Off roaders to tear it up in Feilding

The fastest off-road racers in the country will converge on Feilding for a one-day battle for championship domination this weekend.

Almost 50 entries have been received already, including almost all the top unlimited-class racers in the North Island.

The one-day, short-course event on Saturday is the last chance for northern racers to gather points before the all-in national final at Labour Weekend.

In the unlimited race car class, multiple New Zealand champion Tony Mccall of Manukau goes up against a five-car grid that includes Woodhill 100 winner Mike Fraser and John Morgan.

All three are driving race cars with high output V8 engines, and Fraser is leading the class.

Equally spectacular is the unlimited truck class, where northern region leader Raana Horan grids up in his massive Nissan Titan four wheel drive against four other V8 trucks, including Palmerston North racer Grant Rosenburg, Aucklander Colin Sandford in a Toyota Hilux, Mike Preston and Dave Spence.

The biggest race grid a week out from the event is in class five for cars with engines up to 1.3 litres.

Seven class five cars will line up to race, including three from Hawkes Bay.

Also likely to deliver close action is class three for cars with engines up to 1.6 litres, where Brendon Midgely leads the class and lines up with six other top racers.

The truck classes look set to deliver Cameron Taylor, Rex Croskery and Warren Adams uncontested class wins and northern titles.

In Challenger class, Campbell Witheford leads the points and grids up with Karl Burbage, Peter and Ricky May. The four-strong class seven field includes points leader Fergus Crabb of Albany.

The new wave in the sport is in UTV or ‘side by side’ racing.

The standard class leader is Mike Alexander, who faces strong challenges from factory Polaris racer Dyson Delahunty and Dion Edgecombe and a new recruit, Palmerston North’s William van der Wal.

There will also be races for the sport’s youth classes, with six of the J-class Kiwitrucks entered including class leader Holly Russell.

Palmerston North club spokesperson Andy Briggs said the club’s 1.44km clay-dirt track has been designedwith spectators and racers in mind.

The track, at 125 Kawakawa Road on the outskirts of Feilding, has been naturally watered by extensive rain in recent weeks.

It includes a jump through the start-finish line, a sweeping right hander between two large trees leading into a wide open back straight 300m long, funnelling racers into a tight right-hand corner.

‘‘We then race back down the track to a jump just prior to a tight hair-pin, left-hand turn, a fairly straight run to a small jump in the middle of the course and into a medium right hand corner and back to the front straight.’’

Racing starts at 10am.