www.borneo4x4.com
TARAT, SARAWAK
4X4 WINCH CHALLENGE

The event started with a time control liaisons to prevent late comers at the start line. At 8.30 sharp, SS 1 began with THE WALL climb. A safety belay system was provided with a four ton strap hooked to an excavator arm to belay cars going up the 80 degree wall. Ah Gu had the privilege to go first and did he go. He chose not to use the safety strap and then everyone else except for Anton and Arab used the strap. Special mention goes to GOU BOON KIAT & YUDI ANTORO who rolled their BJ40 on its side at the top of the hill. They self recover and managed to compete the stage. Good fighting spirit. COLIN and ROBERT showed how not to tackle the wall and rolled over for a DNF.

SS 2 -MUD HOLE HILL required driver to pass a mud hole before going (again) an 65 degree hill and dropping a steep descend to the finish box. The mud hole was not an issue for the front running Sarawak cars. Electric winch cars spun their wheel and started to dig and dig deep they did. ANTON rolled his BJ40 to the side here and DNF. All electric winch cars DNF this stage except for eventual electric winch champ PHAN KHOI HAP. Ah Shin in his Shinbug was fastest in 03:03.00.

SS 3- THE SWAMP THING - Somehow this became the electric winch killer. No electric winch made it through this stage. The Sarawak boys in their PTO paved the way through the thigh deep mud. Lau and Serwan made it through the fastest in 03:10.00 without any penalties.

SS 4- NIGHT STAGE - This was a much feared stage as competitors through that they had to go through the deep swamp. This stage had a reverse start up a small hill and cars are to back down and put their back wheels into the swamp before winching up, turning a sharp left and back over a short bit of swamp. This short bit of swamp took out a number of competitors including top local Serian driver Jacko and also Lau, who broke his super powerful winch. Anton made it through to the other side of the swamp but his winch heated up and jammed. 

SS 5- SIDE TRANSVERSE AND HILL. This again was a much talked about stage among the competitors. Teams maneuver a sidewards obstacle before a sharp right turn up a small climb and drop back down with a little speed section to the bottom of the hill. From here, it's a 100ft winch up a hill with varying gradient from 90 to 30 degrees. Anton went out of the box, and drove back off registering a DNF as his winch was broken. A notable DNF was Ah Shin and Ah Soong who rolled their car on its side. On the recovery they winch on a stump without a tree trunk protector and received a DNF.

SS 6 THE GATES - In the centre of the property is an island complex with a series of humps. Three gates, A, B, & C are placed in this complex. Driver draw their gate sequence and speed off to the gates while the co-driver sprint to the marshals manning the gates. The marshals do not sign the sheet unless the cars touch the gates. This was a fun and easy stage drawing the event to a close.

Supplementary stage: SPEEDKING. All competitors had to put pedal to the metal and release some of that agro. A short course was laid out where there were a few second gear acceleration and jump sections. There was also an area where cars did a little drifting. The finish box required that cars jump the hum and drop right into it. Ah Gu went in at the best time. It would have been longer course if crowd safety was not a consideration.