekend, giving them two wins from two rounds of the 2015 FIA World Endurance Championship.
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The 35th annual Woodhill 100 will once more draw New Zealand’s fastest and bravest offroad race drivers into the depths of the massive pine forest northwest of Auckland at Queen’s Birthday Weekend.
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Double Toyota Racing Series Champion and multiple New Zealand Grand Prix winner Nick Cassidy has scored a first and tenth place at the opening round of the 2015 Japanese Formula Three Championship at Suzuka over the weekend.
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A bewildering array of high powered offroad racing vehicles will invade Twizel this weekend as the town hosts the second round of the 2015 ENZED offroad racing championship.
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• Rollovers and crashes as racers jostle for advantage • New names top the points table After a day of spectacular crashes and rollovers on a challenging farm course, three drivers have emerged with a shared lead in the 2015 ENZED Offroad Racing Championship.
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The V8 engine may be on the way to ‘endangered species’ status on New Zealand roads, but the muscular bellow of American – and even Japanese – high performance V8 engines is beginning to dominate the spectacular world of offroad racing.
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• No easy ride as defending champion McNee takes title fight to the final flag • 2015 Toyota Festival at Hampton Downs sees champion crowned • Worthy winner Alexander never off the podium Tom Alexander of Bombay has won New Zealand’s leading one-make championship, wresting the title away from Wellingtonian Jamie McNee.
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TOM ALEXANDER CLOSER TO TOYOTA FINANCE 86 CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE WITH WIN IN FIRST RACE AT HAMPTON DOWNS He’s closing in on the title, but Bombay’s Tom Alexander still has plenty to do to win the 2014-2015 Toyota Finance 86 Championship after winning the first race of the final round today at Hampton Downs.
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ALEXANDER ON FORM AS CHAMPIONSHIP ARRIVES AT FINAL ROUND • Southern rounds make for a tough run to the title • Toyota Festival hosts championship for first time Tom Alexander of Bombay is positioning himself to wrest New Zealand's leading one-make series title away from Wellingtonian Jamie McNee.
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Brandon Maisano took a flag to flag victory in today’s first race of the New Zealand Grand Prix weekend, winning the Dan Higgins Trophy despite gearshifting worries late in the race.
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Canadian Lance Stroll, 16, will lead the 2015 Toyota Racing Series into its final round this weekend at Manfeild.
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Arjun Maini bounced back from disappointment to make sure of a race win in the Denny Hulme Memorial Trophy at Taupo.
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7 February 2015 Canadian teen Lance Stroll continues to lead the 2015 Toyota Racing Series after key rival Arjun Maini was unable to close the gap in racing at Taupo on Saturday.
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He has led races, scored pole positions, proven a tough rival at every turn of a race, recorded fastest laps and attacked in bold overtaking moves across the opening three rounds of the 2015 Toyota Racing Series.
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Lance Stroll, 16, has become the youngest winner of one of New Zealand’s oldest and most prestigious motorsport trophies.
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A Russian driver contesting the international GP2 series and the 2014 Italian F4 champion head a strong grid of international and local drivers for the 2015 Toyota Racing Series.
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New Zealand and Australian motor racing champions Jamie Conroy and Thomas Randle have confirmed they will compete in the 2015 Toyota Racing Series.
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Auckland’s Ashley Blewett has wrested the Toyota Finance 86 Championship lead away from defending champion Jamie McNee.
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“That was pretty intense,” Ashley Blewett said after fighting his way to the lead of the first Toyota Finance 86 Championship race of the weekend, then watching Jamie McNee slip past and having to fight off a hard-charging Tom Alexander for most of the ten-lap race.
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Bravery and precision are the order of the day for the drivers in New Zealand’s leading one-make sports coupe series as they prepare to race on the fast straights and bumpy corners of the Pukekohe circuit in south Auckland.
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Christchurch unlimited-class offroad racer Owen Chang has become the 2014 national champion and the youngest class eight (unlimited race truck) champion in the history of the sport.
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• Racers return to West Melton • Club 92 leads the championship charge • Four local drivers to defend Canterbury honours Canterbury’s regional pride is at stake as offroad racers gather for the final round of the 2014 New Zealand Offroad Racing Championship.
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Toyota Racing New Zealand has launched the new FT50 race car for the Toyota Racing Series, describing the new car as a significant step forward featuring the latest in race car technology and safety and a worthy successor to its predecessor.
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Manukau’s Tony McCall has dominated racing at the Sunshine Capital Showdown, the final northern round of the 2014 New Zealand Offroad Racing Championship.
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Rising star: 14 year old Marcus Armstrong has won his first TR86 race, holding out a hard-charging Ash Blewett to score a result even he did not fully expect.
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Matt Gibson took a clean flag to flag win in the first race of the 2014-2015 Toyota Finance 86 Championship, but defending champion Jamie McNee bounced back this morning to win the second eight lap race.
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Racing from pole position, Auckland’s Matt Gibson put in a flawless drive to win the first race of the 2014-2015 Toyota Finance 86 Championship this afternoon at Taupo’s Ricoh Motorsport Park.
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New Zealand’s leading one-make sports coupe racing series, the Toyota Finance 86 Championship, returns to the track this weekend with a vengeance and the top five drivers from the inaugural year are back to do battle once more.
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Basalaj wins! A month after he was third overall in the Total Lubricants New Zealand Endurance Championship, Nevil Basalaj has taken a hard-fought home town victory at the Nelson round of the national championships.
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Queenstown, 28 August 2014 An industry-first initiative has been announced by the Recruitment and Consulting Services Association at its annual conference in Queenstown today.
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Aspiring racers will have a new way to contest the Toyota Finance 86 Championship as it enters its second season next month with today’s announcement of a new lease package from Toyota New Zealand.
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Key speaker profiles for this week's RCSA conference in Queenstown Peter Williams: Digital Disruption, Social media and Recruitment Peter is a recognised thought leader and practitioner in Innovation with a particular focus on digital innovation.
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MEDIA ADVISORY Minister for Social Development Paula Bennett will welcome delegates to the Recruitment and Consulting Services Association (RCSA) International Conference in Queenstown this Wednesday.
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Auckland, 29 July 2014: Innovative workplace safety management programmes set in place in Christchurch by labour-hire companies have resulted in accident and off-work injury levels lower than the national average.
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Two-time Toyota Racing Series competitor Jann Mardenborough scored the biggest victory of his burgeoning racing career in the second GP3 race at Hockenheim on Sunday morning.
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The momentum continues to build for New Zealand's Mitch Evans with taken a stunning win in the GP2 Feature race at Hockenheim in Germany.
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The performance and handling of the new FT 50 on-track impressed two-time Toyota Racing Series winner Nick Cassidy when he tested the car in Italy earlier this week.
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Tauranga’s Ben Thomasen wasn’t keen on crashing through 10mm-thick ice in his Polaris RZR 1000, but he did what was required at the two-day 2014 Total Lubricants New Zealand Endurance Championship held at Dovedale over the weekend.
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Two Toyota Racing Series titles, youngest ever Grand Prix winner, the GP3 title in 2012 and now Aucklander Mitch Evans has taken his maiden win in GP2 at Silverstone.
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Toyota Racing New Zealand has announced the championship calendar for the 2015 Toyota Racing Series will include a return to Ruapuna near Christchurch and also to the Taupo circuit.
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In a new move to nurture future motor racing talent, Toyota Racing New Zealand has announced it will support this year's KartSport New Zealand National Schools' Championship in Palmerston North next month.
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Disappointment and elation came in equal measure for Toyota at the punishing 24 Hours of Le Mans.
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A frantic first hour, heavy squalls and crashes in the next hour and drama aplenty through the first punishing six hours of the race: the first quarter of the 24 Hours of Le Mans has resembled a sprint race, but Alex Wurz is now extending Toyota's dominance.
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An intense battle for the front row of the 24 Hours of Le Mans has swung between New Zealand driver Brendon Hartley and race favourites Toyota overnight with the Japanese manufacturer emerging on pole.
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Toyota Racing is pushing the performance and economy limits of hybrid technology as it prepares to conquer the Le Mans 24-hour endurance classic this weekend.
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AUCKLAND — Anywhere, any time: you are in focus” – that is the message Papakura Business Association has for people thinking about breaking the law in the town centre.
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Offroad racing’s big banger unlimited class race cars meet the tiny but quick UTV four wheel drives in Woodhill Forest this Queen's Birthday weekend for 250 kilometres of all-out high speed racing.
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A feast of top level offroad racing action is in store in New Zealand’s two biggest cities as the second northern and southern rounds of the 2014 national championship hit Auckland and Christchurch over Queen’s Birthday Weekend.
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Auckland, 9th May: The Recruitment and Consulting Services Association (RCSA) New Zealand has welcomed the increase in workforce participation and employment in New Zealand, confirmed yesterday in the Labour Market Statistics for March 2014, and is calling on employers to adopt leading workplace practices as the foundation on which to create further workforce opportunities for Kiwis.
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May 3: Jamie McNee is closer to winning the inaugural Toyota Finance 86 Championship after a day filled with spectacular race action at Hampton Downs.
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Ash Blewett put his extensive one-make racing series experience to good use today at Hampton Downs, topping the time sheets in both free practice sessions for the final round of the Toyota Finance 86 Championship.
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Wellington’s Jamie McNee goes into this weekend’s final round of the Toyota Finance 86 Championship determined to maintain his points lead and secure the title – but admits it will be a close battle through all four races at Hampton Downs.
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Seven years after he last raced, and ten years into the competition life of his American built race car, Nelson’s Nevil Basalaj has made a triumphant return to offroad racing.
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