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2015 OFFROAD CHAMPIONSHIP GOES TO THE WIRE

Saturday 7 November 2015, 10:16PM

By Mark Baker

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Warren Adams
Warren Adams Credit: Darryl Hutton
  • 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.

Multiple New Zealand champion Tony McCall won all his heats and won the ‘A-main’ feature outright, scoring a perfect 72 points.

Also on 72 is Gregg Carrington-Hogg in the “Herbinator’, his class nine two seater Chev V8 race car.

Devlin Hill of Auckland has likewise taken a clean sweep in class 3 and won his class in the feature race.

Scott Buckley – another Auckland driver – took top points in class 10 for motorcycle-engined race cars in his BSL.

Warren Adams (pictured) won class six with a clean sweep, and Wellington driver Glenn Turvey also took maximum points in class four.

One competitor who is no longer in contention, though, is Jono Climo of north Auckland. He won the first heat for the unlimited trucks in his hand-built Toyota Hilux V8 turbo. But as the second heat got up to speed he barrel-rolled the truck, destroying the front end and badly damaging the rear subframe.

Also missing points was defending New Zealand champion Owen Chang, who did not score in his third class 8 heat or feature race. The GT Radial Ford Falcon struck transmission problems in the first heat, losing first gear. Then in the second heat – still running without first gear – the team had a flat rear tyre, spotted while in parc ferme after the Climo crash. They ran the whole heat on the flat tyre, destroying it in the process, then blew the clutch in the third heat.

The final round of the 2015 ENZED offroad racing championship will be decided in Sunday’s 200 km endurance race starting at 11 am at 1960 Matapiro Road.