Sloan Cox is the Kiwi king of rallycross and shares the title with Aussie Steve Glenney after the pair won their final events at the inaugural Teng Tools International Rallycross, defeating a field of 60 entries from the diverse disciplines of rallying, offroad racing and circuit racing. NZ4WD magazine offroad reporter Mark Baker was there.
The event was the first arena-style rallycross event held in New Zealand and was the brainchild of Ron Dixon. Held in Mount Maunganui over the February 27-28 weekend, it used the main arena at the Baypark speedway stadium and the massive car park south of the stadium to create a three kilometre circuit with transitions from clay to sandy loam, back to clay and then to concrete.
Among the more traditional trucks, Glen Raymond was quickest, 46th overall in practice and qualifying.
The V8 unlimited-class Demon Energy truck of William van der Wal was 48th overall in practice and 50th overall in qualifying, Cameron Taylor 52nd in practice and then 50th in qualifying in his production class Nissan Navara double cab.
Rex Croskery was the sole class four entry, qualifying 52nd in his Toyota Hilux V6.
It was not a good weekend for Tony McCall, who struggled to get consistent pace on the practice day, switching to less aggressive tyres to get more traction in the concrete car park area. Then on day two the ENZED-backed BSL Terra Chev suffered a major engine failure.
The second day went easier on the rally cars, with the infield sections removed to make the course faster and give more grip. The day was not kind to Glen Raymond who rolled his tidy Bowler V8 in the first final race, while the other class eight offroader William van der Wal slapped one of the concrete walls hard.
Nick Speedy won the first final; Cameron Taylor won the second, which grouped several offroad racing classes together. Campbell Witheford had fastest time in his Challenger buggy.
In the third heat, Adam Bligh headed a grid of rally cars home, though second placed Jonathan Shapley had fastest time.
With the new, gentler corner profiles the course was suiting the rally cars. Steve Glenney won the next heat and took fastest time, a 1:13.248 averaging 64 km/h to share the rally car title victory.
Dyson Delahunty won the next final ahead of Michael Small, the UTV racers also edging their times up – but Ben Thomasen, Jack Hawkeswood, class one offroader drivers James Buchanan, and Mal Langley all failed to finish.
Lap times slowed back in the last final, with Sloan Cox’s 1:14.205 the best among the final six as he swept to victory, averaging 63.069 km/h.
To read the full story in the April 2016 issue of NZ4WD go to Zinio.com (on sale March 21) or purchase your own hard copy at the Adrenalin store.
