ENZED Offroad Racing Championship rocks Twizel

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.
More than 40 cars are expected to take the start in the two-day event, including the General, a two-seater Chev powered unlimited class car all the way from Auckland. Ernie Hogg contested the Twizel race last year and says the unique challenge of racing on the massive glacial moraine farm has drawn him back for another crack at the event.
The'unlimited' truck class has the strongest entry in the event and promises spectacular action.
Winton's Donald Preston is back, aiming to wrest the class 8 truck title away from Christchurch's Owen Chang. After a dalliance in the UTV class while his son ran his big V8 4WD Toyota Hilux, Preston has once more returned to the ultimate truck class.
The Preston Hilux is one of the fastest race trucks in the sport, and can be expected to take a string of podium finishes in the short course racing on Saturday.
Another Otago driver, Carl Gardner, has stepped up from his 1.6-litre class three race car to a Nissan Navara V8 ute imported from Australia.
Karl Vinton has bought a Toyota Supra-engined Hilux previously campaigned by Auckland's Dale Buckley.
Christchurch’s Gavin Storer has his Toyota V6 powered 4WD ute.
In all, there are seven unlimited-class trucks entered for the event.
Saturday's action starts at 11.00 am at the Ohau Channel Road and takes the form of 'short course' racing on a compact track that enables spectators to see the entire course from one location. Organiser Barry Phillips of Twizel says the course is overlooked by a low hill that forms an ideal area for spectators to enjoy the action from – enjoying the comfort of  their cars or on picnic blankets in front on the edge of the slope.
The next day the field will contest a 250 kilometre multi-lap endurance race that starts from the same area as Saturday’s short course. The track will run west on the glacial soils of the valley which create a race surface like no other round of the championship.
"The Twizel 250 weekend is fast becoming a legend in offroad racing, to the extent that we have at least one competitor coming all the way from Auckland to race the unique course we set out here. There's going to be a lot to see and enjoy over the two days of racing."

Confirmed entries
Achilles Radial Class 1

•    Geoff Densem
•    Nevil Basalaj 173
•    Ernie Hogg 190
•    Daniel Powell 118
•    Cam Stratford 185
•    Ash Kelly 192

Class 2

•    Ron Crosby 250
•    Steven Boyd 218
•    Ian Simcox 217

Class 3

•    Greg Winn 371
•    Wayne Moriarty 312
•    Alex McIndoe 399
•    Nigel Sutherland 301

Class 4

•    Darrin Thomason 444
•    Dave Ballantyne 497

Class 5

•    Joel Green 552
•    Graham Fleming 572

Class 8
•    Carl Gardner 841
•    Richard Knowles 890
•    Karl Vinton 852
•    Gavin Storer 840
•    Don Preston 800
•    Bryan Chang 847
•    James Fleming 811

Class 10

•    Rosco Gaudin 1069
•    Wade Halliday 1085
•    Murdock Halliday 1019

Challenger VW

•    Jake Phillips C45
•    John Strickett C22

Polaris U-Class

•    Mike Holmes U21
•    Grant Dixon U15
•    Bob Uttridge U46
•    Roger MacKay U66
•    Tim  George U68
•    James Dixon U07
 
J-Class

•    Jorja Storer J31
•    Brooke Storer J39