Dargaville driver Gary ‘Gaz’ Whiter (Tectaloy Nissan S14 V8) was all smiles as he stood on the top step of the podium at the latest round of the Cody’s D1NZ National Drifting Championship at Taupo’s Ricoh Motorsport Park on Sunday.

The three-time former series champion was the first to admit, however, that it was a very different scene at the track on Friday morning when – after just two laps out on the track – his car’s aftermarket V8 engine ran a bearing.

“We were pretty down in the dumps when that happened,” he said. “We went through eight SR20s (four cylinder Nissan engines) and now this is our third V8.”

Whiter won the opening round of this year’s Codys’ D1NZ championship series at Hampton Downs last November but finished second at his home round at Whangarei in December before an early exit in a borrowed car at the third round at Baypark in January after the gearbox on his own car locked up on his first practice lap.

The family-based Whiter team is nothing if not resourceful however, and with help from members of V8 SuperTourer ace John McIntyre’s team (whose base is at the Taupo circuit) the engine was stripped, repaired and back in the car six hours later.

Not the ideal start to the weekend but not only was it enough to keep Whiter in the game, on his way to his second round victory of the season the Northland ace managed to cut early season series leader ‘Mad Mike’ Whiddett’s points margin from 77 to 54.5 points.

Like Whiter, Whiddett was another to have a weekend of highs and lows including have to twice repeat his initial Top 8 battle with young gun Nico Reid (Luxury Sports Nissan S15) before the judges deemed he had done enough to advance to the Top 4.

Also in the wars were V8 Supercar ace Shane Van Gisbergen and Shane Allen who this season are sharing the distinctive green BOC Gases and Racestuff-backed Ford Falcon nick-named ‘The Rattla.

First to go was the differential, then the gearbox, forcing the pair to try and qualify and battle in borrowed cars, Allen in Wanganui driver Ricky Lee’s Mazda RX7, Van Gisbergen in Tauranga driver Adam Davies’ rotary-engined Nissan 180SX.

Both qualified – Allen 24th, Van Gisbergen 25th – but neither made it past the Top 32, Allen going down to Christchurch driver Chris Jackson (All Covered Roofing Nissan S14), Van Gisbergen to Whiddett.

If Whiddett thought he was home-and-hosed after finally beating Nico Reid in the Top 8 bracket he was in for a rude surprise, however, in the Top 4 where he met former D1NZ champion Curt Whittaker (Autosure Warranties Nissan Skyline R34 2JZ).

Whiddett put in a textbook chase run but on his lead run was tapped by Whittaker exiting the final corner and spun. Deciding that Whiddett had slowed the pace exiting the corner, the judges awarded the battle to Whittaker. Adamant that he had not purposefully slowed down, Whiddett initiated but eventually withdrew a protest.

“We didn’t end up forwarding the protest because Curt could have been disqualified if we had of won. We queried it, but I wasn’t prepared to knock Curt out so we took the result because we still had a chance to get on the podium.”

With Whiter having won his Top 4 battle against Tauranga driver Cole Armstrong (V Energy Nissan Skyline R34) that meant he would battle Whittaker for first while Whiddett would take on Armstrong for third.

Armstrong put up a strong fight but with his car’s differential on its last legs Whiddett won the battle for third place to retain his series points lead from Whiter with Whittaker third, Nico Reid fourth and Andrew Redward fifth.

Of the other fancied runners defending Cody’s D1NZ series champion Daniel ‘Fanga Dan’ Woolhouse (Castrol Edge Holden Commodore) qualified fifth but was beaten – albeit only after the battle going One More Time – in the Top 16 by Wellingtonian Matt Lauder (The Bling Company Nissan 180SX), Auckland-based international Daynom Templeman (NAC Insurance Mazda RX7 2JZ) was beaten in his Top 16 encounter with Gaz Whiter, and last year’s Taupo round sensation Zak Pole (Autosure Insurance/Rollei Nissan R33), won his Top 16 battle with Darren Kelly (Thirsty Liquor Nissan R34) but lost out in his encounter with the similar V Energy-backed Skyline of eventual fourth place-getter Cole Armstrong in the Top 8.

There has been quite a reshuffling of the pack, meanwhile, in the Pro-Am support class points standings with long-time points leader Troy Jenkins (Juice Polishes Nissan S15) finally being toppled by Far North driver Tom Marshall (ATJ Nissan S13) and Joel Hedges (C’s Garage S13) from Kumeu.

Tauranga driver Adam Davies (Mimico Nissan 180SX 13B) top scored in qualifying from Aucklander Vincent Langhorn (Nissan Laurel) and Tom Marshall, but it was Langhorn who won the final battle after Davies spun on both his lead and chase runs.

Former motorcycle road-race ace Sam Smith (Vernon & Vazey Nissan S15) from Pukekohe and Joel Hedges joined Langhorn and Davies in the Top 4 but any hope Smith had of a spot on the podium were dashed early when, in his battles with Langhorn, he lost boost pressure both times.

The major beneficiary, however, was Tom Marshall who scored enough points with third place in qualifying and fifth overall to take the lead in the series points standings from Joel Hedges with Jenkins now back in third.

The weekend’s Achilles Radial-backed round – the second of three which also carried points for the BP Ultimate Triple Crown – attracted a 60+ field across the two – D1 Pro and Pro-Am – classes. The series now heads to Christchurch for the traditional Easter round at Mike Pero Motorsport Park before returning north for the Grand Final – now a night meeting at Auckland’s Mt Smart Stadium – in May.