Bain makes offroad racing history with North Island title

Driving a standard production Nissan Navara, Hamilton driver Maurice Bain became the 2008 North Island offroad racing champion at the Bay Offroaders’ championship round, held in cold and rainy conditions at Matata on Saturday.

It is the first time a production four wheel drive has taken the title, one of three outright titles up for grabs in the 2008 Asset Finance New Zealand Offroad Racing Championship.

All four Eastern Bay of Plenty drivers entered in the event scored top results, three winning their classes on the day and becoming North Island class champions while series sponsor Clive George of Whakatane, making his first appearance of the year, won two of the three short Course heats in his Toyota Tundra.

Whakatane driver Clive Thornton won the class one (unlimited) category for the weekend and became class one champion; Malcolm Langley (also Whakatane) won Super 1600 class three for the weekend and became North Island class champion and Gary Baker of Otakiri also became class champion, taking his Nissan Navara V8 to victory in the ThunderTruck class.

The “weather bomb” that lashed Northland during the weekend had caused organisers some concern before the event, but conditions in the sheltered farm venue in the Matata foothills remained steady light rain and chilly temperatures throughout the day.

Short course heats at the event were unaffected, but the afternoon enduro was ended five laps early as temperatures dropped further and concerns over possible hypothermia among the racers increased.

The 43-strong entry was headed by a resurgent Tony McCall of Manukau, who won the previous round at Hawkes Bay and was aiming to maximise his points going into the final round in October.

McCall had rolled his car at the first round earlier this year and needed a clean sweep of the class one heats. He was well on track with two wins from two starts on Saturday but blew his engine at the start of the third heat.

The rest of the nine-strong class one grid swept past him, Hawkes Bay driver Shayne Huxtable taking the win and Clive Thornton finishing second.

A multi-car tangle over the start-finish jump in the previous heat had already taken out Auckland driver Rob Ryan, his car limping off the track with its front right suspension smashed off.

Huxtable was in the thick of that incident, and crashed off the jump into a ditch but managed to recover. His luck ran out at the start of the afternoon’s 150 km endurance race, where he leapt into an early lead, but was forced out by a spectacular engine fire that allowed the sport’s president, Ian Foster, through to lead.

Thornton, slowed by a stop for goggles, circulated in fifth, chasing Foster, Donn Attwood, Raana Horan and Malcolm Langley. When Foster tore the centre out of a wheel and pitted, Horan sped into the outright lead, leaving the less powerful cars of Attwood and Langley behind.

The two Super 1600 cars were never able to close on the four wheel drive Nissan, Horan making full use of the power from its supercharged V8 engine in the slippery going.

Attwood momentarily slipped into the lead in the later stages of the race when Horan had to stop at the trackside to repair his windscreen wipers, but was soon chased down.

Thornton had consolidated fourth behind team-mate Langley while Clive George and later Gary Baker were forced to withdraw.

When the chequered flag came out five laps – twenty minutes – early, it was Horan who had scored his first ever endurance race win; Donn Attwood holding on grimly for second overall with a damaged driveshaft joint slowing his car in the last few laps; Langley and Thornton driving their own races and happy to see the finish in the chilling conditions.

Young Nick Hall of Papakura made sure of the Workshop Super 1300 class for the weekend, wrapping up the North Island title for the class in a flawless run that also netted him fifth overall in the endurance race. He was second on points for the outright North Island title.

Troy Tuffnell came from behind in the North Island points race to likewise win the VW Shoppe Challenger class at the race and also for the North Island series.

Wellington driver Glenn Turvey became Camco Class Four truck champion by default when no class four trucks entered the Bay of Plenty round.