They didn’t manage the outright title this year, but off-road racing’s truck classes are now well established as a force in the national championship. When Hamilton’s Maurice Bain can become North Island champion in a fairly basic Nissan Navara V6 production truck and run in the top four going into the final round with a real chance of taking the title; when Raana Horan can run at the front of a cold and muddy Bay of Plenty enduro in his winch-style V8 Safari; when trucks can run in the top 10 all day in the longest and toughest endurance races the sport can stage – then the buggy classes sit up and take notice. The historic outright title won by Andrew Thomason in 2007 was in reach as the final round of this year’s championship started in bitterly cold rain at Manukau over Labour Weekend. The biggest turnout of trucks seen at a national final ensured the racing would be close, competitive and spectacular. The buggy classes were by no means secure. Nelson’s Dennis Andreassend didn’t know which way to look. Leading the outright points chase going into the weekend, he had unfancied unlimited buggy class racer Daniel Powell on his heels, Ryan Densem close behind, and Bain was also right there. Massive class one, three and five buggy fields meant Powell, Andreassend and Densem all had their own battles to fight while Bain had only four rivals in his class and thus a relatively clear view of the trophy. With just four production-class trucks entered Bain could be confident of taking maximum points from the four in-class heats that made up the first day’s racing. Then if the rain held, the greasy going could well deliver him a top 10 result in the second day’s 163 km endurance race. To his obvious dismay, it didn’t work out that way. As the Saturday heats began another Hamilton driver, Nigel Newlands, surged into an early lead and forced Bain to chase hard. After just a lap the Navara’s front right suspension collapsed, leaving Bain stranded in the midst of the race track, bellied on the racing line into the fast corner at the end of the start-finish straight. Newlands ran away to an easy win, and continued on his way through the weekend to win the production class for the series. He and Bain are long-time rivals, Bain having pushed past Newlands at the Hawkes Bay round in a bold top-gear passing move that won him the class. Now it was Newlands’ turn to celebrate, while Bain sat out the heat in the cab of his stricken Navara. That one incident ended any chance of a truck winning the national title two years in a row. In the classes though, the action continued. The improved-production “sport-truck” class was going to fall to Wellington’s Glenn Turvey or Simon Smith of Christchurch. The former’s GM-powered version is an American-built Baja style pre-runner, built strong enough to take advantage of a hard and slippery track like the all-new Colin Dale Park course. Smith’s “shorty” Hilux is home-built and not as fast as Turvey’s but has been consistent throughout the regional rounds. Also racing was North Shore’s Brendon Holland, though his Toyota-powered Suzuki is not in the league of the leading Hilux trucks. The in-class battle was settled in short course heats when Smith leapt the front straight jump and landed squarely in the tray of Turvey’s truck. The two were knotted together for several minutes before Turvey reversed down the track, pushing Smith with him until the two trucks broke apart. Turvey was first away, but just 100 metres later parked the orange Hilux when its front suspension collapsed over the second big jump on the course. Smith had only to win the rest of his heats to take an unassailable lead, and likewise raced through to the end of the enduro the next day to build on his points lead. Like Bain in the production class title chase Turvey was unable to rejoin the fray. In the crowd-pleasing ThunderTruck classes the North Island and South Island class champions met, both trucks running mid or semi-mid engine formats and rear wheel drive. Turning out to challenge them was Raana Horan in his supercharged V8 Nissan Safari winch-style truck. As soon as the rain fell Bryan Chang and Gary Baker knew they had their work cut out to stay ahead of the Horan 4WD, and the title fight was not straightforward. Kumeu’s Lyndsay Dowler was not a points contender, nor Graeme Steedman in his V8 FJ40 – but both could deny the leading pair points or hold Horan out of podium positions he badly needed, as could South Islander Roger McKay in his V8 Safari. When they had a clear run at the first jump, the rear-wheel drive trucks could and did stay out to win. Put the 4WDs off the front, though, and the Chang and Baker trucks were forced to comply with the odd lines the 4WDs took into corners. Where the rear-wheel drive trucks would drift through corners at the same speed as the big 4WDs, their cleaner racing lines were not possible when there was a 4WD truck mid-corner. The traditional trucks were able to drive up to a corner, stop in a relatively straight line and then accelerate away, while their lines would force the rear-wheel drive trucks out into the slimy mud and grass on the outside of the corner. With better suspension travel, the rear-wheel drive crews could take the jumps faster but the racers with the 4WDs quickly realised they could straight-line the course and avoid the jumps, negating the advantage. Horan emerged a real contender after the heats, and in the enduro he was able to drive away from the rear-wheel drive trucks, the mud even more greasy than the first day and the course plotted to suit buggies more than the bigger and heavier trucks. Even Lyndsay Dowler struggled in the opening laps, his 4WD Lexus V8 powered Hilux unable to gain grip. When the going became too risky both Chang and Baker put their trucks on the trailer rather than cause a track blockage or injure another competitor. Horan and Dowler battled on until Horan hit Dowler, smashing a rear wheel rim and putting Dowler’s Hilux out for the day. This handed Horan and Big Black the Thunder Truck title. Smith took the sport truck title in his Hilux and Newlands ran out production truck winner in his Mitsubishi Pajero.