Northland drifters figure prominently

Northland's Driftcorp drivers "Fanga" Dan Woolhouse, Gary "Gaz" Whiter and Robbee Nelson were to the fore at round five of the Cody's D1NZ National Drifting Championship at Ruakaka.

Woolhouse, who played a key role in finding and planning the new drift course on roads within the Northgate Business Park, qualified second and eventually finished second, while Whiter qualified fourth and finished third and 17-year-old Nelson qualified fifth and finished sixth in Friday and Saturday's event.

Auckland-based drift international "Mad" Mike Whiddett qualified quickest and won the event, but only after a series of epic Top Eight battles on Saturday with three-time national champion Whiter and 2006 national champion Woolhouse.

Each had the large crowd - estimated at over 2000 - on their feet, the judges twice calling for a repeat before they could come to a unanimous conclusion.

In the first - the semi-final between Whiddett in his Mazda RX7 and Whiter in his Nissan Silvia S14 - the pair touched as they entered the high-speed first corner. When they were called back to the track to repeat their battle after the judges could not split them, Whiter's car holed a radiator, forcing a return to the pits for the hole to be crimped.

The pair matched each other for line, angle and smoke on the re-run, but this time the judges were finally unanimous, the nod going to Whiddett. Whiter was dispatched to battle young Auckland driver Niko Reid for third place, while Whiddett advanced to the final against Woolhouse.

Woolhouse gave it his all in the final battle - which like that for third place, had to be repeated to get a result - but in the end it was Whiddett who earned the higher score, and with it, the round win.

"Yeah, when it comes down to it, we should really have changed the gearing because with Mikey we ran out of legs down the straight," Woolhouse said following Saturday's battle.

"I didn't with anyone else but I did with Mike and he just got a little jump on me at the start. But hey, it's all good, Mike and I are always pushing our limits and that's what we were doing today."

D1NZ National Drifting Championship series organiser Brendon White said he was very pleased with the way the event panned out and is hopeful of a return to Northland - and preferably the Northgate Business Park venue next year.

Round six and the grand final of the current series is scheduled for April 6-7 at Hampton Downs in Northern Waikato.