We all headed into this challenge with a bit of apprehension due to the withdrawal of Wayne Patrick's Falcon and Jason Galbraith's Plymouth, but the valiant efforts of Gareth and his crew who worked night and day to get the ex Scott Ballingall's Anglia up and running brought our total team who travelled north to 11.
The team consisted of:
| Roy Mcdonald | Fairlane |
| Steve Ross | Mustang |
| Manny Sim | Mustang |
| Tony Jeffs | Galaxie |
| Maurie Bone | Anglia |
| Bob Denson | Anglia |
| Gareth Hall | Anglia |
| Ben Hitchcock | Anglia |
| Ray Hirst | Anglia |
| Johnno Michelle | Cortina |
| Brent Torkington | Cortina |
We were unsure as to who from the North Island had entered, so it was decided that we needed to have a strategy in order for us to retain the trophy.
The trip north was uneventful and the ferry crossing was very calm (disappointing for some). The majority of the travellers got to Taupo between 9-9.30pm and quickly settled into the bar. Johnno & Lyn's tow vehicle over heated on the way up the island, and thankfully Steve (who had the wonderful job of driving the transporter with the two race cars on it) stayed close by them and they limped into Taupo around 10.40pm. A few drinks were had and pizza's ordered, then Gareth brought out a 4.5 litre bottle of bourbon that needed to be drunk by the end of the weekend.
Friday dawned, hot and humid, and the teams all made their way out to the track to discover huge improvements from the way it was last year. After finding the pre-hired marquee, we quickly settled in and most went out for unofficial practice. A couple of minor casualties - Manny blew a diff but borrowed the Dunedin team's one, then on the next practice, Roy broke the shifter in Bertha and Steve blew the diff in the Mustang. Thankfully Roy managed to find a welder and fixed the shifter and Albie Collier had delivered his recently sold to the south island Falcon to the track and the spare diff from that car was installed in the Mustang. So they all went out for the final practice and came back smiling. Then it was back to the motel for a dip in the pool (for some) and the first team strategy meeting.
Saturday dawned fine again, but the weather god's threatened thunder showers later on. All the drivers had to be at the track by 9.15am for a driver's briefing, but then we had a long wait for the qualifying which wasn't until around 1.15pm.
Another team strategy meeting was held in Jeff's garage and everyone got mentally prepared for what they needed to do in the first race.
Race 1 - grid start:
As per the North/South rules, the first race is a scratch race and although it goes on qualifying times, it is staggered as follows:
1. South 2. North
(depending on who had the fastest qualifying time)
3. North 4. South
5. South 6. North
7. North 8. South
etc for all the challenge cars and the remaining cars go on their best qualifying time.
The qualifying times set the grid up almost by itself and Justin Haworth ended up on pole with the fastest time of 1:43.798 and Steve was beside him with a best time of 1:45.159. Manny set the 3rd fastest time and beside him was Bill McKinnon.
Unfortunately the race was red flagged after the first lap due to Billy McKinnon 'parking' the Nova into the tyre wall. Thankfully only the car was damaged.
As with the previous Ruapuna round, the racing was very exciting and very busy and a great battle ensued between the two arch rivals from each island - Justin and Steve - with Steve finishing first just ahed of Justin by 0.732sec. Manny was 3rd, Tony 4th, Roy 6th, Brent 11th, Ben 12th, Maurie 13th, Bob (still running) 15th, Gareth 16th, Johnno 18th and Ray 26th. All cars still up and runing and great placing's for tomorrow's two handicap races.
Sunday - dawned hot and humid again and this time we didn't need to rush out to the track as we knew we were last up before luch and the grid had been worked out for the next race. The team got together for another strategy meeting and everyone headed off to contemplate their tactics.
Race 2 - handicap:
Ray started off first and the next group back (off 26 seconds) were all north islanders as were the next group (off 35 seconds). The third group (off 43 seconds) had Gareth and Johnno in with Chris Brown (Anglia) then there was a group of 6 (off 49 seconds) which included Ben, Maurie, Brent & Bob. Two more north islanders then a group of 3 which included Roy, Phil Waldrom (XP Falcon coupe) & Tony (off 61 seconds), back to Manny & Wayne Davies (off 65 seconds) and finally Steve (off 72 seconds who ended up by himself due to Justin having alternator issues).
VERY exciting race with a close finish from Tony followed by Steve, then Johnno which put the southerner's points in good steed and all cars still up and running!
Race 3 - handicap:
This race grid was similar to the 2nd race with only a couple of minor changes and the only substitutes happening with the north island and Justin was back having fixed his alternator bolt issue.
Another exciting race and we again finished with some good placings which sealed the victory for the south by a huge 705 points to the north's 550. The individual standings for the combined challenges were a lot tighter, but the overall trophy wen to our own Tony Jeffs who won by 1 point.
All in all it was a fantastic trip and we all came away like we had worked as a team and deserved taking the trophies home.
After this race meeting the points were as follows:
Overall - South = 705 North = 550
A Class - South = 167 North
= 101
B Class - South = 0 North
= 19
C Class - South = 159 North
= 117
D Class - South = 0 North
= 8
