A first-time competitor claimed first prize in the ride-on lawnmower race at the Strath Taieri A&P Show — on a machine which was just a pile of parts the day before.
It was the final event at yesterday’s Strath Taieri A&P Show in Middlemarch.
The 10-lap race was preceded by the revving of engines and a warning to spectators to remove legs draped over the hay bales ringing the show’s main arena.
Crowds were masked by thick clouds of white smoke as the four drivers went hell for leather around the course, dodging obstacles and vying for first place.
The winner was Dunedin resident Steve Davis, who said the day was his first time racing a lawnmower — and also for riding the machine which brought him victory.
The winning lawnmower had been pulled together from various old parts just the day before the race, Mr Davis said.
By the end of the race, the machine was almost on fire and in need of emergency repairs by team-mate and mechanical mastermind Peter Dick, of Power Farming Otago.
The event had been great fun and his experience in motocross had come in handy, Mr Davis said.
Runner-up William Marshall was also a first-time racer and came to lawnmower racing through his first-year apprenticeship at Otago Farm Machinery.
Another racer had been departing and suggested he should take up the reins.
He was pleased to have beaten his more experienced co-worker, Greg Bishop, who came last due to his chain falling off.
Mr Bishop planned to modify his John Deere mower to have more traction for next year’s event.
He had already modified his mower with a GoPro stand, made out of tractor parts, to film his progress around the circuit.
It was his third time entering the competition, which he believed was all about having fun — and bragging rights for the victor.
"You’ve got to be brave and stupid," Mr Bishop said.
Paul "Granddad" Beattie, of Middlemarch, came third in his specially modified aviation fuel-powered mower.
"It drinks it," Mr Beattie said.
His mower could get up to 70kmh with no trouble, although it could be difficult to get up to the fifth gear on the Strath Taieri A&P Show circuit.
He had spent about $1000 on his machine, and it was his fourth year competing with it in the race. For a racing mower, it was important to have handles on the side so the rider could shift their weight around.
He tended to use his gears to brake into the corners, while keeping his foot on the accelerator, Mr Beattie said.
There had been some spectacular crashes over the eight or nine years the event had been running, including one where he had come off, and he had been lucky his mower had rolled over him.
"You’ve got to have guts," Mr Beattie said.
There were other mower-racers in the Otago region, and the sport was particularly strong in Invercargill and Canterbury.
An even more extreme version of the sport, involving mowers modified with V8 engines, used to take place in Central Otago.
But that had been banned about the same time the Strath Taieri event had been born, because the competitors used to get off and have fist fights with each other, Mr Beattie said.
For safety reasons, blades of the lawnmowers are removed before racing.
