Sideways

Published on February 12th, 2012 | by mrgrumpyninja

Cody’s D1NZ Round 4- Mt Smart goes off with a boom

Mt Smart is my favourite drift venue, while some love the high speed of Pukekohe, the crest up and over the hill at Hampton Downs or the drivers paradise that is Manfield, for me the close proximity of the crowd at Mt Smart and the fact its under lights creates a special feeling around the event. With Custom Rides, who are based in Howick putting up over $12k in prizes, the drivers were more determined than usual with bumpers, lights and wings hitting walls left right and center.

When I wrote my round preview, I said that I thought the experienced guys would have it mostly their way, Oh how I was wrong with graduates of last years Pro-Am class Brad Lauder and Darren Benjamin both going through to the final 4. Fortunately for me, a talented drifter by the name of Curt Whittaker would top the podium for the old guard, showing his class by qualifying 2nd and then fighting his way through the field to stand on the top step for the second time this season.

The easiest way to do this is to simply work through the field in the order that they would finish in based on the round they were eliminated, and then taking their qualifying result to give a placing as we no longer battle outside of the top 4 for final placings

19th- Bruce Tannock- Achilles Radial/ Mag n Turbo

Bruce just never seemed to look comfortable at this round once it got to qualifying. 2 spins on his first 2 passes in qualifying meant he had to play it safe and bank a run. Came up against Sky Zhao in the 32 and fell to the Chinese slider who is improving significantly this season.

18th- Matt “Chuckie” Jackson- Matt Jackson Motorsport

Chuckie got better and better every practice session, but didn’t get out quite as wide and smooth as he had been when it came to qualifying. Chuckie was dialing in some massive lock and it was a shame his day ended early as he’s a guy who seems to actually go better in battles than qualifying. Nico Reid accounted for MJM in the top 32

17th- Mark Burling- Mark Burling Motorsport

Burling has been pretty constant somewhere between top 8-12 in qualifying at the first 3 rounds, so it was strange to see him sitting at the tail end of the field, mechanical perhaps or just not comfortable on the track? Went OMT with Daynom Templeman in the top 32 before going out the NAC RX7

16th- Daynom Templeman- NAC insurance/ Zenith Motorsport

Daynom seemed to just be fighting car issues the whole event, perhaps showcased best by the fuel fire he had on Friday. Mechanical failure would see him forfeit to Mad Mike before turning a wheel in the top 16, a real shame after his maiden D1NZ win at Taupo

15th- Nico Reid- Nico Reid Drift/Gt Refinishers/Luxury Sports/TTT

Nico I think would be happy just to have got through an event with the car in one piece. There is no doubting the young man’s skills, he just hasn’t had the seat time needed to be able to really excel on such a tight, technical track. At Whangarei I expect he’ll be better again, given we know he is ok with bending panels and chasing door to door. Went out at the hands of Curt Whittaker.

14th- Sky Zhao- Dspec Drifting

Sky is getting better and better this season and had a career best round at Taupo. New aero has the car looking the business and more battle experience is only going to help the man that some call the Chinese Drift Prince. Zhao was eliminated by Cole Armstrong

13th- Steve Sole- Steve Sole Customs

Soletrain pretty much just had the misfortune to again come up against Gaz Whiter. Now that the JZX100 is holding together, Steve seems to be gaining confidence, he just needs to somehow avoid Gaz Whiter and he’ll be up towards the top end of the field.

12th- Mac Kwok- Milwaukee Tools

The boy from the bay had a tough event , driving to Hamilton on Friday to pick up diff parts to try and build one good unit out of 4 that were in various states. Kwok went out against Jase Sellers when his diff failed to hold the 400+kw v8TT monsters torque.

11th- Robee Nelson- Koba Batteries

Robee is in his first season, and is not afraid to mash his car to the wall. He simply happened to come up against Andrew Redward who is equally as crazy and has more battle experience, and a fair amount of anger at his car repeatedly breaking. Robee spent most of the event trying to find that special young woman who wanted to go and live on the farm in Northland

10th-Hugo Mclean- Grabatool/ Custom Rides

Hugo delivered that qualifying run that we knew he had in him. He was another to simply come up against an inform and confident Darren Benjamin who has blown everyone away with just how good he is in a car that simply shouldn’t do what it does. I expect Hugo will go well at Whangarei, as he seems to like the tight circuit in the high powered and light 86.

9th- Daniel “Fanga Dan” Woolhouse- Castrol Edge

Fanga was one of my early picks to go well, and after the crowd witnessed him impale the clipping point sign 2 laps in a row, all indications were there that Woolhouse would be a real threat. Woolhouse would battle Brad Lauder in the top 16, and somehow managed to loop out while on his lead run,try as he might he simply couldn’t force Lauder into an error and that would be all she wrote. 8th- Andrew Redward- Nankang/ Advanti Racing

Redward was a man on a mission, all weekend he was dialing in mental angles and removing rear bumpers by dragging them along the wall. Fitting a set of rather appropriate angry looking red eyelids, Redward would account for Robee Nelson in the top 16 before coming up against Curt Whittaker. Knowing he had to throw down everything, Redward managed to contact Whittaker at least twice including a fairly strange collision exiting the judged area. Whittaker is not the kind of guy who was going to make a mistake on the chase, and would eliminate the California native.

7th- Jason Sellers- Redline Performance/ Supercharge Batteries

Sellers is another who’s had car problems early in the season, and was coming off a strong Taupo showing. Peter Sellers and the team will be happy the car survived in tact , and they simply came up against Cole Armstrong who is in strong form this season. While some felt the call was harsh and perhaps should have gone OMT, it would be over and out for Sellers in the top 8

6th-Gaz Whiter- Tectaloy Performance Coolants/Toyo Tires/ Puklowski Milling

Gaz Whiter eliminated himself, plain and simple. Whiter dealt with Soletrain in his usual manner before coming up against Brad Lauder, Whiter held the advantage and simply had to chase as he has done 100′s of times before. As he puts it , he simply made what he called a rookie mistake, got his line wrong and came to a halt on the 2nd corner switch having to stop before hitting the tire wall. Not what he wanted as he went into the round 6 points off the lead, but due to qualifying 4th, table impact was lessened.

5th – ‘Mad’ Mike Whiddett- Redbull/ Need4speed

Whiddett had set the benchmark with a 93.00 in qualifying and looked for all money like he would be the man to beat. The crowd loved that quad rotor sound and Mike throwing down attempted backwards entries, only Cole Armstrong getting anywhere near the crowd response. Getting a by run over Templeman, Whiddett would come up against Darren Benjamin, the pair so close that it went OMT, before Whiddett stalled out on the same corner as Whiter .Whiddett had laid down a massive lead run, followed by an equally insane chase from Benjamin and it was simply a mistake that prevented what I think would have gone to another OMT battle. Whiddett stays close in the title race by virtue of the strong qualifying showing.

4th- Cole Armstrong- V Energy

Cole Armstrong is a clear crowd favorite, he’s also in the best form he’s ever been and had it not been for gremlins in the car who knows what would have happened.The gremlins got to a point that he was driving in the dark with no headlights, a voltage drain forcing a choice between lights and power steering. After taking out Sky Zhao and then Jason Sellers, Armstrong would fall to Curt Whittaker, it wasn’t quite the tough battle we expected as Armstrong car simply stopped turning and he went straight ahead, sending Armstrong on to battle Darren Benjamin for 3rd and 4th.

3rd- Darren Benjamin- Matts Computer Services/ Scott Williams Motors

Benjamin is dangerous…period. All the D1NZ drivers are on notice that the quietly spoken guy from Taranaki is good, damn good in fact and just a little crazy too boot. Benjamin took out first Hugo Mclean, and then got a result over Mike Whiddett before losing out to Bradley Lauder to put him in the 3/4 battle. Benjamin was wide and hard on the gas all event, getting a deserved result after Armstrong simply failed to turn on his chase run and went up the curb.

2nd- Bradley Lauder- WAL/Alcotane/Shred

Lauder is a guy who is simply consistent. He’s never likely I don’t imagine to be a number 1 qualifier, yet he doesn’t make mistakes and puts pressure on with solid and close chase runs. Dcorp teammates Woolhouse and Whiter fell to Lauder before he beat Benjamin to gain his final spot. Up against last years #2 and TIDC champion, Lauder gave his all but could not overcome the precision of Whittaker who ran within half a meter of the wall on max lock all weekend. In a nice moment, to celebrate his first Pro podium, lauder invited his partner to join him on the track.

1st- Curt Whittaker- Whittaker Motorsport

#2 qualifier with a 92, Whittaker was simply a machine all weekend. When I spoke to Curt, he said “well…just tell me where to put the car, and I’ll do it” so within half a metre of the walls is where he lived all weekend. Curt is a former national cart champion, so is probably the best in the field at simply repeating what needs to be done lap after lap. Whittaker went through Nico Reid, a tough and contact filled battle with Andrew Redward, and then Cole Armstrong before coming up against Brad Lauder. Curt simply went all out in the final and while others may have a different view, I don’t fell like the final was in doubt, Whittaker simply throwing the gauntlet down with a monster of a lead run burring Lauder in smoke, and then chasing like a man possessed. Whittaker taking his second win for the season, and grabbing the overall series lead So there you have it, Round 4 done and dusted. I’ll throw up a second post later this week that will cover pro-am, and some of the sights, sounds and entertainment.

Congratulations to all the drivers for putting on one hell of a show!

Top 20 driver order after 4 rounds (points subject to confirmation)

Curt Whittaker- 336

Cole Armstrong-312

Mike Whiddett-307

Gaz Whiter-296

Darren Benjamin-291

Daniel Woolhouse-276

Daynom Templeman-254.5

Andrew Redward-247

Bradley Lauder-241.5

Steve Sole-207

Sky Zhao- 220.5

Mac Kwok-205

Mark Burling- 190.5

Nico Reid-176

Jason Sellers- 172.5

Bruce Tannock- 165.5

Robee Nelson- 160.5

Matt Jackson- 129.25

Jock Bennett- 119

I couldn’t really not include this, as it was one of the craziest/funniest/stupidest moments of the day, couple of drivers said to me afterwards ” Bro…what the f**k was he thinking?went into that section faster than we do!”