National Trial Round 4
“Cowley’s Hire, The Rock 90FM Northland National 4X4
Trial “, Rd 4 of the 2009-2010 Trial Season was recently held by the Whangarei
Four Wheel Drive Club at Kamo. Scrutineering was under a searing hot sun and
felt like never ending. For most it had been an early start and a very full day
of travelling from one end of the Island to the other.
Great to see the
comradeship of the competitors as they patiently waited in line, as tomorrow
they would have to be less relaxed and control the adrenaline rush on some very
demanding hazards. The land was parched and dust was an ever present
reminder that the ground was not going to be soft, and some learned the hard way
that gravity isn’t as it should be. With the obstacles ranging from
a variety of sidlings of different degrees of challenge and some pretty awesome
hill climbs, a tumbling down many were to come.
The morning round took its toll
with Donald Bayer, JJ (John Jenkins) and Martin Walton a few of many that
trouble clinging to the ground and rolled and pirouetted to the lowest
point. One obstacle in the morning seemed a great challenge as it came up
a bog gut and ended high up on steep face, the only disappointing thing was it
wasn’t pegged to give you any advantage unless you aimed for the 0 with  a
lot of confidence as if it went wrong it was truly going to be wrong. Many
approached it with the attitude that a 50 was better than 100, but the odd one
like “the Biggs Boys” gave it a good nudge, but the best was Brent
Ward and Mark Smith who wanted the zero to keep them ahead, so with the line
defined and the area cleared, they powered through the bog up the steep face
with a little slide to the right and then up on the top ledge heading for the
blue, when the back wheel couldn’t get traction and started to pull
toward the edge, 8 inches from the blue peg – DAMN, so close but so far
and all for a 50.
Martin Waltons’s back flip was pretty exceptional as he
reared up from his back wheels with about a metre clearance before coming back
down on them with a thud before gracefully rolling back over a few times. The strange thing was every one else found it a reasonable walk in the park,
must have been the rush of adrenaline. After the morning round there were a
number of machines battered and bruised on trucks and at least 15 diffs
replaced.
Going into the afternoon round the sun continued to beat
down and the crowd gravitated to the few large trees to watch the action,
even the local fire brigade were squirting the hose toward drivers as they
drove past and to keep the dust at bay. I was getting lazy and the walking
became to much so settled in a place where I could view a number of hazards. One in particular was where they came up another boggy gut on a hill and then
once up they snaked their way left and right a number of times over a ditch
before exiting. I watched many not even get to the first lip, but kick their front wheels up high. Dan Cowper and crewman Dave Hoskin, managed to pull themselves out and using the wheel brakes to the best they could, just slid round
each section running close to the pegs. Then Peter Osborne gave it a go
and surprised himself and got over the lip and found a number of turns and hard
lock bought it round until he hit the ditch fast and heavy that slurred him
into the peg and it was graded. The best had to have been John Hawken who aced
it with such grace, team work at its best. The rolls were coming quick and fast
for the afternoon and the pits a hive of activity with more diffs, gearboxes,
axles and CVS taking a thrashing.
An awesome day where drivers had to read the ground well, know
there trucks capabilities and use strategic planning to finish the day with the
best points. Gail Osman
1st in A class
Rex
Mealing 1890.50
1st in B class
John
Jenkins 1976.00
1st in C Class
John
Hawken 589.50
1st in D Class
Dan
Cowper 414.50
1st in E Class
Neville
Mather 1374.50
1st in F Class
Graeme
Kingstone 1200.50
1st overall
Dan
Cowper 414.50
2nd Overall
Derek
Smyth 453.50
3rd Overall
Brent
Ward 520.
4th Overall
John
Hawken 589.50
Next Event is 14th March 2010 in Napier, which is the
last Central Zone event.
The finals will be held in Thames at Easter along with the Competitors
Conference and AGM – all information and results are available on www.4x4trials.co.nz and photos of the
events on www.justphotos.co.nz
As the Season comes to a close after Easter, the Wanganui 4WD
Club is hosting a ‘Post Season Fun Trial’ on the 24th
April 2010 at Rangiwahia, entry and maps available on the website under events/
special.
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