Moriarty masters mud and snow to take championship lead

Christchurch driver Wayne Moriarty has swept into a commanding 22 point lead in the offroad racing national championship with a well-judged drive to victory at the snow-sprinkled Nelson 175 forest endurance race on Saturday.

Using a newly-built engine that had only been tuned and installed on the Thursday night, Moriarty ran in the top three until he was certain the engine was working as it should, then started a charge to the front of the race.

Though heavy rain had been forecast for Saturday, the race was held in fine conditions – though the cold polar front that swept over New Zealand at the weekend added its own challenge in the form of a carpet of snow that lay up to 150 mm thick on parts of the course.

Mud bogs and massive puddles on some parts of the course had a fine skin of ice across them, and deposited freezing water into the open cars lap after lap.

Held in forests southwest of Nelson on Saturday, the race was the fourth round of the 2008 Asset Finance Offroad Racing National Championship. From the outset it seemed likely to fall to local driver Dennis Andreassend, who took pole by an emphatic eight seconds and led for all but the last eight kilometres of the race.

"We got the perfect sprint in qualifying, and over that first lap I made the most of the clear conditions to build a good lead. Once we started lapping the slower cars though, it was hard to keep up the momentum, and on that final lap I got stuck behind one of the production class trucks for a few kilometres."

The line-up at the front of the grid was Dennis Andreassend, Moriarty, Ryan Densem, Jason Brookes, Haydn Andreassend and Bruce Rolls

Off the start Andreassend was unchallenged and entered the forest leading the pack. He soon found himself carving through snow and slush as first car on the road, and smashing through ice in the big mud puddles and bogs.

"The cold water was a huge shock first time through – then it got worse knowing where the big puddles were and knowing you were going to get wet again next time around. I found one hand got colder than the other, and in the later laps shifting gears got quite painful," said Andreassend.

Nonetheless, his opening lap was the fastest of the race – 16 minutes 23 seconds for the 19.2 km.

Cars were quickly coated in sticky brown filth, conditions making racing difficult for drivers of the cars, which have open cockpits and expose the drivers to the elements. In ambient air temperatures only slowly edging above freezing point, wind-chill was a major concern for all.

Around ten drivers including ThunderTruck racer Bryan Chang were delayed on the first lap when Challenger racer Scott Campbell's engine seized, slewing his car broadside across the narrow track.

The time lost while Campbell's car was cleared from the track let the front-running 15 cars get well away into the forest and with the mud and icy slush offering minimal grip, Chang decided to make sure of his class lead.

As the delayed drivers got away into the forest, still on their first lap, they were pursued by the leaders who were locked in battle on their second lap.

Starting from second on the grid, Moriarty's challenge had begun slowly as he made sure his newly-installed engine was working properly. He was overtaken by young Nelson racer Gordon Adamson, and ran in third place for several laps until he began his charge for the lead.

"I wanted to make sure all the temperatures were right and the oil pressure was good. Once I was happy with that I chased after Gordon. He drove a great defence, but once I got past him I was able to drive in clear air and pull away. It took a while to get close to Dennis, but eventually I could see him about 400 metres ahead, so it was all on," he said.

Adamson's start and opening lap had showed his potential – after qualifying seventh, he had swept past all but Andreassend in a matter of a few kilometres. As the race progressed he was the only racer to stay close to the front two, making up a likely podium comprising three drivers all competing in the Leader Products Super 1600 class.

A number of incidents marked the mid-way point in the race. VW Shoppe Challenger class competitor Matthew Pratt flew off the road in a high speed section, smashing his steering. Neville Taylor clipped a bank in his Camco production Class Isuzu Trooper and tipped it on its side, the second competitor to partly block a narrow section of the course during the day.

At the front, Andreassend was grappling with lapped traffic.

"Some of the slower trucks just didn't seem to see me coming up behind them, and once the momentum's broken it's hard to get past in such narrow tracks. Frustrating when you are trying to keep up a lead."

It was on the final lap as Andreassend was trying to overtake one of the production trucks that Moriarty pounced, cutting across the brush on the inside of a tight corner and dropping down onto a firebreak ahead of both Andreassend and the truck.

The audacious move handed him the race lead, and galvanised Andreassend into following suit to give chase. Two corners later, Andreassend said he thought the lead was about to change again.

"I came around the corner and Wayne was off in the gorse, I thought 'yes!' and went to dive past him and he came flying back out in front of me, spraying huge rooster tails of mud and gorse into my face!"

Determined to chase Moriarty down, Andreassend stayed close behind until he ran out of "tear-offs", the plastic strips that racers use on their goggles or helmet visors to give clear vision in wet and muddy conditions.

"After that I couldn't follow as closely, and I ended up having to strip off my goggles completely."

Moriarty held his advantage to the chequered flag, completing the 175 km in 2:35.55 with Andreassend just 24 seconds behind at the finish.

Ryan Densem took out The Workshop Super 1300 class; Darrin Thomason battled with a misfire but led the Camco class four sport trucks home, Neil Stuart winning the Camco production class in his Suzuki 4WD, and Bryan Chang won the popular Camco ThunderTruck class. There were no finishers in the VW Shoppe Challenger class.

Celebrating with Andreassend afterward, Moriarty said it was his most satisfying race win – his first at Nelson and the best closing-laps duel he has ever experienced.

"That was every bit the battle it should be between Dennis and I, and with young Gordon in there as well to spice things up. He never gave up, and that's how races are won. I just loved the battle with Dennis, we both drove good clean races and it's set up a great battle at the next round for sure."

Moriarty now leads the championship on 144 points ahead of Hamilton Nissan racer Maurice Bain on 122. Nick Hall, Dennis Andreassend and Daniel Powell all share third place on 118 points.