2026 Championship Season ready for the Green Flag
Saturday 14 February marks the start of another full on National Championship, once again sponsored by CT Civil, with round one hitting the South Auckland dirt at Colin Dale Park, just a few minutes from Auckland Airport. With the round also doubling as the standalone Mickey Thompson New Zealand Grand Prix, there is a lot on the line from the drop of the first green flag.
Entries have started appearing online and most of the names you would expect to see are on the list, including the top three overall placegetters from 2025 Nick Hall, Noah Hutchison, and Neil Coutts. Nick once again lines up in his Vertex backed Class 8 truck for another crack at top honours, while recent class changes mean Noah moves from S class to the all new open UTV Class 2. Classes 8 and 3 are looking likely to be the biggest grids, sporting eight and seven entires respectively, although there will likely be more entries in the coming days.
Fans of the junior KiwiTruck classes are also in for a treat, with at least ten quick and committed kids ready to take to the track, once again including the top three overall junior drivers from 2025, Jack Rice, Jack Doland and Oliver Mooney. Jack Doland moves up to the M Class KiwiTruck this year, joining Jack Rice and Oliver Mooney. Also worth keeping an eye on is 2025 J Class runner-up Brett Carlyle, who moves up to M Class, piloting the ex-Lily Williams truck. Brett's brother Ryan will take over the J Class and Lily, well she has moved up to Class 7, ready to race alongside the other adult buggy racers - a brilliant example of a junior racer coming through the ranks before graduating to an adult class.
The gates to Colin Dale Park will open at 7:30am with driver registration starting at 8am and pre-race inspection kicking off 15 minutes later. Racing will be underway by 11am, with all classes taking part in three 5-lap heat races. As is standard practice, some classes will be combined. The day then ends with four 10-lap feature races before prize-giving in the Mickey Thompson marquee, where everyone is welcome to come and celebrate.
Tickets can be purchased at the gate, or get them before you go through Eventfinda. Adults $25, Students / Gold Card Holders $16, and Kids under 12 (with an adult) are free.
Before the 2026 season kicks into life, ORANZ want to thank our 2026 partners CT Civil (National Championship Sponsor), V-Dub Shoppe (National Buggy Class Sponser), 4WDBits (National Truck Class Sponsor), Truck Fix (National UTV Class Sponsor) and Elite Kitchens (National Junior Class Sponsor). A huge shout out to these businesses who keep the sport we love on track.