Freight Haulage wins king rig crown

Freight Haulage driver Daryl Shand took the King Rig title at the Gore Truck Show this year....
Freight Haulage driver Daryl Shand took the King Rig title at the Gore Truck Show this year. Photo: Craig Andrews
Freight Haulage is on a roll at the Gore Truck Show.

The past two King Rig titles have gone to the Invercargill-based company.

In 2023, Freight Haulage driver Lindsay Stuck won the title with his Scania 620hp line hauler.

This year, Freight Haulage operations manager Darryl Shand claimed the title.

"For me it’s all about the company.

"For the company it’s great.

"That’s two years in a row that we’ve won it," Mr Shand said.

Many hours of work went into keeping the truck to a high standard.

"Probably spent about 20 hours on it over the week."

His family worked together to get the truck ready.

"Come Friday night you’re just about there."

This was his first time winning the title.

"It’s always something that you want to achieve.

"I was quite excited and quite surprised.

"These days there’s a lot of tidy looking gear that turns up to truck shows.

"Guys put a lot of pride in their trucks to get them ready."

The standard of the competition this year had been "high" and people had worked hard to get ready, he said.

"At the end of the day it pays you for the hard work you’ve and everybody else has put in.

"It’s all about hard work.

"If you put the time in you’ll be rewarded for it, just like it is with anything."

He commended the Gore community for showing up and supporting the show.

"Even with a little bit of rain on Saturday it was still good to see so many people out on the street supporting everybody."

Freight Haulage would enter again next year, he said.

ben.andrews@theensign.co.nz