Fieldays tractor pull
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The biggest tractor pulling event in New Zealand is in its third year
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The Fieldays Tractor Pull is in its third year now
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The Fieldays® Tractor Pull site is now in its third year, so can hardly be called new. The location and layout is far superior compared to previous years, but last year's conditions in the wet proved challenging, to say the least. There have been some improvements to the track, but some support from the weather gods wouldn't go astray. A tall ask for a mid-June tractor pull perhaps, stringing four fine days in a row, but here's hoping.
Helping out this year will be a laser level system on an HWE scoop that will try and keep some of the deep holes and waves away. It will be interesting to see how that goes for us.
The basic programme of the New Zealand Agricultural Fieldays® Tractor Pull finals remains largely unchanged for 2017, with the concept of two competition formats running side by side.
The Weight Adjusted competition features sledges loaded in accordance to the horsepower of the tractor, pulling the sledge while racing a tractor on another lane over a 100m track.
The Weight Transfer part of the competition has been a feature of the centre track for 10 years and involves a tractor pulling a sledge that progressively gets harder to pull, as weight is 'transferred' from wheels to the sledges front and back. The winner of this competition is the one who pulls the transfer sledge the furthest. These entrants are categorised into five groups according to the entrants' tractors static weight: 0–6 tonnes, 6–8 tonnes, 8–10 tonnes, 10–12 tonnes, and 12–15 tonnes.
A new dynamic that has been added this year for all standard tractor weight classes is a finals for pre-qualified competitors each afternoon. These pre-qualified competitors in each weight class were determined over the last 11 months at various Central Tractor Pull events around Waikato, with a points table tracking their progress.
The top three in each class qualify for the final. These competitors will be met by three qualifiers from the Fieldays competition that day. So six tractors from each weight class will meet in the afternoon; three from Central Tractor Pull and three from Fieldays.
Added to the standard tractors that compete, there are also modified tractors, agricultural trucks, and classic tractors (born before 1985). These run at various times throughout the week but fit into the programme at 10:30am, 12:30pm, and 2:30pm on the centre tracks weight transfer sledge.
This is an area of the Fieldays Tractor Pull competition that has grown significantly over the last five years, and now is a major part of the event, with more time being allocated to running all the competitors through and dedicated days for each of the categories (modified tractors, pre 85 tractors and Ag trucks) to run their finals.
Also, don't miss the Rural Bachelors round as the young guns showcase their skills in front of the crowd and the finals of the kids' tractor pull also run on the track. This was a first last year, was hugely successful and fantastic to watch.
There is still time to get a quick entry in and join the fun at the biggest tractor pulling event in New Zealand – the New Zealand Agricultural Fieldays finals. See you there.
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