Andreassend masters mud to win at Nelson
Dominant performance from father-son team

Ruff and Tuff Winner Dennis Andreassend of Nelson

Nelson racer Dennis Andreassend put on a masterful display of racecraft and driving skill to win in the mud and slush of the sixth round of the Asset Finance 2009 New Zealand Offroad Racing Championship, held in nelson during the weekend.

Racing in a two-car team with son Haydn, he won the weekend outright, became the South Island Champion and goes to the national final with an eight point lead over his closest rival.

Andreassend senior won every race for the fast Kumeu Transport Engineering class one race cars, while son Haydn won the Southern Lakes Transmissions Super 1300 class for the weekend and was fifth overall in Sunday’s punishing 165 km enduro in Spooner’s forest.
In persistent sleeting rain on Saturday at the A&P showgrounds, Andreassend senior was fastest in qualifying for the following day’s enduro, posting a time five seconds clear of the second fastest entry – son Haydn.

The pair then dominated their heats, putting on a virtuoso display of driving skill on the greasy track.
Andreassend senior is currently ranked number two in New Zealand, and was racing against the defending national champion, Daniel Powell of Christchurch.

Powell, driving an American-built Jimco with a turbocharged Nissan V6 engine, had no answer for Andreassend’s less powerful but more agile Cougar Evo.  The Nelson driver proved he could win even from the second row of the grid, and took maximum points for the day on 36, Powell scoring 28 ahead of another Nelson driver, Ashley Kelly.

In the Pine Harbour Painters Super 1600 class, Christchurch driver Wayne Moriarty drove faultlessly to win all three of his heats, while his main rival, Christchurch driver Nigel Sutherland, crashed off the side of the biggest jump on the course in the second heat.  Moriarty netted 33 points from the day.

Haydn Andreassend’s day in the mud brought him the Super 1300 class lead and 22 points.
Local driver Paul Cooper took top points on the Saturday in the V-Dub Shoppe Challenger class, the VW-powered cars finding the deep greasy mud hard going in paces.  Adam Reid and Matthew Pratt were never too far from Cooper’s rear cage, with Reid finishing second in class for the day.
The sole Baja-class racer, Gary Cooper, completed the day with a handy 18 points.

In the Camco Offroad truck classes, Carl Gardiner made the most of four wheel drive and diesel power to win the production class; Nelson’s Darrin Thomason made short work of the sport truck class despite only running rear wheel drive in his Toyota Hilux, and Neil Falkingham clawed through the mud to win the challenge truck (road registered) class in his four-seat, four wheel drive Range Rover.
Blenheim’s Mark French won the crowd-pleasing ThunderTruck class in his V8 Land Rover.

In Spooner’s Forest on Sunday, the 165 km enduro had an all-Andreassend front row, with Haydn lining up behind his dad and ahead of Ashley Kelly for the start.  Kelly went on the attack at the start, carving past the less powerful car of Andreassend junior in an attempt to overtake Andreassend senior.  As the field got up to speed on the big logging road that led away from the start, though, he went off the road and rolled his single-seater out of the event.

Daniel Powell had not completed his qualifying sprint on Saturday after hitting a track-marker barrel and started down the order at the rear of the class one field, but like Kelly was on a charge.  He powered through to third overall behind Christchurch’s Wayne Moriarty, but could then make no impression on Moriarty, who was likewise holding position a minute behind the flying Andreassend.

The front three stayed the same through the race, with Andreassend able to build on his lead at mid-distance when they ran into lapped traffic on the tight forest course.  He ended the day almost two minutes up on Moriarty and another minute clear of Powell.

Nelson Ruff’n’Tuff overall results, top ten
Dennis Andreassend, Nelson, 1
Wayne Moriarty, Christchurch, 2
Daniel Powell, Christchurch, 3
Mark French, Blenheim, 4=
Carl Gardiner, Otago, 4=
Darrin Thomason, Nelson, 6
Haydn Andreassend, Nelson, 7
Matthew Pratt, Queenstown, 8
Nigel Sutherland, Christchurch, 9
Donald McMillan, Queenstown, 10