TOO QUICK: Whanganui's Team Rivers proved the stars of the North Island team to win the coveted Keith Whiting Memorial Trophy at the North/South Drag Challenge at Motueka.
TOO QUICK: Whanganui's Team Rivers proved the stars of the North Island team to win the coveted Keith Whiting Memorial Trophy at the North/South Drag Challenge at Motueka.
Whanganui speedster Adrian Rivers remains unbeaten at Motueka Dragway after leading the North Island to victory again over their southern counterparts at Easter Weekend.
The Rivers team captained the North Island team at the North/South Drag Racing event hosted by the Nelson Drag Racing Association.
This year the North onlysent a small team of four and were forced to include another four southern ring-ins. But despite the helping hand, Rivers and his 540 cubic inch Chev-powered dragster were the stars setting a personal best time to become the second fastest ever on the Motueka strip. They won the Keith Whiting Memorial Trophy.
Engine builder Grant Rivers said the track was normally an airstrip and not the best of surfaces, but his son Adrian used his head to get the best out of the machine. "We set a personal best for down there of 6.62 seconds for the quarter mile - that's 188mph and far slower than the 208mph we do at Taupo, but the Motueka strip is not designed for dragsters. It's a narrow, short track, so Adrian was buttoning off and coasting from about the 1000m mark," Grant Rivers said yesterday. "Adrian used his head, though, and made the most of the conditions to set the lowest elapsed time for the meeting and become the second fastest car in New Zealand at that track. The North lifted the trophy for the first time since 2013, which was the year we first competed at this event. We have been back every year since and while the South has won the last two, the Rivers team has never lost a round in this car at Motueka."
