Te Puke’s Nathan Fogden is hoping for a change in fortunes for his home round of the NZ 4x4 national trial series on Sunday.

The Bay of Plenty Four Wheel Drive club is hosting the round on the Powdrell family farm on Rangiuru Rd.

Fogden, a four-time national champion in the sport’s second tier C class, hasn’t had the best of seasons, but a win in Te Puke will see his title challenge back on track.

C class is a super-modified class for trucks with four cylinders while the premier D class allows trucks with five or more cylinders.

Fogden last won his class in the 2022-2023 season.

He said last season was a “bit of a ‘mare” and this season didn’t start well.

“We had to do an engine rebuild going into the first round and some pistons never turned up for us from the US,” he said.

It put him out of the first round.

Highs and lows

While the DNS wasn’t terminal in terms of his championship hopes as competitors are able to drop the worst score from the series, the pressure has been on every round since.

So far he has managed a first and two third places. The Te Puke round is the fifth of six.

“I think we are currently second in class, but we have missed a golden opportunity chasing an electrical fault that is causing us to lose our front diff locker.

“After the highs of 2022 and 2023 when we were pushing the top guys all the way to the end, it was a real come down last year and then missing round one, but it’s motorsport, you’ve just got to get out there.”

In D class, no one has taken command this season with four different winners in the rounds so far – Ash Tonkin in Hawke’s Bay, Mitch Caldow in Ohinawai (Waikato), Dave McKie in Levin and Jarred Biggs in Feilding.

Current champion Scott Biggs has had two second places so far this season.

Held every other year, the Te Puke round is also a charity event.

“The event and the competition is important to me on a personal level, but what’s important to me on a community level is trying to raise as much money as possible for Waipuna Hospice,” said Fogden.

Good entertainment

There will be coffee carts, a sausage sizzle, fruit ice cream and other food available.

Entry is $10 per adult, $5 for a child and $25 for a family.

“It’s a pretty cheap day’s entertainment in the modern world and we want to get as many people out there as we can to raise as much money as we can and provide a bit of entertainment.

“Most people who come say it’s a good day out.”

The BF Goodrich Bay of Plenty 4x4 National trial is at 1204 Rangiuru Rd and the action starts around 8.30am.

Trials

Trials are based on the ability of competitors to drive their vehicles over difficult terrain, including hill climbs, mud bogs and going up steep hills, over rocks and along banks.

The course is made up of a minimum of 28 short obstacles.

Blue pegs mark the start and end points of the obstacle, and the boundaries of the obstacle are indicated by red pegs on the right and yellow pegs on the left.

The driver and co-driver attempt to negotiate their vehicle through each obstacle as far as they can, and vehicles from all classes drive over the same obstacles.

Each event has an overall winner and class winner for the day.

Points won go towards deciding the overall and class winners for the different zones and national placings at the end of the season.