A date swap saw very different conditions as the Dunedin round opened rather than closed the annual Superwinch Mainland Winch Challenge series this year. Vicky Newport has the story.

Normally Dunedin is the last round and it is cold and wet. This year the event hosts, the Land Rover Owners Club Otago, put on the opening round between May 10 &11 and it was pretty much still summer. A nice change for the co-drivers, not so good for the trucks as this meant the grounds were dry and hard.

That said, five of our mainland competing teams (Nathan/Daniel, Scotty/James, Brock/Nic, Andrew/Steve and Nic/Ryan) had already had a bit of a warm-up in the mud at the Tararua Winch Challenge held in Wellington at the beginning of April (see separate story this issue. Ed) with three of the five coming home with podium placings.

The North Island-based Goodmans (Stan/Chris and Lance/Danny) also entered the Tararua Winch Challenge and have once again entered the Superwinch Mainland series. The effort and commitment these guys put in is huge, not only the competitors but their support crew also.

All up we had 18 teams/trucks entered, 11 in Outlaw Class, six in Open and just the one in Clubman. It was great to see Stan Goodman and co-driver Chris in Dunedin, all the way from Wellington. Lance had to sit this one out as he had done a bit of damage at the Tararua event, but all the crew were there to support Stan and Chris.

Outlaw class 

We have one new team in the series this year, Alister and Brayden from Dunedin. They are entered in a Suzuki Escudo. Alister managed to start all 16 stages, with just three DNFs and finished sixth.

Also, just for this round two local teams entered, Richard Mason and Ben Miller. Richard had an interesting roll on one of the night stages but managed to keep the wee truck going Saturday to do eight more stages. Ben completed all four night stages but only got through three of the day stages.

Richard Wilson is back with his rebuilt truck. A couple of seasons ago Richard bought an ex-trials truck out of the North Island. This off-season it had a total rebuild in Christchurch and is now entered as an Ultra 4. 

You’ve got to take your hat off to Richard as the truck was still being put together on site before the vehicle check and he went into the Dunedin round without any testing.  His co-driver, Matheus, had last season off but is back on board this year, and the pair did extremely well considering. Of the four night stages they managed one DNF as they blew a rim apart. They started and completed all 12 day stages, though, which gave them third place for the weekend.

Brent Holden had some of last season off after becoming a Dad but is back this year and intending to do all rounds. A drive belt tensioner and belt failed during one of the mid-morning stages on Saturday but a quick run to Dunedin sorted that problem. Brent and Aaron completed all 16 stages and came first in Outlaw.

Andrew and son Joel had some bad luck last year when Andrew’s buggy was stolen. After getting most of it back they managed to rebuild it though and they are back with the buggy looking top-notch. fresh paint and all. They also did extremely well at the first round, compling all 16 stages and coming home with second place and big smiles.

Stan Goodman has done a few modification to the FJ40 body of his truck and it is looking pretty smart. At Dunedin they DNFed Stage 5 but after being recovered and spending a bit of time in the pits fixing the issue got back out there and completed all 16 stages. Stan got fourth for the weekend.

Daimeon and Kerry are back in the ‘Naked ‘Lux’ though their familiar Toyota is not so naked anymore. It has now even got a bonnet and a few more panels. Daimeon hydraulic-ed the motor in the Christchurch round last season but it’s all go now. They completed eight stages out of 16 and then managed to rip part of the chassis including the Panhard rod mount in Stage 13.

Andy Reeves and new co-driver Tom Rose managed, meanwhile to get around all 16 stages win Andy’s ‘Moon Buggy’ with no issues, ending up fifth.

Unfortunately Mike McCarthy and Tom Hayes had a DNF on Stage 15 in their buggy which put them out for the weekend.

Nic and Ryan DNFed their first night stage but after some repairs on Friday night were back on Saturday and completed 12 day stages.

Open class

This year’s Superwinch series sees a couple of new teams in the Open Class. First up there are brothers Martyn and Richard Dunnett in their Toyota Hilux. First time entered at Dunedin and they got through 14 of the stages.

Then there was Owen and Tania McLay in their Toyota Prado. Also first time competitors but not such a good start for them. On Friday night they got through Stage 3 but DNFed Stage 1 which put them out for the weekend.

The rest of the Open Class field was all Jeep Wranglers. So the season is shaping up to be a battle of the Jeeps I think.

To that end, Rick and Brian ended up in fourth place. They started all 16 stages but got a stage disqualification in Stage 4. Half way through the day the Jeep put itself in limp mode but they still managed to get around the rest of the stages.

Scotty and James decided this year it was time to switch classes. Having won the Outlaw Class three years running they thought it be good to give Open class a go. The idea of competing against a few other Jeep Wranglers was the real attraction.

That said, Round 1 wasn’t so good for the pair. A week before entering Dunedin Scotty noticed they broke the rear diff in Wellington so that had to be changed. Then in their second night stage he noticed the front locker wasn’t working; a bit more damage from the Tararua event they hadn’t noticed but they soon replaced that with an open diff.

Then on Saturday they got through three  stages and the centre bearing on the driveshaft collapsed. They carried on but had to pretty much baby the Jeep for the day. Still they went home with third place and were pretty stoked with that result.

Back for another season, Brock and Nis took second place for the weekend. Nic had a wee argument with the winch horns at the Tararua event, taking out a tooth, but – totally dedicated to the sport – he carried on and finished the weekend.

They had an awesome run in Dunedin right up until their last stage. Coming up through the boggy, muddy section of Stage 14 they managed to snap the Panhard AND pull the mount off the chassis. With bugger all steering Brock managed to get the Jeep into the finish box though; with the help of Nic on the winch of course.

Which left Nathan and Daniel first for the weekend. They had a great run winning ten of the 16 stages. Well-deserved, guys. I didn’t hear of them having any issues at all.

Clubman

It was pretty disappointing that we had only one entry for this class. We have had six teams entered for the series so hopefully we get a bit more of a following in the next four rounds.

Ben Simmons and David Gray from Queenstown were the only entry. Of the 16 stages they got thru 10 of them. Practice makes perfect so best of luck to these two for the rest of the season.

Check out our Facebook page for full results and photos. It is at” Superwinch Mainland Challenge“.