Te Puke A&P Show tractor pull champ returns

Daniel Marsh of Neville Marsh Contracting won the tractor pulling competition at last year's Te Puke A&P Show and will be trying to do the same again this year in the Valtra S274.

Daniel Marsh of Neville Marsh Contracting won the tractor pulling competition at last year's Te Puke A&P Show and will be trying to do the same again this year in the Valtra S274.

Drivers from Pongakawa's Neville Marsh Contracting swept the board in the tractor pulling competition at last year's Te Puke A&P Show.

They claimed the top four spots, with Daniel Marsh heading the winners' list.

He says success in 2017, however, doesn't translate to pressure to equal the feat this year, claiming it's just a bit of fun. But there is a nagging feeling that when the pedal hits the metal, competition will be fierce.

"I guess it will be quite competitive on the day," he concedes.

Tractor pulling returned to the show last year, and its success means it will be another one of the show's attractions this.

The precept is simple — drive your tractor as far as you can, pulling a weighted, computer controlled sled.

"It's about weight and how you set up your tractor, but I'm really not going to give too much away," says Daniel.

Last year he made a series of modifications to one tractor to shed weight to enter a lighter weight class, but says it "didn't seem to make a lot of difference".

"Generally we will run with the tractors as they are and if they pull well, they pull well.

"It's all to do with the weight of the tractor, there's nothing fancy about it at all. You just have to pick different lines and dodge where people have created holes."

Neville Marsh Contractors' mobile weigh bridge will be at the show to check the weights of vehicles — the upper limit it 14.999kg — and to assign them to the correct weight categories. It will be done under the watchful eye of Tammy Marsh.

"If you are tractor passionate, you want to know what towing capacity your vehicle has got and what stresses it can stand and it also lets you know as a driver if you are a good driver or not," she says.

* The 112th Te Puke A&P Show is on February 10, at Showgrounds Rd. Under-5s are free, other children, $2, and people 13 and over, $10. A family ticket for two adults and up to four children is $25.