Jarred Biggs & Fleche Crawford became the first repeat winners of the 2025 Lucas Oils NZ 4×4 Trials Series, taking their second win and provisional lead of the season after Round 5 at Te Puke!
The penultimate round of the season took place out of Te Puke, hosted by the Bay of Plenty 4WD Club. With hot weather and plenty of action, the hosts drew in a large crowd with proceeds from the event going towards the Waipuna Hospice.
Heading into the round, Ash Tonkin & Dyon Ross in Redback held the provisional lead by a single point with 297 points over Mitch Caldow & Jamie Elms in Mad Wolf. Jarred Biggs & Fleche Crawford in Hot Wheels had jumped up into third after taking the win at Manawatu, albeit another three points further back. Chris Gifford & Shaun Nicholson in The Punisher had climbed up to fourth after scoring their first podium of the season to sit on 289 points. Defending champs Scott Biggs & Phil Walton in Smokey Joe had fallen from their initial third position to sit seventh after two rounds placing outside of the Top 10.
With teams able to drop their worst scoring round towards their overall points tally, the penultimate round gives the best indication of who’s in the fight heading into the final round.
With the most stages of the season set with 34 across the rolling country, the day was on!
MORNING
The morning produced some interesting results at midday, with the sandy conditions often shaking up the scores depending on how badly the stages cut up as the day progresses. That all said, the cream rises to the top as J. Biggs & Crawford lead the way with 132 points. Chris Gifford & super sub 2NZ Sam Thomsen filling in were second on 195 points. Phil Cameron & Todd Charman enjoyed a strong morning to be within 10 points to sit third. Wayne Weatherly & Tayla Weatherly were fourth in their Nitro Custom, with Brent Ward & Mickey Ward also popping up in fifth in their Homebuilt LSA powered buggy.
Continuing on with the Homebuilts was Shayne Towers & Tony Hadland in their C Class buggy, Gary West & Carl Morris in their twin-turbo Lexus V8, Alastair Bevege & Grant MacDonald in their turbo VQ35 buggy, with Caldow & Elms and Tonkin & Ross rounding out the mornings Top 10.
There were only two DNF’s on the day which occurred in the morning, Sean Cushing & Cohin Thomason pulled out after lunch time, whilst Chris Tomalin & Richard Verner retired with gearbox issues in what was shaping up to be a strong result in the Top 10 for the morning.
AFTERNOON
With some suspension & brake tweaks to their truck between rounds, Scott Biggs & Phil Walton shot up to win the afternoon with a score of 180 points. The result was 80 points ahead of the next closest, enough to see them finish third outright on the day with a return to form for the defending champs.
Shayne Towers & Tony Hadland were tied second for the afternoon along with Mitch Caldow & Jamie Elms.
Behind them was J. Biggs & Crawford who were tied with Gifford & Thomsen for the afternoon, with both teams having mixed fortunes on the afternoons ungraded section. Needing to complete an ungraded section to avoid maximum penalty points, Biggs & Crawford were lucky to escape a rollover towards the end to claim 40 points. Gifford & Thomsen were less fortunate, attempting to go for the zero to recover ground from the morning, they fell off-line ultimately receiving 100 points.
Nevertheless, the end picture saw J. Biggs & Crawford on top, with Gifford & Thomsen behind claiming their second podium of the season and S. Biggs & Walton jumping up to sit third overall.
C CLASS
Towers & Hadland’s performance during the day saw the 402c Racing team score the C Class win and 4th outright in their best placing since Thames in 2021. Their consistent performances at the sharp end see them as the favourites heading into the National Final, with a provisional lead of four points! They also sit a provisional 10th overall.
Nathan Fogden & Mike Gibbons were second in class and 8th overall. They sit best of the rest in second in C Class heading into the final whilst also having an outside chance to sneak into the Top 10 outright.
Defending C Class champs Caleb Adlam & Jarrod Moss would place third in C Class and 17th overall. The team from Wellington still have an outside shot for C Class honours, needing to score their first win of the season next month.
SUPER PRODUCTION
Paul Taylor & Danielle Taylor were the only entrant outside of C & D Class on the day, with their F Class Toyota Landcruiser. The father-daughter team having a trouble free day to secure Northern Zone honours for F Class with a round to spare.
BIGGS FAMILY CUP
In the Biggs Family Cup, awarded to the club with the best score from their three highest class finishers, the Counties 4 Wheelers lead the way with 298/300 possible points ahead of the Eastern Bay Twin Diff Club on 292. Defending champs South Waikato claimed third in their first podium of the season.
With Counties taking their fourth win in a consistent season at the sharp end, they have secured the Biggs Family Cup with a round to spare, with no other clubs able to outscore them at the National Final! It marks their third title, the most as the only repeat winners of the Cup since its inception in 2018.
BEST OF THE REST – TOP 10
Behind the Top 3 in D Class, the two C Class trucks and rounding out the Top 10 were…
Wayne Weatherly & Tayla Weatherly finished 4th in D Class & 5th Overall, putting them in provisional 8th Overall only a point behind 6th!
Mitch Caldow & Jamie Elms claimed 6th overall on the day and continue to lead the series across all five rounds to date. Provisionally with ‘drop scores’, they sit tied on points with Jarred Biggs & Fleche Crawford on top of the table
Phil Cameron & Todd Charman fell from their 3rd position to finish 7th overall, with their improved form of late putting them a provisional 11th heading into the National Final.
Shaun Nicholson & Mike Ferguson would return to the Top 10 for the first time since Round 6 last season to place 9th overall. The team rewarded with their consistent score on both halves in the CowperTruck now on the market!
Dave McKie & Reece McKie finished 10th once again with their consistent results in the Top 10 helping them sit a provisional 7th.
The 49th National 4×4 Final celebrating 50 years of the NZ 4×4 Trials Series takes place on April 12th near Whakatane in Manawahe. Be sure to keep up to date with the next round here on Facebook!
