Papakura brothers Louis and Ash Carlyle overcome engine problems and grueling conditions to score a 3rd and 4th place in the ORANZ Off Road National Championships. The event, held over two days outside Christchurch was marred by a spate of serious crashes in the 215km endurance race as 56 drivers attempted to race in zero visibility dust conditions and was eventually called off at the halfway mark as officials deemed it unsafe to continue. Louis Carlyle, who battled fan belt issues in his rebuilt 1600cc CESCO VW across the weekend needed a solid result in the final enduro and pushed hard in spite of the conditions. According to Louis, “The dust was so thick I spent the majority of the time chasing the taillight of cars in front of me. I never saw some sections of the track until the 3rd or 4th lap.”
The forest endurance was preceded by a series of short course races on the purpose built Canterbury off road track, where the North Island Challenger Class cars quickly established their dominance. Louis Carlyle pushed eventual winner Campbell Witherford hard throughout the day before dropping out of lead contention in the feature race with a broken fan belt.
Ash Carlyle came into the weekend ahead on points and stormed into the lead in the second short course race putting a half lap lead on the pack before his throttle jammed wide open. After a wild 2 lap ride, his motor detonated spectacularly, ending his racing for the remainder of the weekend.
The brothers have been supported in their national campaign by local companies Slick Promotions, KindyRock, Voodoo Molly Vintage Paints and Jo MacLean of Barfoot and Thompson Clevedon so worked hard to repay that debt by focusing the entire team on the remaining car to ensure a podium finish. That effort was repaid with Louis Carlyle finishing second in class in the shortened endure, to take 3rd place overall in the National Championship Challenger Class followed by Ash Carlyle in 4th place overall.
The brothers are now focused on the next major event on the off road racing calendar, the Counties Classic series, to be held at Colin Dale Park in Puhinui on Saturday November 29. The local summer series that provides spectacular buggy and truck racing in a stadium style format is a popularamongst racers. Ash Carlyle faces an uphill battle to fund and build an entire new engine for the event but is determined to pick up where he left off in Christchurch. According to Ash, “I am proud of my brother achieving NZ3, but it was not easy watching from the pit. My car felt unbelievably strong in Christchurch and I owe it to our supporters to try and get to the Counties Classic and bring some of that national form home.”
