D & E Racing Top Three After Day One

Three hours sleep and a strong cup of coffee was all it took for Reece Trotter to put the Drummond & Etheridge Racing Polaris RZR 900 in the top third on the starting grid and second in Class 10. The decision to race the Taupo 1000 was a last minute one, with the car only arriving a week before the race. Luckily the Polaris RZR comes ready to race and the team just had to throw a couple of side intrusion bars on to prepare for the great race.

Unfortunately the team wasn't able to capitalise on their grid position. After passing over ten cars in the first lap a faulty fuel gauge saw them stop for fuel and drop back to 40th outright and 3rd in class. Trotter soon started making up for lost time however and set a blisteringly quick pass to place the team into the top twenty five at the end of lap four when Scott Campbell took over driving duties. Having never driven the Polaris before Campbell had to learn fast. Two clean laps saw him pass over to Trotter for his final stint of the day. Things were looking good for the team until a flat force Trotter to throw on the spare and make another pit stop, which took them off the lead lap and dropped them out of the top thirty. Another quick lap saw Trotter place the car back in the top 30 with Campbell bringing it home in 28th overall and Third in Class 10.

With another 500km to go on Sunday Drummond & Etheridge Racing are confident of a top 20 finish. "If it wasn't for those couple of hiccups we'd still be sitting second, in front of Rocket Ron, and easily in the top fifteen outright. I'll just be keeping it nice and clean during my stints and let Reece (Trotter) try chase down Ron" Campbell said. Their main competition in the class comes from fellow Polaris driver and former Race to the Sky competitor, Rocket Ron, who currently sits fourteenth overall in his own Polaris RZR. With the undeniable pace of
the two Polaris vehicles so far it seems pretty certain that they will have a class of their own next year and are set to become the future of our sport.


D & E Racing would like to thank Drummond & Etheridge, Polaris, Snap Management, Holdfast, Vortex, Sylvester Motor Company and Interislander for their support.