Big plans for Battlemania 2016

BURNING RUBBER: Action from the second annual Battlemania drift racing event in Taupo, organised by Wanganui's Ricky Lee.PHOTO/SNAPSBYMOSSY 140515WCSUP02

Wanganui drift racer Ricky Lee has big plans for his creation Battlemania after a second successful running of the competition at the start of this month.

Lee and Wanganui-born race designer Andrew Stewart introduced the new-look competition to the Diesel, Demons and Daredevils motorsport festival at Taupo Motorsport Park last year.

The 24 invited drivers compete in "battles" on the Saturday, with each getting a ranking from the judges.

Those in the top six contest the Gold division on the Sunday, while 7-12th go for Silver and the remainder enter the Bronze tier.

This year's May 2-3 event was held in conjunction with the NZ truck racing festival.

Hamilton's Bruce Tannock, the winner of the Silver pool in 2014, stepped up a class and won the Gold division, taking the Mouthfresh Cup as the Battlemania Grand Champion and a $2500 BOC Gas Welder.

Auckland's Ben Jenkins also walked away with the spot prize of a $1800 SP Tools Tool Box, after a "rock, paper, scissors" contest on the Saturday.

The abilities ranged from former international champions like Whangarei's "Fanga Dan" Daniel Woolhouse through to local drivers like Ohakune's Sean Jones.

Lee has now set his sights higher - Battlemania 2016 is proposed to be a stand-alone event at the Taupo park from January 1-3, with the extra day being a practice session.

"Next year will be the next level as an event and certainly insane if we can secure funding, as there are eight international drivers wanting to come out," said Lee. One in particular from the USA ... wants to take this event back there.

"The field will also be bumped up to 36 invited drivers so there will be plenty of action."

Lee said he was "blown away" with the popularity of the competition with drivers and spectators, along with Motorsport NZ officials.

"The following of our event via social media has gone crazy.

"We put a small teaser clip up online for the documentary style video that is currently being made about the event and it was viewed over 20,000 times in four days and reached over 85,000 people. It's going to take a lot of support from our sponsors - both old and new - to make [2016] happen but I know with my dedicated Battlemania team we will pull this off.

"I am very grateful for the efforts of my team because without them I could not do it on my own."

Results

Gold Tier (Overall Battlemania Champion): 1. Bruce Tannock (Hamilton); 2. Drew Donovan (Tauranga); 3. Ben Wilkinson (Auckland). Silver Tier: 1. Pernell Callaghan (Auckland); 2. Dylan Woolhouse (Hawkes Bay); 3. Joe Marshall (Whangarei). Bronze Tier: 1. Nico Reid (Auckland); 2. Tom Marshall (Whangarei); 3. Chad McKenzie (New Plymouth).

Team of the Weekend: ATJ Drift (Whangarei); Highest Score: Nico Reid; Best Female Competitor: Bex Bennett; Best Attitude: Ray Robertson; Most Improved Battler: Sean Jones; Battle of the Weekend: Tom Marshall and Ben Belcher; Rock-Paper-Scissors Battle: Ben Jenkins; Highest Single Pass of Weekend: Nico Reid.