King of the Park

Late Saturday afternoon and luckily I checked the WP website and realised the meeting started earlier than usual at 6pm. Arriving a bit late, a quick check of the pits revealed a large turnout for the final meeting of the season. In fact there were quite a few visiting cars from as far a field as Gisborne and Meeanee. Also a few new cars in the pits, early purchases for next season getting a last chance run.

The crowd size was better than expected and I wonder if the high profile speedway has had this past week piqued the interest of a few punters who wanted to check out WP? Well if that was the case, Waikaraka Park turned on one of it's best meetings in ages. I'm one of the many people who seem to take every opportunity to point out every little thing that's wrong with the place, so get ready for a review full of praise... it's only fair.

I dont know what happened on Saturday night, (I'm still a bit dazed and confused) but apart from a small understandable delay to the start of the meeting because the ambulance was late, there wasn't a single holdup for the rest of the night. Every class has decent numbers beginning with 22 ministocks who not unlike the ministocks last week at Rotorua, were determined to go out with a bang. The Saloons were a little light on numbers but the combination of 9a Steve Louden, 12a Nevano Cowan and 58a Gavin Hinsley provided plenty of thrills with Hinsley taking out the final heat and title.





The stockcars were amazing. Boosted by visiting cars 37g, 49b, 78m & 137k the action started from the first corner of the first heat as Paul Vasey driving 93a was rolled. Now this is where one of the innovations of the night was played out, instead of 93a being towed off he was put back on his wheels and allowed to restart. This happened throughout the night to any car that caused a red light and what a difference it made. Immediately the car that had been rolled or put up the wall had the opportunity for revenge! This was an inspired move, and should be done on any club night or night like this if the drivers agree to it. Although the King of the Park title was up for grabs, a number of drivers were only out there to cause trouble, which we love. 137k Paully Rawiri performed his usual antics and probably was the stirrer of the night, he gave a great interview about his driving style too. The hits in every heat were full on and sometimes you didn't know where to look so much was happening. 45a Daniel Knight was another who seemed to be constantly in the action along with Carlos Chestnutt in the 14a.

The Modifieds capped off a successful season with three heats of superb racing with Jamie Fox and Scott Lane absolutely flying. Fox claimed the title with a brilliant performance, he was just awesome to watch. With the Mods holding the NZ Title here next season this class will only get better and better. The programme listed the title dates as January 1 + 2, 2007 so another quiet New Years eve for these guys! Streetstocks have been a bit average this season but not tonight. Finally a bit of biffo and 45a Bill Peat was paid the ultimate compliment when he decided not to run but stir and had a group of cars queued up behind him unwilling to pass. 89a Shane Waldon took out the title.

Superstocks had a field of 11 cars, not big numbers at other tracks but for WP it was large and also a fairly even group too. 11a Gary Ellis had the car really firing in the first heat for the win but it was 99a Mark Decke who won the other two races and the title with ease in a car that is for sale. Supersaloons also provided some tight racing between 11m and 3nz and a spectacular crash for 16a John Parlato in the last race with 3nz Lance Jennings taking the title.

Summary

The sound system functioned (at last!) and the combination of Mike Howe and Aaron Drever's commentary worked well. They managed to get some comments from the drivers, give out results and even the infield mic was working. The most notable thing for me about the whole night was the lack of delays. In between races they had a novelty ramp jump thing happening but instead of the usual mucking around, the next class was being assembled ready to race immediately afterwards... this is exactly how it should be done. A great meeting with plenty of action, and most importantly a professionally run, entertaining night. This is how Waikaraka Park should present it's show every week, it proves that the combination of decent fields + good organisation = happy punters. Hopefully there were a few new spectators who would have been well satisfied...

Kings of the Park
Superstocks: 99a Mark Decke
Stockcars: 34a Mark Wearing
Modifieds: 11a Jamie Fox
Supersaloons: 3nz Lance Jennings
Streetstocks: 89a Shane Waldon
Saloons: 58a Gavin Hinsley

Meeting Rating : 6.5/10