'MASSIVE' ENTRY KICKSTARTS POLARIS OFFROAD RACING CHAMPIONSHIP
Tuesday 7 March 2017, 2:34PM
By Mark Baker
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- New race trucks go wheel to wheel in unlimited class
- Youth racers boost record Meremere entry
- UTVs swarm to 2017 championship
The spectacular sport of offroad racing takes another step forward this weekend as 75 race drivers contest the opening round of the 2017 national championship.
Sponsored once more by UTV brand Polaris, the championship will be run over seven rounds on farms, forests and purpose-built ‘stadium’ tracks from Meremere to Christchurch with the final round an all-in decider at Nelson over Labour Weekend.
It is the second year running that the south has hosted the national final.
The championship starts this Sunday at Meremere, continues with the first southern round at Easter In Nelson, followed by the classic Woodhill 100 forest enduro at Queen’s Birthday weekend in June, Canterbury running two round back to back rounds in June and August and the last northern regional round at Waikato on 30 September.
There has been a strong response to the call for entries for round one this weekend – no less than 75 race cars and trucks across the range of classes.
For the first time ever, the Leader Products Kiwitruck youth category has the biggest entry in the event: 14 J class racers will grid up on Sunday to kick off their season-long championship battle. The youth category is gaining greater support every year. Seasoned race commentator Paul ‘Dink’ Madden presents a Junior Driver of the Event trophy; this year Joel Giddy is backing that award at every northern round with a $100 JG Civil cash prize for the best racer in the Kiwitruck fields: J, M and K.
Also proving popular is the UTV (‘side by side’) U class, which has attracted nine entries including defending class champion Mike Alexander. U class is for largely standard UTVs with safety modifications and has revitalised the sport, while there is also the JG Civil S class for modified and turbo UTVs.
The sport’s truck classes this year are sponsored by 4WD Bits. Class four for sports trucks has attracted two entries, Calvin McOnie and Gerrard Chitty; the leading entry in class six for winch challenge trucks is Warren Adams, while Malcolm Langley’s new Battery Town race truck leads a five-strong entry in the unlimited class 8.
HasTrak class three has attracted an eleven-strong entry including 2016 class champion Brendon Midgely, while the Challenger VW class, also backed by HasTrak, has eight cars entered.
The big-banger unlimited race car class brings four top racers to Meremere: Jardyne Lammers travels down from Whangarei to do battle with John Morgan, Tony McCall and Lance Cargill.
The Meremere round of the championship is hosted by All Terrain Racing club. Racing gets under way on the club’s purpose-built track at 9.30 am on Sunday and the venue is accessed from Dragway Road.
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2017 Polaris New Zealand Offroad Racing Championship
Entries in round one as at 6 March
Class 1
163 Lance Cargill
150 John Morgan
157 Tony McCall
160 Jardyne Lammers
HasTrak class 3
367 Jarrod Marwood
333 Brendon Old
377 Mike Gibson
324 Brendon Midgley
365 Jesse Bagley
305 Ross Misson
363 Lance Mitchell
327 Bryce McCall
359 Justin Davies
341 Andrew Green
368 Craig Patching
4WD Bits class 4
404 Calvin McOnie
405 Gerrard Chitty
Class 5
517 Nick Magness
545 Regan Swensson
535 Connor Glasgow
512 Rodney Greenhorn
521 Tyler Castle
507 Todd Graham
501 Jack Talbot
4WD Bits class 6
697 Warren Adams
Class 7
789 Boston Morgan-Horan
726 Jack Hellier
700 Fergus Crabb
4WD Bits class 8
869 Jono Climo
861 Nick Hall
825 Dale Buckley
875 Mike Cox
893 Mal Langley
Class 9
920 Gregg Carrington-Hogg
917 Murray Kitt
Class 10
1062 Dan Fromings
HasTrak Challenger VW
C32 Karl Burbage
C75 Campbell Witheford
C30 Tim Ackers
C21 Ollie McCall
C84 Ash Carlyle
C07 Louise Lang
C01 Ricky May
C18 Geoff Matich
U class UTVs
U37 Haydn Mackenzie
U38 Karl May
U87 Dyson Delahunty
U56 Cameron Taylor
U14 Dion Edgecombe
U51 Mike Alexander
U83 Scott Munro
U19 Kyle Van Harlingen
U22 Carl Ruiterman
JG Civil S class modified UTVs
S08 Kevin Williams
S16 Joel Giddy
S27 Phil Finlay
S1 Ben Thomasen
S88 Mike Small
Leader Products Kiwitrucks
J51 Holly Russell
J89 Brooklyn Horan
J69 Andre England
J150 Asher Morgan
J26 Matthew McFarlane
J11 Lennox Buckley
J321 Lincoln Whiddett
J09 James Christensen
J95 Arron Crabb
J16 Jackson Savage
J17 Brody Savage
J76 Katie Tuffnell
J73 Toby McCormack
J04 Cahn Rave
M12 Harry Hodgson
K20 Georgia Wheeler
K25 Eleanor Buckley