After destroying his car’s Chev LS2 V8 engine in a fiery explosion at the pre-season Teng Tools rallycross at Mount Maunganui, former champ Tony McCall bounced back at Mangawhai, setting the class 1 lap record, a 48.532, in the heats then capping off the day with a popular win in the reverse grid ‘Big Bangers’ feature outright, ahead of Raana Horan and Nick Hall.

With four wins from four starts, McCall was one of ten racers who took top points at the event.

Also winning every race in their class were Cameron Taylor (4WD Bits class two), Rex Croskery (4WD Bits class four), Tyler Castle (class five), Warren Adams (4WD Bits class six), Jamie McKinstry (class 7), Maurice Bain (class nine) and Scott Buckley (class ten).

The Leader Products Kiwitruck youth category recorded a clean sweep for Boston Morgan-Horan in M class, while Holly Russell stepped up to a new US-built truck and fought off challenges from race winners Harry Hodgson and Aaron Crabb to win the feature race and amass enough points to win the J category for the day.

In the UTV classes, a season-long rivalry has begun, with Yamaha fronting up to challenge the dominance of Polaris, current NZ1000 and offroad championship defenders.

To read the full story in the May 2016 issue of NZ4WD go to Zinio.com (April 25) or purchase your own hard copy at the Adrenalin store.