TDM Counties Classic Series 2011, Round 1, Meremere, 27th Febraury.

With no water truck available, the racing was shifted from ATR's club track to the "Red Shed" end of the property. It was thought that a good covering of grass in this area wouldn't produce as much dust as using the main track. Ha!

Even though the place was flooded a few weeks ago, it was now bone dry after a long spell of good hot and windy summer weather. And after only a few races, it was pretty obvious that the feature would have to be looked at very closely by officials. During the lunch break, it was decided not to split the field into two for 15 lap features, but to run the by now depleted field all together, but for only 10 laps. Even then, dust caused problems.

22 cars set off on the look laps. Alas, "The Hole" soon reduced it to 21 as Glenn Goosen found it, just out of the first left-hander and rolled back onto the trailer. Talking to Glenn later on, he was embarassed but philosophical about it. More on "The Hole" later.

First up was a combined race, consisting of Jimmy Johnson's Class 10, an insane piece of work; Jason Delahunty in his Class 6 'Cruiser; the (mostly) ever-jovial Bryan Garrett in his ex-Class 2, now Class 4 Hilux, and a young bloke by the name of Taine Carrington in his Class 7, now painted a striking black and pink (it works, honestly) who, to my mind, shows huge potential.

Next up it was Class 5, featuring Nick Hall, and Troy Tufnell in the ex-Alistair Manning car. Nick ran away with the class with 4 wins from 4 starts, although once Troy gets settled into his new toy, things could be intereesting. Troy was to put the car on the trailer after the second heat, having problems selecting gears. Aaron Stern looked good, Dennis Raynell's vintage car just keeps going, and Rachel Saelman added a touch of glamour and style to proceedings. Although not a threat, Rachel reckoned she was having a hell of a lot of fun. Good onya, girl.

6 Challengers faced the starter for the first race, but that was soon reduced by one as Ken Rowe found "The Hole", and somersaulted into retirement. You may be cynical and put that down to inexperience, but "The Hole" had already bitten Glenn, and was soon to bite Shane Campbell. His damage wasn't too severe as he only missed one heat. Meanwhile, Ken's old man, Wayne was sharing the spoils with that old campaigner, Geoff Matich, a previous winner of the series. Robert Campbell and Trevor Brooks were going hard for the minor money, both beating Wayne and Geoff in the Feature.

Class 3 was a bit of a disappointment, with only 3 entries, and therefore reduced points for the very quick Paul McCormack, and Devlin Hill. Jay Murray's day was over in the first heat as a little man with a large hammer was hard at work in the bottom of the motor. Pity, as when things are going right, Jay is very competitive. To say Jay was not too happy wouldn't be far from the truth. After a massive rebuild of his car, due to a really scary shunt early last season, Paul was too quick for Devlin on the day, going on to win the Feature. But, oh dear, a few bolts were overlooked during the rebuild and the front end sort of dropped off Paul's car, causing him to miss the second heat. Of course his crew, in their haste, put things back together upside down and back to front didn't help. Tsk, tsk.

These guys were joined by Paul O'Keefe in his not-very-well sounding Class 1 (maybe he and Dennis could get together and form a vintage or classic offroad class), and the Class 8's of Mike Hughs in the ex-Warren Arthur Ford and Graeme Steadman in Raana Horan's original Big Black, now Chev powered. Mike used the Ford's vast grunt to get the best "air" out of the gully, but was to blot his copy book by snotting Bryan during the Feature (hence the mostly jovial comment). Graeme looked more in control of things in the big Nissan than during his days in the blue, SWB Toyota. Hmm, knowing how Class 8 has been over the years, if he pursues the Nationals in this well-sorted mongrel, he could be a contender.

So, an interesting start to the series, and maybe a fair indication of how one or two guys may go this year. First, I'll take a look at the TDM Counties Classic Series.

Challenger usually produces enough entries to get maximum points. If this continues, I'd say Wayne is looking pretty comfortable. He's not just bloody quick, he's also aware of the bigger picture. In conversation while cleaning up after the meeting, he said he had backed off during the feature because of the dust; gaining a finish and points was more important than trying to win the class and possibly coming to grief. Nick is a given, but needs to have more class entries to get maximum points. Paul is the dark horse but like Nick, needs more entries in the class.

On the National scene, again Nick is a given quantity. He has proved his worth over the last couple of seasons. However, Troy could prove to be a bit of a nuisance. He is fast, tidy and smart and the car has showed it's pace in the past. Having pared almost 300 kgs off the truck and with a hot V6 waiting in the wings, Bryan is in a good position to go for the Sport Truck title. Graeme I've already mentioned. That leaves Challenger and Wayne's prospects. I'd say good, but there is this bloke called Nick Leahy out there, the fastest thing on four wheels I've seen since Keke Rosberg drove a Formula Pacific here many years ago. As for Taine; watch out, Josh!

Before I let you all go, I'd just like to thank all who attended the meeting for obseving a minute's silence in respect for the victims of the Christchurch quake. It is an horrific event that, like Erebus, has hit New Zealand bloody hard, and on many levels. Personally, I've got family there, all of whom came through unharmed physically, but not without property damage. The same goes for my offroading mates, those that I have heard from anyway. There are still one or two I haven't heard from though, which is a worry. If you read this guys, let me know.

Kia kaha, Christchurch.

Dink

P.S. Note the title of this article; it used to be my byline many years ago and I've decided to resurrecct it. What does it mean? Look it up!