Dargaville driver top drifter again

Dargaville's Gas Whiter became the first driver to win back-to-back New Zealand National Drifting Championships after securing fifth  in the final round of the championship  at Port Rd on Saturday.
Whiter led the championship after the fourth round at Taupo but was concerned about the challenge of second-placed "Mad" Mike Whiddett, going into the Turtlewax F21-sponsored competition on Saturday. The pair had been neck-and-neck throughout the competitive season and many   expected Whiter to struggle against the Red Bull-sponsored driver.
He needn't have worried, with the Auckland driver crashing during the first top-16 "battle" or heat on Saturday, leaving Whiter a clear run at the title.
Whiter finally finished in fifth place in the grand final on Saturday - good enough to claim the title for the second time.
The Whangarei round was won by Waikato's Andrew Redwood, who beat Jason Sellars into second place with Whangarei's Sean Yearbury taking third overall. It was a great result for Yearbury, who had returned from a spell in Australia during the week.
Sellars' second place made him the big mover on the overall championship table - moving from fourth at the beginning of the weekend into second place ahead of Widdett in third and another Whangarei driver "Fanga" Dan Woolhouse in fourth.
The relatively new motorsport proved  a popular drawcard on Saturday, backing traffic up  into town for a while on Saturday morning.
The wet weather on Friday meant the first day drew only 400 spectators but Saturday's action drew almost 3000 paying spectators - meaning the event was expected to break even, one of the event's organisers Justin Rood said. "The only question mark at the moment is how much the water [safety] barriers will cost us - there was plenty of carnage over the weekend," he said.
Rood said that after the event's success,  organisers would look to hold another event - perhaps  next year.
"We have to work around the development along Port Rd and we'd also like to move the event into summer if possible but we'd definitely like to get the event back here again."
Rood said the event was as popular as any of the four previous rounds of the contest, with drivers travelling  from  Wellington to compete.
The street course at Port Rd was built last week and proved popular with the drivers.
"The drivers love the street course because they really get to test themselves on something new rather than the same old thing, when they compete on a race circuit," Rood said.
Another Whangarei driver Kurt Holland, who placed fifth in the round in the Rookie division said the event was the most popular he had ever attended.
"It was way more popular than your average track day, with more drivers coming to enjoy the course and the crowd was definitely bigger as well," he said.