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After three days of hard fought competition in one of New Zealand’s closest winch challenge competitions yet, Tony White & Mike Graham were crowned champions of the 2007 AC Diggers Norwest Winch Challenge.

14 action packed stages were set at both the Extreme 4wd Park and the Kuemu A&P show north west of Auckland. The dry conditions made for dusty stages and caused many a broken CV, but a healthy dose of swamp land added in bottomless mud to test the competitors, and (more importantly) their winches, to the limits.

The competition started on the Friday afternoon with two stages, one being a largely high speed sprint with a short boggy section for good measure, the other a highly technical stage with three potential winch spots. This was the first of many ground anchor stages with insanely steep climbs and no trees to anchor too. Most struggled with the cumbersome anchors but Mike Porter’s stand-out performance, with his one handed anchor throw making it to the top of the hill in record time, scored him and driver Justin Wynyard first place at the end of day one.

Vehicle design in this the first event for 2007 had taken another step up from previous years. The once prevalent electric winch has now been demoted to backup winch duties for many with the faster and more powerful PTO and hydraulic winches fast becoming the the more popular choice.

Saturday’s mud stages put all this new technology to the test and saw several broken winches. On one stage, Don Preston and Roger McKay were forced to use both their hydraulic and 8274 winches together to get the Prado through the swamp – truly a sight to be seen.

But it wasn’t only the winches and winch men being put to the test, with steep rutted climbs and some very tight sections, the drivers had their work set. Aaron Smythe and Mitch O'Brien were one of the few teams to drive the near vertical climb to the finish box on CV hill, with no horses spared and share determination they launched their LWB Nissan GQ to the top in grand fashion.

Last years winners, Owen Fillery and Dave Morrison, were back this year with a mad new creation - a 40 series Land Cruiser equipped with coil-overs, an impressively fast hydraulic winch, and the forever dominating Lexus V8 – but with several new teams giving the better equipped teams a run for their money, winch challenge is still a brains over budget competition.

One such team of Glen Bellingham and Jaime McKinstry from Pukekohe, turned up to their first competition in a new truck and posted several quick times proving they will be a team to watch in future events.

Sunday morning began with a quick readout of the top five competitors, although no placings were given so nobody knew who was on top or how hard they need to push to get up there. After two morning stages with quick times being posted by several teams, it was anyone's game.

The final two stages were held at the Kuemu A&P show that afternoon and whether it was a smart strategy, skill, or dumb luck – Team Shrmin were the last up on the first course and the only to conquer the mud bog avoiding a winch and with another quick time on their second run, they finished just ahead in the points taking out their first win since 2002.

With so little points separating the top 5, the 2007 season is going to be off the hook. Next on the calendar is the Superwinch Tuff Truck challenge in Whakatane in late April. Will Tony and Mike be able to hold on to their season lead or will the promising team of Don Preston and Roger McKay knock them off the top spot?