Tauranga racer Ben Thomasen, a newcomer to offroad racing, has thrown down a challenge to the northern race teams in the 2013 New Zealand Championship - catch me if you can.
Driving one of the new UTV race cars sanctioned for the championship this year, Thomasen won all four of his heats and set some of the fastest lap times of the day as the northern leg of the championship got under way at Meremere in the north Waikato on Sunday.
The UTVs are popular for recreational offroad use in many countries, and have been given full championship status this year for the first time. They use four-stroke motorcycle engines of up to 1000cc in lightweight frames and have two seats, though many choose to race short events alone.
Thomasen has raced motocross in the past and has some rallycar experience but this was his offroad racing championship debut.
A record field of 64 cars gridded up for racing at the Meremere track, including nine unlimited-class race cars and eight unlimited-class race trucks. Rain during the week had left standing puddles on the surface and made the first set of heats challenging for the two wheel drive vehicles.
Once the water had been shredded off the clay surface, grip increased dramatically and lap times fell. One driver said the surface became harder with each round of heats and in parts felt almost like the compacted clay of Auckland's Western Springs Speedway.
Racer consensus was that the circuit was the best it has ever been.
Manukau's Tony McCall won the unlimited race car class despite his car suffering ongoing fuelling issues.
Class 2 for production trucks was won by Craig Patterson in his Isuzu 4WD, while Troy Tuffnell battled his way through the class 3 heats to win the class, though he was not able to secure the full 72 points. Class 4 for sport (improved) trucks fell to Wellington's Glenn Turvey, who duelled all day with Rex Croskery of Te Puke and Garry Hopkins in Turvey's old truck. Young racer Todd Graham of Hawke's Bay took out Class 5 and Class 6 for road registered winch challenge trucks was taken out by a dominant Klem Christiansen of Taupo.
Class seven for race cars with VW 1.2-litre engines has seen a resurgence this year with young racers moving up from the Kiwitruck youth category, four cars contested the class but defending class 7 national champion Taine Carrington was too consistent for the rest.
The unlimited truck class (8) was won by Rotorua driver Mike Cox, who brought his American-built Pro-Lite out for its debut run.