Motorsport: McCall beats the heat and dust

Tony McCall says fierce competition has made him drive at his best.

Manukau's Tony McCall defied blinding dust and an ailing race car to win his 10th national title at the New Zealand Offroad Racing National Championships.

The engine of McCall's car was running on three of four cylinders for most of Saturday's dusty 165km endurance race in the Bay of Plenty, but he was still able to finish third overall as key South Island rivals Dave Parret and Wayne Moriarty faltered.

"The smallest things can cause the biggest problems in any sport and in our case we destroyed a spark-plug tip just after the start," said McCall.

"That meant I had to nurse the car for more than 160km with a chronic misfire and no power."

On Sunday, with no relief from the fine dust that had hung in clouds over the racecourse near Matata, McCall put together a spectacular string of three first placings in short course heats to make sure of his title.

Close behind was his toughest late-season points rival in the unlimited class, young Nelson driver Ben Charles, who took out the subsequent race after McCall's Cougar Porsche single-seater blew its clutch.

Charles then made the most of the final race of the day, winning without effort.

McCall has won every North Island round outright this year and also took out the non-championship Woodhill 100. He rates this year's title chase as one of the hardest he has endured in a career spanning several decades.

"We've raced in torrential rain, thick mud, through storms and now in heat and dust to keep our championship hopes alive," he said.

"The competition has always been fierce and that has helped me drive to my very best.

"It's been fantastic."

The expected South Island championship title challenge misfired when Christchurch's Dave Parret was unable to get his car running for the endurance race.

Parret had been second on points going into the final round, while another Christchurch driver, Wayne Moriarty, dropped out of third in the title chase after failing to finish the endurance race.

Though Moriarty returned for the in-class races, the wins went to North Island drivers Kevin Hall and Donn Attwood. The latter also won Saturday's endurance race outright, driving the final 20km with no rear suspension.

"Those last few laps were torture," said Attwood. "Especially when I saw the 15-lap board put out by my crew when I'd been thinking there were only five laps to go."