Rollovers, seized motors and burnt out or broken winches…….the third round of this year’s Superwinch Mainland Challenge at Staveley in Mid Canterbury had it all. Vicky Newport explains!
Trust the mid-Canterbury locals to look after us. Before the third round of our Superwinch Mainland Challenge on August 10 & 11 they put on a show and shine of all the trucks and their crew in the main street of Methven outside the Blue Pub.
From there we headed to a small community, Staveley, 20 minutes from Methven, the venue for the winch challenge itself. The 4x4 Events Club from Christchurch were the hosting club and spectators were a big part of the round because it is a fundraiser for the community with approx. 250 tickets presold.
All-up we had 24 teams, trucks and their crews entered. With all - bar one - part of the 2018 series. This time we had 11 entries in Outlaw, 10 in Open and three in Clubman.
All 11 entries in the Outlaw Class were on their third (of five) rounds of the 2018 series. This is an awesome turnout especially with three of these teams - Robin/Paul, Stan/Chris and Lance/Danny plus their crew members - travelling from Wellington. Crossing that ditch every month for five months is a huge commitment.
Others entered were Mike/Andrew and Scotty/James from the Top of the South, Andrew/Joel, Daimeon/Kerry, Andy/Arron and Brent/Aaron all from Christchurch, Mike/Tom from Dunedin and Richard/Michael from Queenstown.
Open Class had five teams on their third round; Rick/Brian, Adam/Josh, Nathan/Daniel, Steve/Matt and Brock/Nic from Christchurch. Malcolm/Rob from Timaru, Gregg/Callum from Balclutha and Rowan/Chad from Top of the South were into their second while Mr Leigh/Mrs Leigh from Top of the South were back for their first.
Back for more
Last season Mrs Leigh was in the driver’s seat last but this year she is back doing the co-driving.
Our non-series entry in this class was that of Craig Lintern and son Lockie. Craig himself has entered a few winch challenges before, though not in the recent years, but it was first time out there for our youngest co-driver this year.
Clubman Class had three series entries, it being the third round for Richard and son William from Top of the South, while Ben/David and Lockie/Jake from Queenstown were both on their second rounds.
Marshals for the day were mainly local Fire Brigade members and all volunteers. One in particular I have to mention, iconic Kiwi entertainer Lynda Topp. Lynda made the day very special for our youngest co-driver Lockie, a lot of encouragement during the stage and a photo at the end. Thanks must go to all the other marshals as well. Without these people we wouldn't be able to do what we do.
A big vote of thanks must also go to Ashley and his Recovery team who were full on all day. In fact I don’t think I have ever been to an event with so much carnage. Ashley and the team didn't stop all day with some of the recoveries required two tow trucks! Towards the end of the day some of the competitors who had finished even started helping out.
As it happened the draw for a brand new Superwinch winch at the end of the day went to Ashley Sergeant and it was well deserved. His winch certainly took on a lot of work during the day.
All classes did the three night stages set up for Friday night. The Outlaw class had ten day stages, with two - stages 6 and 7 - set aside for Outlaw only. These two stages were challenging, steep and the possibility to turn for the worst was why only Outlaw did them.
Open also had 10 day stages, with two - 10 and 11 – just for that class. Clubman, meanwhile, had seven day stages, with 12 and 14 dedicated to that class. Yes it did get a bit confusing by the end of the day as to who was going where but at least the competitors had it written down for them.
Saturday started a bit later than they had planned. A few of the recoveries held a couple of stages up for a while but in all the day ran pretty smoothly. Stages were open right up to cut off at 4.30pm.
Outlaw Class: Of the eleven competitors only two teams (Andy/Arron, truck # 819) in the moon buggy and Scotty/James, truck #814 in the bright yellow Jeep Wrangler) started and completed all 13 stages. Andy still managed to have some excitement during the day. They managed to put the buggy on its side three times, twice in one stage, in fact, yet they still managed to self-recover and finish all stages, winning two of them to boot.
Scotty in the Jeep also had a great day. He and James managed to come away with three stage wins and six second places. The pair got through all the stages without too much damage to the Jeep, as well. A few dents, but they will knock out and the winch just kept going.
Scotty and James have been competing now as a driver or co-driver for about 10 years and both said it was the hardest winch challenge they have competed in. Totally enjoyed it but damn hard.
Daimeon Veitch (#816, Naked Lux) rolled over in stage 17, and it took about two hours to recover him. There was no going on though, as he ended up with major issues with the LS2 motor.
Things started to go wrong for Brent Holden (#822, Ultra 4) on his last two stages of the day. Stage 7 had some pretty good winching in it and they started having issues with their front winch, causing their first DNF. Back to the pits they managed to get the Ultra 4 going for their last stage of the day, the speed stage. This is where disaster really struck. Half way around the stage they managed to totally destroy the engine. Richard/Michael also managed to roll onto their roof on the speed stage. Both got out still full of smiles though.
Stage 6, meanwhile, proved the Achilles heel for Mike Holmes. They were winching down a pretty steep bank (a rare winch) and the winch packed it in. With transmission oil leaking causing a lot of smoke he called time on the stage. Recovery took a while.
Open Class: Rowan Coutts, Nathan Hammond and Brock Welsh started and completed all 13 stages, Brock winning four, and two each for Rowan and Nathan. Rick Crosbie also won four but a DNF in stage 10 caused him to drop back in points.
Greg Craik in the Suzuki and still on 33" tyres had winch problems in his third night stage. They managed to fix the problem but didn’t get into the day stages until around mid-day. Mr and Mrs Leigh were out after eight stages with starter motor issues and Adam Wardle DNFed stage 10, with winch problems. They managed to get going again but only completed 11 stages.
Clubman Class: Lockie Coskie won eight of the 10 stages. Ben Simmons won one stage and all three clubman entries DNFed stage 5. Needless to say the Clubman stages were pretty challenging, with eight of the stages also done by the Open class.
Great viewing
This year the Staveley round pretty much revolved around the spectators. They got viewing spots on about five stages and a good full view of the speed stage. Dan Cowper was passing so thought he would call in. Lucky for us he just happened to have a four-seater buggy on the trailer so a few spectators got a first-hand experience strapped into the buggy on the speed stage.
Finally a word - or two - about the weather. Seriously, we couldn’t have asked for a better day. The sun was out, the local Lions Club was busy on the sausage sizzle, a lot of action and a fun day had by all. Once again I have to thank our sponsor Superwinch for their support and the awesome prizes they put on for us. Prize giving was held at the Blue Pub in Methven Saturday, and again, a good time was held by all.
2018 Superwinch Mainland Challenge Rnd 3 Staveley, Mid-Canterbury Fri-Sat August 10 & 11.
RESULTS
Clubman:
1. Lockie/Jake (Q-twn) 910pts
2. Richard/William (Blen) 685pts
3. Ben/David (Alex) 670pts
Open
1. Brock/Nic (Chch) 1221pts
2. Nathan/Daniel (Chch) 1156pts
3. Rowan/Chad (Nel) 1136pts
Outlaw
1. Scotty/James (Nel) 1198pts
2. Andy/Aaron (Chch) 1106pts
3. Brent/Arron (Chch) 1042pts
Superwinch draw
Ashley Sergeant (Chch) Organiser
NZ4WD sticker photo winners
Adam Wardle and Josh Hancock
For full results check out our facebook page: "superwinch mainland challenge"
To read the full story in the October 2018 issue of NZ4WD go to Zinio.com (September 14) or purchase your own hard copy at the Adrenalin store.
