The Mickey Thompson SSS Winch Challenge Series has now finished up for 2016 with the final round held at Landcruiser Mountain Park over the weekend just gone. 15 Teams set out to tackle the technical, long stages with multiple winches as well as the side by side tracks that have become a trademark of SSS.
Friday kicked off after dark with 2 stages set in the side by side style. Teams headed up the Landcruiser Mountain Park Hill Drags, turned right and headed for the creek below for a quick run to the finish, well quick if you didn’t have to pull out the ground anchor to winch. With new rules set for Landcruiser Mountain Park on night driving, half of the stages were run Friday night with the remainder completed Saturday night. Quickest run on SS1 was Carl Johannesen and David Gregg in the CSJ Racing GQ in 6.47 min. Quickest on SS2 was Josh Kummerfeld and Tim Barns in the Rusty Nuts Racing GQ in 4.06 min.
Racing got underway on Saturday morning with a speed run which basically sent teams from camp to the location of the morning stages. Fastest run went to the Rusty Nuts Racing GQ of Josh Kummerfeld and Tim Barns in 4.40 min. Stages 4 and 5 gave teams some good drive time with long stages and several winches as well as some very off camber tracks. Stage win for SS4 went to Alan Tierney and Michael Topfer in the Family Feud Racing GQ and for SS5, Josh Kummerfeld and Tim Barns in the Rusty Nuts Racing GQ. Stages 6 and 7 came back to the side by side style with teams using the same track for part of the stages before splitting into two separate winches. Stage win on SS6 and SS7 went to the CSJ Racing GQ of Carl Johannesen and David Gregg. Stage 8 sent teams on a GPS run that lead them back to the Hill Drags site. Quickest team with the most points was Christian Trusz and Terry Kane in the CBT Racing GQ with 8 points and a time of 23.35 min.
Sunday morning sent teams into Stages 9 and 10 again set in a side by side style. Teams tackled the ups and downs of the gullies near Coopers Stadium before picking up some pace around the Coopers Stadium track and dropping back into the gullies for a few more winches. Stage win on SS9 went to Carl Johannesen and David Gregg in the CSJ Racing GQ and on SS10, the CBT Racing GQ of Christian Trusz and Terry Kane.
It was a very close Rnd when it got time to tally the scores with several teams leading the pack. 3rd place went to Mick Short and Rory Shannon in the No Kids Racing Hilux on 815 points following Josh Kummerfeld and Tim Barns in the Rusty Nuts GQ on 847 points. Taking out the Rnd was Carl Johannesen and David Gregg in the CSJ Racing GQ on 922 points.
The Overall scores for 2016 were also tallied up and it was found that the placings for 3rd Rnd were also the series winners. 3rd on 2436 points was Mick Short and Rory Shannon in the No Kids Racing Hilux. 2nd on 2592 points was the Rusty Nuts GQ of Josh Kummerfeld and Tim Barns. 2016 series winners on 2647 points was Carl Johannesen and David Gregg in the CSJ Racing GQ.
Report and Pics thanks to Shantyl O’Donnell from SS Photography
To purchase images contact Shantyl here
