Whakatane offroad racer Malcolm Langley is preparing to meet the toughest challenge of his race career.
Langley snatched the lead in the 2010 Asset Finance New Zealand Offroad Racing Championship with first equal at the final North Island regional round, held on September 27 in Meremere.
Now he is checking and re-checking his car in preparation for the final round, which will be held as part of Manukau City's Labour Weekend Full Throttle motorsport and automotive weekend.
The event, which will be held at Colin Dale Park, near Auckland Airport, will feature two days of racing, with "short course" or stadium racing on the Saturday of Labour Weekend and a 160km endurance race on Sunday plotted over open farm land, offering spectators excellent viewing of the race action.
Up to 65 of New Zealand's top offroad race teams are expected at the national final, where they will do battle for class titles and the outright championship win.
Already, Langley's rivals are lining up to meet his challenge. Colin Meredith, in the former Clive Thornton Southern Cross V6 race car, will contest the event in Langley's class, as will newcomer Paul O'Keefe of Tauranga, who was third in the unlimited class at Meremere.
The Southern Lakes Transmissions class one field is expected to be one of the strongest in the event, with up to 15 of the sport's fastest cars lining up to race.
In BigPosters class three for Super 1600 race cars, former championship points leader Wayne Moriarty will make the trek north from Christchurch. Moriarty broke his transmission at the final South Island regional round, but has rebuilt the gearbox and freshened the Euroblast Cougar race car's Toyota engine in readiness for the final round. He is the only racer to have won more than one round of the championship so far this year, an indication of how close the race for the title has been.
The two-car Bu-Mac Racing team of James Buchanan and Donn Attwood have been a strong presence in the class during the year and are among the first entries for the final round.
Also racing in that class is Warren Rogers in an American-built single-seater.
Second outright in the championship points race going into the national finals is Pukekohe's Nick Hall. He leads Autoworld Richmond class five for Super 1300 cars and will go up against Phil Finlay and Jim Cato have already added their names to the class five entry list for the final round.
Only ten points separate the top five competitors in V-Dub Shoppe Challenger class for cars with 1.6-litre VW engines. The first two entries in this competitive class are Wayne Rowe and seasoned racer Geoff Matich.
The 2010 Asset Finance New Zealand Offroad Racing Championship takes place on October 23-24.
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