By Ernie Hogg (Auckland Offroad Racing Club President) Well another awesome weekend of racing is over for us in the South Island and what a great weekend of racing – firstly we need to thank the CORC club for a great event. They certainly have the best racing facility in the country currently and we cant wait to have a facility like that in Auckland. It was clearly evident that a lot of work went into the event and it would have being a spectacular event to have had TV for, especially for sheer entertainment value – by my reckoning there were over 10 rollovers during the short course and most of them were spectacular. Although their desire to farm tyres by planting them in long lines caused a few issues with some of the racers who were hell bent on plucking them out of the ground! The short course racing on Saturday was awesome – it was such a great quality field of C1’s that the racing was fast and furious and very, very close. The first race was the most spectacular with both Vinnie Harvey and Mal Langley rolling and bowling them out of contention in spectacular style clashing with the tyres – they were rushed back onto their trailers and towed away to be repaired where they returned later in the day to compete in the feature. The three short course races were very closely fought between the C1’s and from most accounts from spectators and fans were the most exciting races of the day. In Race 1 we started off the back of the grid and managed to work our way through the carnage to finish 4th. There was much discussion pre-race about how to attack the large start / finish jump and within a couple of laps we had the speed, timing and technique sorted and whilst our gear ratio wasn’t perfect for attacking the jump 100%, we were hitting it at 95% and the General jumped brilliantly. We decided to make a few changes to the rear suspension after the race to help stabilise us in the corners. McCall won the race. In Race 2 we started off pole and eventually got home in 3rd with Ash Kelly in 2nd and McCall in 4th – this was great race with places 1 o 4 within spitting distance of each other. In Race 3 we started on the outside of Row 1 and managed to get to 2nd place when we were involved in an incident and unfortunately finished 4th, McCall was 1st and Ash Kelly was 3rd. We lodged a protest about our racing incident and whilst it was upheld the results remained. In the SC Feature the C1’s started off the back of the field containing C2’s, C4’s, C3’s, C9 and C8’s. Mal Langley and Vinnie Harvey had fixed their cars and were able to start. As could be expected, it was very busy and unfortunately we picked up a puncture on the 3rd lap and although we continued to circulate in 1st gear we were pretty much out of the running. The race was red flagged in about the 12th lap when McCall rolled his buggy over the start / finish jump but it managed to roll itself back onto his wheels and he was able to continue the race. Unfortunately for us, we were lapped 3 times by McCall and when finished with a DNF. After the day’s racing we were in 4th place in Class. The enduro on Sunday required one of the top 3 guys above me not finish, and for us to finish strongly for us to finish on the class podium. The qualifying sprint was held first thing we qualified in 10th position with five C1’s, two CU’s and two C10’s in front of us. The enduro was to consist of 15 laps of a 15km lap equalling 225km in total using the short course track as part of the enduro track but going in the opposite direction of the short course racing. The start was indian file and the start was to be a rolling start. It was evident immediately that dust was going to be an issue and it was a massive issue – visibility initially was at best a few car lengths and at worst it was hard to see your hands. It was a matter of going as fast as the conditions would dictate and concentration was paramount as at stages you were driving by touch. By the 4th lap we were 5th, by the 5th lap we were 6th and by the 6th lap we were 5th and things were looking better for us as we were aware that cars ahead of us needed to have fuel stop at some stage during the race and we didn’t. The dust was taking its toll on the field, with cars either hitting each other in the dust, or they were running off the track into trouble with trees, banks, stumps etc. We came across a marshall amongst the dust waving a yellow flag, then sighted Joel Giddy’s RZR rolled on the track in the dust. On the next lap the race was red flagged and we were placed in parce ferme on the start / finish line due to the danger of the dust while the officials looked at the options available. There were no options available so the race was called and the results were going to be based upon your position at completion of Lap 6. It was a rather anti-climactic way to end the day but it was the right decision as the possibility of someone having a really serious accident was very high. Being an early finish to the day, it became a relaxing a social afternoon over a few beers with other competitors at the track. As usual and true to form we were once again the last to leave the track and trundle back to our motel for a quick nana nap and then onto prizegiving. Nana nap turned into a snooze and combined with the fact that the prizegiving was over half an hour away from we were we were staying, we ended up being late to the prizegiving and it had already started. Congratulations to NZ1 Ben Thomasen, NZ2 Ash Kelly and NZ3 Owen Chang. We walked away with 4th in C1 for the Round and 4th in C1 for the Nationals, with the DNF in the feature preventing us from getting any higher. It was a great weekend, and after the hell 3 weeks we’ve had preparing the General, it was greatly satisfying to be able to drive it onto the trailer at the end of the day and only have standard race preparation to do to get it out for the next event. We would to thank once again all those people from the South Island that we caught up with again and those that we met for the first time – we’ve been to the South Island three times this year and enjoyed every single one of them. Next year we hope to be doing the Twizel 250 again and hopefully the Race to the Sky.
Posted on: Tue, 28 Oct 2014 02:11:28 +0000
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