McKie’s Back on Top at Rangiwahia!

Three years since their last, Dave & Reece McKie return to the top step with a controlling win at Round 3 of the Lucas Oil NZ 4×4 Trials Series at Rangiwahia!

The first of the two Manawatu rounds, the Levin 4×4 Club hosted their first National 4×4 Trial in over two decades at what is to be the last round (for now!) at Rangiwahia. Known as the ‘Glencorran Trial’ within the scene, it has been on the calendar for over 30 years as a Central Zone Trial pre 1999, End-of-season Fun Trial till the 2010’s as well as a National Trial to the present day.

30 stages were set across several valleys in the sausage dog course layout, with the Glencorran Trial notorious for making the most out of the rolling country in the Rangitikei.

Event Results

The morning was a close affair, with the top two in C & D Class only separated by the timed section! Dave & Reece McKie led the way on 126.89 points, with Scott Dickson & 2NZ Co-Driver Caitlyn Thomsen just 0.4 points behind with 127.29. In C Class Nathan Fogden & Mike Gibbons suffered electrical issues robbing them of their hydraulic locker, but just holding on to take the morning with 251.46 points, with Shayne Towers & Tony Hadland 0.73 points behind on 252.19.

Heading into the third round there was a 3-way tie at the top between:

as well as defending 1NZ Scott Biggs & Phil Walton. All on 198 points!

With the pressure on, the Top 3 all started to show cracks come end of the morning. Caldow & Elms suffered a nasty rollover backwards breaking their rear suspension, only just managing to return back out in time to finish the morning with 6th. Tonkin & Ross had a moment in the timed section scoring a maximum 100 penalty points rather than a time around the 30’s, putting them 11th. Biggs & Walton were off song on the day to finish 14th.

Making the most was Chris Tomalin & Richard Verner and Jarred Biggs & Fleche Crawford, popping up to 3rd & 4th respectively for the morning.

2nd Fleche Crwaford , 1st Reece & Dave McKie, 3rd Mitch Caldow & Jamie Elms

Come the end of the day, the McKie’s would take the win by 40 points in front of Jarred Biggs & Fleche Crawford thanks to their morning efforts, with both teams tied on afternoon scores.

Caldow & Elms would recover to 3rd overall and take lead of the series at half way!

Shayne Towers & Tony Hadland continue their consistent performances

In C Class Shayne Towers & Tony Hadland took their second class win of the season, as well as placing 8th overall putting them into the mix in the Top 10 for the season. After breaking two front diffs in the morning leaving them on the backfoot, the lucky last had to hold together for the afternoon as a respectable score of 120 saw them fend off defending champs Caleb Adlam & Jarrod Moss by 30 points. Adlam & Moss would take 11th overall on the day, with Fogden & Gibbons behind to take 12th overall. With two C Class teams knocking on the door of the Top 10, it is the best Top 3 finish for C Class since 2022 when Chris Tomalin, Rhys O’Brien & Nathan Fogden all snuck into the Top 10 at the COVID affected season opener!

Behind the Top 3 in D Class and rounding out the Top 10 were a few more teams entering the mix

Scott Dickson & Caitlyn Thomsen would ultimately finish 4th on their day, Dickson’s equal best result.

Chris Tomalin & Richard Verner would back up their Top 10 at the last round to finish 5th.

Ash Tonkin & Dyon Ross would go on to win the afternoon with a score of 60 points, finishing 6th and now sit 2nd in the standings

Wayne Weatherly & Tayla Weatherly would score back-to-back finishes in the Top 10, putting them into the mix for this season

After knocking on the door all throughout last season, Dean Wells & Ben Harvey finally crack the Top 10 together in their Homebuilt buggy! The duo finishing 9th in Wells’ best result since 2018.

Rounding out the Top 10 was Kevin Hermansen & Nick Hamilton in The Gambler, taking their 2nd Top 10 of the season.

Paul Taylor & Danielle Taylor led the way in F Class once more, only just 20 points behind John Sheridan & Geoff Butcher in the afternoon scores!

Daniel Howat & Cole Stockler returned in the freshly painted Suzuki SJ410 in G Class. After suffering fuel issues putting them out most the morning, the duo from Wellington were back for the afternoon scraping through to finish the day once more.

In the Modified Class, John Sheridan & defending K Class champ Geoff Butcher would finish the day to take the win in K Class, this time without any mechanical issues getting in the way!

Next month sees the Manawatu 4WD Club host another round in the Manawatu, this time near Colyton on February 23rd

Counties lead the way in the Biggs Family Cup

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