Top four stay in touch with title hopes at Manukau

The 2008 Asset Finance New Zealand Offroad Racing Championship title is still wide open after an eventful day of motorsport action at Colin Dale Park in Manukau.

Rain turned the course increasingly slippery as the day continued, and several drivers crashed out of the event, but the four top contenders are all in the running to take the outright title. Nelson’s Dennis Andreassend came to the event points leader and won his first heat, but had a difficult time in the 14-strong Super 1600 field.

Tangling with other competitors and battling through from second and third row grid positions cost Andreassend points and narrowed the title chase though his rivals also had problems in their class-by-class “short course” heats through the day.

This means the title will be decided tomorrow in the 160 kilometre endurance race to be held at the same venue.

One racer who did fall out of contention after destroying his front suspension is hard-charging Maurice Bain of Hamilton.

Bain looked set to cruise through heats for the production trucks, his only serious rival another Hamilton driver, Nigel Newlands. But in the first production class heat of the day it was Newlands who surged into the lead and Bain whose race ended early.

His Etco-backed Nissan Navara V6 is usually a match for the V6-enmgined Mitsubishi Pajero of Newlands, but a heavy landing over one of the big jumps on the course smashed the left front suspension, folding the wheel under the truck as Newlands raced away.

Unable to repair the truck, Bain took no further part in the day’s racing.

Cold rain squalls beating in off the Manukau harbour kept the track slippery throughout the day, and most racers opted for soft hand-cut tyres in an attempt to gain traction.