It was mud, glorious mud which greeted Whanganui's former Porter Group 4x4 National Trial champion Hamish Auret as he resumed his rivalry with Auckland's Scott Biggs on the opening round of the new season at Whatawhata on Saturday.
Auret finished second to Biggs in their Class D super modified trucks at the private Suzuki Extreme 4x4 Challenge on the farm of multiple-time national champion Dan Cowper in April.
Both are the front runners for this season's overall championship as Cowper is dabbling in rally car driving and only entering the three 4x4 events which make up the Central Districts portion of the six-round national series.
Biggs finished second to Cowper last season while Auret was frustrated to have to withdraw halfway through the campaign due to engine problems in his 7000cc LS7 Corvette.
On Saturday at the Waikato course, Auret was stronger with fewer penalty points on the obstacles in the first half of the event, but Biggs made a comeback over the second half to finish ahead in their class and with both of them 1-2 overall in competition with the Class C (four-cylinder) trucks.