Auckland Superstocks

My 200th posting on this website! May not seem like much but in the world of blogs it's like 10 years worth. This posting was going to be a midweek one but after arriving at WP for the Wednesday night meeting and wisely looking through the gates into the pits to check numbers I didn't part with my $15 and for the first time ever, got back in the car and drove home. Sounds like there was some action but mostly in the pits and clubrooms! Anyway take two was last night for the Auckland Superstock title, the Streetstock World 290's and the North Island Solos which is a fairly good line up for the increased $20 entry, the meeting also included a Mad Butcher Demo Derby which meant a huge crowd so hopefully the club made up for the losses they must have incurred with Wednesday's shiteous effort.

The Solo bikes were already having their qualifying heats when I arrived which was a good move because I'll be the first to admit they are not my cup of tea and endless bike racing would have been a downer so what we did get was three rounds of racing on the new track on the infield and a fairly close final that Jason Bunyon won over Stuart Robson and Andrew Bargh who took third. One thing I did notice was that with the way the races were started (a guy holding an elastic cord thing that he let go) the guy on pole was at a disadvantage because he basically had to look right to watch as opposed to the other riders who probably could see in their peripheral vision) anyway the racing was better than I had expected.

The Streetstocks managed a great field of 19 cars including visitors from Wellington, Kihikihi, Rotorua, Stratford and Gisborne - good stuff. The 'black cars' from Stratford certainly made themselves known with some great stirring and indeed the 88s of Brett Barron took the title from local hope 45a Bill Peat and one of the two excellent Gisborne drivers 71g Frank Hartley. 51r Chris Gerrand took the stirrer award.

The Auckland Superstock title had 18 entrants and I have to say that the racing was top notch. Two fast but fairly tame heats were followed up by a third heat so full of action that it's been a long time since I can remember the Superstocks turning it on like this at WP. 87r Pat Westbury managed to go pretty much unnoticed unlike 515r Stan Hickey and 135r Scott Hewson who battled for every point to gain their podium positions in a Rotorua clean sweep. 38r Ross Ashby in the tank and 351a Paul Vasey both had major problems in the opening heat and were out for the rest of the night.

The rest of the meeting ran pretty smoothly, the jalopy races were appalling but I guess a huge chunk of the crowd were there to see their mates drive them so you have to cater to the crowd, and the crowd were really in to it which is the irony I guess. Superstocks turn on a real pearler of a race and get some muted clapping and then some beat up old demo cars have a non contact jalopy race and raise the roof. Anyway good comeback for Waikaraka after an interesting week but some of the gloss may have come off Saturdays meeting when I read today that the Auckland Allstars are not taking part in the Palmy Superstock Teams in two weeks... can I say disappointed!! I guess we will have to get out our Union Jack t-shirts and cheer for the Brits, wont be the same though.

Meeting rating : 6.5/10

World 240's Weekend

NZ Welding School World 240's, Rotorua

Well now that the dust has settled, it appears unanimous in almost every review and posting that this meeting was a major success. The biggest winner of course was Frankie Wainman Jnr doing what everyone knows he is capable of, except normally it's a given that someone will take him out in heat three of any championship which is what makes this win pretty special. I particularly liked his post race comments to Barry Brown when he said that so many people told him the car was too weak to win "but the car didn't bloody stop!" crossing the finish line one point ahead of an impressive 87r Pat Westbury and a further point back to 1nz Malcolm Ngatai.

No need for a review then as both Percy and the Rotorua website have excellent write ups on all the action and results. I think it was only last week there was a posting on Macgors about "The end of Superstocks..." but you only have to go to a meeting like this to realise how amazing the class is and the incredible wealth of talent involved. The World 240's continues to be one of the highlights of the speedway calendar. I do wonder how very different this meeting would have been with Hemi, Redfern or Wade in attendance or indeed with Rees or any combination of Hunter's in the finals but one thing is sure, we wont have to wonder about Rees as he has booked his place in the finals for next year already by virtue of winning the second tier championship...

The only possible negative from the weekend were the injuries sustained in the Steve Hampton/Roydon Collingwood crash. I saw the initial impact as we were in turn three but completely missed the drama (as we focussed on the 66r) as the 94p continued on and having seen the You Tube footage I am amazed and thankful that nobody else was injured. Scary stuff indeed BUT not as scary as the other incident that has not had much coverage and that was the group of UK supporters that were encouraged to come and be photographed at the turn three fence. Never have I seen such pasty skin and white legs, almost blinding us if not for our trusty BluBlockers. It was hard enough clapping for FWJ when he won - we shouldn't have to endure the Brits in summer apparel!

Also a special mention about the printed programme which was light years better than the one from Napier last week and well worth the $5. The commentary team was a perfect mix of info and entertainment and MOST IMPORTANTLY gave points updates, pit updates and interviews that you could hear. Paradise Valley was really humming and I think half the art of putting on a really great meeting is getting the right people doing the right jobs, something the Rotorua club seem to do effortlessly.

Meeting rating : 8.5/10

2009 North Island Stockcars, Meeanee

L & R Kuru Limited North Island Stockcar Championship







115 cars turned up for the North Island stockcar championship which basically used to be a full blown rehearsal for the NZ event before the class exploded in the South Island. It was a surprise to see only 3 Auckland cars entered and very few from Huntly but I guess with the New Zealand title in Wellington in two weeks and the current economy perhaps drivers are having to be a bit more selective in the events they want to attend. That being said, the pits was still bursting at the seams and Napier had turned on a scorcher of a day which would impact on the track a bit later in the night.

Qualifying was fairly tame in my opinion, apart from a few local drivers who went for the big hits (some worked, some were spectacular failures!) and a few rollovers including main sponsor 37b Ricky Kuru, 85g David Warner in a massive barrel roll, the main casualties were defending champ 89w Dale Robertson, 97p Graeme Ward and 2nz Gerry Linklater all failing to qualify. There were a few surprises too with 88g Ian Barron, 36b Brendon Zachan, 39r Douglas Stanaway and 557p Darrell Wallace all making it through. The locals in fact managed to get the most cars qualifying with 6 drivers including Kuru, Jones, Barry, Zachan, O'Brien and McLachlan. The meeting went fairly well except for a track that appeared to dry out and crackon the turns, an unavoidable delay that was a result of a wild ride up and along the wall for 34p Rob Mason which damaged the fence causing a 40 minute delay, but my only real gripe was with the commentary. The sound system was great but the complete and utter lack of points up until the third heats in each group and then only the top six mentioned was not good enough. The huge delay for the fence was the perfect opportunity to go through the groups and give out points but the music just kept on pumping... anyway the meeting ran long including a 3 way runoff for the final postion going to 49b Mark Jones. Back to the hotel at 12:15am!

Finals Night
The weather did a complete turnaround during the day and there was a real chance of rain. The support programme included Kiwilites, Superstocks and consolation Stockcar races. 64b Beatle Tarrant was by far the most entertaining driver of the weekend and it was a pity he was not in the finals. Heat 1 was taken out by Peter Rees from 557p Wallace and 3nz Gaskin in a fast flag race. Heat 2 was looking like another Rees runaway as he punted drivers out of the way at will in an amazing display of stockcar driving, that is until he punted 88g Ian Barron who took exception chased him down and repaid the favour with interest in the pit bend. 3nz Gaskin took the win from 92p Lloyd and Rees recovered for third. This meant going into the final Rees was on 50pts with Lloyd and Gaskin on 49pts each and 14m Keatinge on 42pts. Heat 3 had everything you want in a final with action everywhere and during the red light stoppages we were given the current points situation which looked as though 92p Lloyd was headed for a win. As any stockcar fan knows though, until you get that flag anything can happen. Rees had been delayed by several 'brave' Bay drivers including 84b and 49b but it was one pivotal moment when 52b O'Brien sent Rees spinning across the track in front of the leading pack which blocked Lloyd giving Gaskin the gap to pass him and effectively take the victory by a point on the last lap. A Keith Spanhake win cost 8m Scott Fredrikson in second the point he needed for a clear third place leaving him in a runoff which 11p Rees won.

3nz Richard Gaskin 71
92p Brett Lloyd 70
11p Peter Rees 64
8m Scott Fredrickson 64
48r Ivan King 60
14m Graham Keatinge 59
37b Ricky Kuru 56
72s Bevan Phillips 56
67w Kane Hargreaves 52
68r Keith Spanhake 45
39r Douglas Stanaway 41
557p Darrel Wallace 36
1nz Allan McRobbie 34
5k Brad Ridland 33
62v Francis Potaka 29
7r Graham McRobbie 27
99w Tony McLaughlin 22
52b Regan O'Brien 21
84b Mike McLachlan 21
6w Paul Gaskin 19
18g Sam Hughes 18
56r Kevin Henry 18
36b Brendon Zachan 14
71b Peter Barry 11
88g Ian Barron 9
49b Mark Jones 0

The rain did arrive mid meeting giving the track (and crowd) a good watering that required some major wheel packing but still wasn't enough to ruin a great meeting. I'm really pleased we made the last minute decision to drive down from Auckland although now it has made the thought of missing the NZ title even worse! 3NZ Richard Gaskin once again on the podium, what a fantastic record the Gaskin-Robertson clan can boast with 7 podium finishes in the 9 times this event has been run including 4 firsts. They must go into the New Zealand title at their home track with massive confidence and so they should. What a meeting that will be.

Meeting rating : 8/10

North Island Stockcars top five

Just got back from Napier after an excellent weekend taking in the North Island Stockcar championship. Took heaps of photos and will upload some in the next day or two, but in the meantime here are the winners...