Matamata driver Dion Edgecombe has fought through to his first win in New Zealand’s oldest and fastest forest offroad endurance race.
Qualifying fifth for the Hydrovac Woodhill 100 at the Auckland 4X4 Adventure Park, he pushed up through the field to challenge and then overtake pole man Tony McCall.
It was not an easy drive. From the opening lap he was managing his Polaris UTV’s engine, which ran hot in the faster going and would only cool down in the slower sandy tracks. At one point he was also hit from behind by McCall, who had battled for the lead with Joel Giddy, Brian Rutgers, Daynom Templeman and Paul Hackett.
The light and agile UTVs handled the soft going in the narrow sand tracks of the 11km lap better than many expected, using their 4WD transmissions to find grip in the soft deeply-drifted areas of the course.
“The great thing about the Polaris and its CVT is it’s always keeping the engine in the right rev range, so the car gets grip without loading the engine too hard. Then in the fast tracks it means you can get out of the throttle but keep up your speed,” he said afterward.
He brought the UTV home unmarked – except for the engine cage, caved-in when he was hit from behind by McCall.
The lead changed multiple times. First to overtake McCall and lead was Joel Giddy, who also set the fastest lap of the race amid the chaos of the first 11 km lap: a 9:18 for the 11 km distance. Giddy was within striking distance of McCall through that first lap and the second, then took the lead on lap three before dropping out a lap later.
Daynom Templeman had started sixth and surged forward to grab the lead on lap five in his new unlimited class car, but immediately struck a series of mechanical issues, losing drive in the car and dropping out a lap later.
Six-times champion McCall then returned to the lead and stayed in front for the next five laps, always defending from a pursuing pack that included Brian Rutgers, Donn Attwood, Roger McKay and Justin Davies.
Auckland’s Paul Hackett was making a return to the sport. The Auckland racer raced an unlimited-class Jimco with Subaru power in the late 1990s, and is back in the sport with a massive Toyota-bodied unlimited-class truck. He ran as high as second but also dropped out on the fourth lap.
A high rate of attrition favoured drivers who could maintain consistent speed as the course deteriorated.
Brian Rutgers had started fourth overall, dropped to seventh over the opening laps and then started clawing his way back up the race order as other front-runners struck trouble and the softer parts of the course chopped out.
Auckland Offroad Racing Club president Donn Attwood started seventh but was also making progress up the race order in his Honda-powered unlimited class car.
The race belonged to Dion Edgecombe by lap 11. He overtook McCall on that lap and proceeded to pull away, McCall dropping back to a finish placing of sixth.
Edgecombe completed the race in 2.24:19; his winning margin at the finish was 1:18 over Brian Rutgers, with third-placed Donn Attwood taking the flag 8:37 further back.
Only eight drivers completed the full 15 lap, 165 km distance. The Hydrovac Woodhill 100 was the second round of the 2022 New Zealand Offroad Racing Championship.