ORANZ SHORT COURSE FINALS CHRISTCHURCH
He came, he saw and at West Melton over Labour Weekend, Pukekohe Yamaha racer Carl Ruiterman conquered. Mark Baker has the story.
Consistent speed, a strong team and the right race car took Carl Ruiterman to the 2018 ORANZ Off-road Racing National Championship title over two days of racing in Canterbury this year.
“We made the trip down prepared to push to the limit. Dion [Edgecombe] would be doing the same and gunning for the U class title as well,” the former D1NZ pro drifter said.
Ruiterman, who won the northern title in 2016 in a highly modified Yamaha UTV, switched to a stock ‘U’ class car for this year’s championship, and says the step helped hone his driving to outright championship level.
“We spent the last two seasons in U class which was the best thing I could have done for my driving and for our development of the YXZ1000 at E&H Motors. I’ve been pushing myself in the stock race car trying to achieve similar lap times to my rivals in the modified S class and concentrating on the suspension at work to achieve this.”
The short and long of it!
The national championship final was held at Canterbury Offroad Racing Club’s Can Am Speedway, West Melton, over two hot, sunny and dusty days. Short course racing on Saturday was followed by a 250 km endurance race the next day that used both the track and massive sections of the adjacent pine forest.
Going into the weekend, Ruiterman brought 92 points through from the northern regional rounds. He then won all three of the JG Civil U class (standard UTV) short course heats on Saturday at the newly-upgraded race track at West Melton and won the 247 km endurance race on Sunday outright.
In the first short course race he set fastest lap and a new lap record of 1:19.225; in the second he set fastest lap of 1:22.090, chased home by Dion Edgecombe of Morrinsville (Polaris), and in the third Edgecombe was again second behind Ruiterman and set fastest lap: 1:22.751. The first heat set a new class lap record for the track.
Tactically perfect
Ruiterman followed his short course clean sweep with a tactically perfect drive in the 250 km Sunday enduro.
“The enduro was always going to be a hard one for us to win. We run the stock 112hp Yamaha Whangarei YXZ1000 competing against cars that have over 600hp. We are also not allowed an extra fuel tank like the other class cars so would be forced to make at least one pit stop for fuel,” he said
The initial plan was to go out hard and stay with the fast unlimited class cars but by lap two Ruiterman could see his UTV would use too much fuel, forcing an additional pit stop, so he dropped his pace slightly.
“We made the five laps [halfway point] with only two litres of fuel to spare, while maintaining a pace quick enough to hold a good position. As the race went on and got rougher I started to see the lots more cars crashed out or broken and the race changed shape for us.”
Ruiterman was keeping tabs on the developing battle for the lead between Greg Winn, Ricky Lane and others, receiving updates from his crew via pit radio.
He was circulating in the hot dusty conditions near the front of the field and in the closing laps drew steadily closer to leader Ricky Lane’s big Chev truck.
Problem after problem
The front-runners had struck problem after problem: Joel Giddy tore a wheel off his UTV on the start-finish straight; Ben Thomasen had electrical issues; Greg Winn led for three laps then tore a corner off his car; and Ricky Lane took over on lap six, looking likely to take the chequered flag until on the final lap the Chev went missing when a suspension arm bolt broke.
Ruiterman surged through to take the win and with it the national title. Though the margin was so close he didn’t know he had it in the bag until he crossed the finish line.
“That’s proof positive you don’t need a bigbanger, hi-tech unlimited class car or truck to do this. I’m rapt!”
Hopes dashed
The enduro had decided the title but dashed the hopes of a procession of unlimited-class racers. Aucklander John Morgan had his car’s alternator fail, losing charge while dicing with the leaders. Nathan Moore and Dion Edgecombe damaged their suspensions in the dusty going. Brendon Midgley ran in the leading group until his car lost its air filter – a quick way to destroy a race engine in such dusty conditions.
Polaris racer Ben Thomasen had recovered from his electrical fault but then had his suspension fail – a legacy of a hard hit the previous day.
Class act
In 4WD Bits class two for production trucks and 4WDs, Ron Crosby (Mitsubishi Pajero) took his second title in a row.
“I went out to drive the course sensibly – had a great time chasing the big trucks on the first day – and made sure of the class title today,” he said after the enduro.
Likewise, fellow Christchurch-based driver Bryan Chang won the 4WD Bits class 8 for unlimited trucks in his GT Radials Chev Silverado despite a series of mishaps and mechanical issues. Chang won the first heat on Saturday then rolled while leading the second but landed on his wheels and continued on.
In the enduro the truck broke an engine mount and lost a substantial section of its body panels to the constant battering from fist-sized river rocks.
“By that time things were pretty dire – but we’d done enough to be sure of the class title,” he said afterward.
But the weekend and the day belonged to an elated Carl Ruiterman. The championshipwinning black YXZ has now been sold and the team are well into planning their new modified car, building on what has been learned from the standard class campaign.