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OFFROAD CHAMPIONSHIP HITS NELSON FORESTS

Wednesday 27 August 2014, 10:28AM

By Mark Baker

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Offroad racing national championship southern section points leader Roger McKay
Offroad racing national championship southern section points leader Roger McKay Credit: Veritas Communications

• Racers return to Dovedale
• New challenge for new UTV class
• Strong turnout for final points grab

Nelson’s Dovedale Forest has barely stopped echoing to the sound of high performance race engines and the offroad racers are back for more: the Total Lubricants Nelson Ruff N Tuff 250 brings the south’s top drivers back into the course used for the recent Endurance Championship, won last month by Ben Thomasen.
The event is the third round of the 2014 New Zealand Offroad Racing Championship, and with the northerners absent the battle remains between the high performance unlimited class trucks and race cars – and the new wave of UTV racers.
Organisers are expecting up to 40 racers to grid up on Saturday including some of the fastest drivers in the southern section of the championship.
Absent from the endurance championship event last month, but making sure he’s in line for a final top-up of points in the championship is Christchurch racer Vinnie Harvey in his Ryan single-seater, now repowered with a Mitsubishi Evo engine from the Nissan V6 he campaigned last year. He goes up against fast locals including Nevil Basalaj in his mighty Jimco Chev V6 and Ashley Kelly in the Hydraulink Cougar Evo VW.
Christchurch’s Wayne Moriarty leads a six-strong entry in class three for race cars with engines up to 1650cc, with local driver Greg Winn keen to make his mark in the RV Magnum Toyota.
Clint Densem and Graham Fleming go wheel to wheel in class five for race cars with engines up to 1.3 litres, while Challenger VW class regulars John Strickett, Rob Palmer and Paul Cooper will be joined by New Zealand Endurance Championship organiser Darrin Thomason, a dedicated truck-class racer until this year.
There are six UTV-class racers entered, with championship southern leader Roger McKay of Winton aiming to maximise points to carry forward to the national finals in October at Christchurch.
Damien and Wade Halliday are entered in class 10 for race cars with motorcycle engines.
There are two racers in the Kiwitruck youth category, Christchurch sisters Jorja and Brooke Storer.
Their dad Gavin is one of two unlimited-class race truck entries, bringing his V8 four wheel drive Pro Lite north to go up against Owen Chang in the GT Radial Ford Falcon Pro Lite – the original truck built to the popular American design in this country.
Steven Boyd heads up a three-strong production race truck entry in his giant-killing Suzuki.
Nelson Offroad Racing Club has secured the enduro track after careful management of roads drew praise from the forest managers. Scrutineering and time trials happen on-site in the forest from 7:30am with racing to start at 10:30am.

Leading entries for the 2014 Ruff’n’Tuff 250 at Nelson:
Frontline projects/Phoenix Engineering class one
125 Vincent Harvey
173 Nevil Basalaj
185 Cam Stratford
192 Ash Kelly
Class two production race trucks
218 Steven John Boyd
231 Teun Buijs
250 Ron Crosby
Class three race cars up to 1650 cc
312 Wayne Moriarty
341 Carl Gardner
352 James Fleming
353 Blair James Prebble
371 Greg Winn
375 Josh Rutledge
Class five race cars up to 1300cc
572 Graham Fleming
577 Clint Densem
Class 8 unlimited race trucks
840 Gavin Storer
847 Owen Chang
V-Dub Shoppe Challenger class
C22 John Strickett
C82 Rob Palmer
C99 Paul Cooper
Polaris class u
U01 Donald Preston
U15 Grant Dickson
U21 Mike Holmes
U55 Bob Uttridge
U66 Roger McKay
U68 Tim George
Kelso Kontracting class 10
1019 Damian Halliday
1026 Wade Halliday
Kiwitruck
J31 Jorja Storer
J39 Brooke Storer