KEY POINTS:
The fastest offroad race teams in the North Island will converge on the Bay of Plenty this weekend in a last bid to score championship points before the final round next month.
The Bay Offroaders event is the sixth round of the 2007 New Zealand Offroad Racing National Championships and is a one-day race meet at Matata.
The event features class-by-class short course heats and an endurance race of 165km. It's the last chance for Manukau's Tony McCall to score points before he meets current points leader Andrew Thomason at Nelson next month to decide the title.
Thomason has taken a clean sweep in the South Island rounds, winning every race he has started in his 410kW Toyota Tundra V8 truck to set up a historic truck v race car final round battle for the outright title.
No other truck team has ever advanced to the final with maximum points or been in contention for the outright championship win.
Tony McCall, driving a 3.2-litre Porsche-engined single seat Cougar race car, can draw level with Thomason only by scoring a win in the enduro and a clean sweep of his short course heats at Matata.
Other top entries in McCall's class include Colin Meredith in a Chenowth Cougar Toyota, Neville Smith in a classic-shape Cougar with Honda VTEC turbo power, and Melvin Rouse from Whangarei.
Also heading south is one of the most innovative new cars in the sport, the Toyota-powered, mid-engined Super 1600 car of Richard Crabb.
Possibly the first successful New Zealand-built car to employ the mid-engined format and track-racing formula-style design concepts in offroad racing, the new car has led events and challenged the established order every time it has raced, and many believe it will likely score its first outright win in its debut year.
Crabb says a new 20-valve engine built to a unique specification will help keep the car competitive against the likes of top Super 1600 racer Donn Attwood in his Bu-Mac RV Toyota. The Crabb car is easily spotted on the grid or in the pit paddock because of its glossy black paint scheme with striking 3-D flame graphic.
Bay of Plenty drivers entering the event are likely to include every race-ready car in the region.
Defending ThunderTruck class champion Gary Baker of Otakiri will be there in his Nissan Navara V8 ThunderTruck (defending class champion) as will Whakatane racer Clive Thornton in his new Southern Cross GM V6 two-seater class-one car.
Also based in Whakatane are Malcolm Langley driving his Bakersfield Toyota class-three (Super 1600) car, and series sponsor Clive George in his Toyota Tundra Chev.
Also likely to race are Mike Cox from Rotorua in a class-one (unlimited) Jimco Baja Subaru and Peter Willis of Tauranga.
The race venue is the same farm course used for the past few years, described by the organisers as a great spectator venue because the whole event takes place in a single valley, keeping the public close to the action.
It is signposted from Matata for spectators arriving from Tauranga and on roads leading into Matata for Whakatane residents and spectators coming from Rotorua.
