Waikaraka Park's first meeting was the 'Season Opener plus Fireworks' and luckily for me I left home early to get to the track forgetting I'm only five mins away now that I have moved to Onehunga but it turned out to be a wise decision, by the time I had strolled through the pits there was a huge line of people waiting to get in, not helped by the Eftpos playing up. The FanVan was closed and with no sign of a programme anywhere I was beginning to think this is an ominous start... the FanVan woman told us 'the programmes are in the building we just can't find them!" as she opened up the shop. They did appear and while people were waiting she asked what sort of items do you want in the FanVan (I was tempted to say "Programmes would be a good start" but bit my tongue), she handled a potentially embarrassing moment with good humour and at least was showing a bit of interest in what people want.
In previous years the opening meeting is usually a bit of a fizzer, most interest is in seeing the new cars and just getting back into speedway after the winter months. Numbers are usually low and this year was no exception, although the Stockcars who usually hold the show together numbered only 12 which was a surpise. The Park has a new sound system and you noticed it immediately upon sitting down in the grandstand, you could actually hear what they were saying! This is a HUGE improvement and an integral part of presenting a meeting. A couple of times the commentators mentioned sponsoring cars (particularly Rose Halfpenny who had just won a race) and this was great. The infield was not quite ready but looked a whole heap better without the 'bullring' and the place generally looked a bit tidier even though there were obvious teething problems. Whatever has been happening off the track pre-season I imagine it hasn't been easy to get this show up and running but one thing was sure, the heavy radio advertising had worked as the place filled up to bursting.
I wont go into much detail about the racing as I'm sure there will be a full review on the Waikaraka website but any concerns about low numbers in the stockcars were forgotten the moment CJ Chestnutt (14a) hit the track, he was out to cause mayhem and the crowd loved it. The only two visiting cars (yes only two non Auckland cars appeared) were in this class (13k and 61h) which is a bit of a worry. Going by the cheers from the crowd the streetstocks also gave the crowd what they wanted and Jamie Fox in the Modifieds easily won all three heats with a brilliant display. Six Superstocks turned up which was a little light as I had hoped a few Huntly ones would flesh out the field but things got worse as Gary Ellis 11a lasted one lap in the warm up and Paul Vasey 351a retired to the infield with more gremlins, this left 4 cars for the nights racing. Undaunted, they organised a 'championship runoff' which produced more hits than a usual whole nights Superstock racing. Aaron Headington 16a triumphed over 414a Warwick Ansty in the final race. The crowd seemed to like it and it was a better option than just letting four cars do hotlaps. The 414a car could almost be described as having Bling! The car was looking great and was running well too. If the numbers increase in this class even by just 3 or 4 cars (which it should) they will be on to a winner. The Saloons had fairly good numbers with even racing but only two Supersaloons were in attendance.
The Fireworks display was great (better than last years disaster) and lets face it the majority of the crowd were probably here for that but when the display had finished there wasn't the usual mad rush to leave which hopefully means the crowd were enjoying the racing and stayed on for the final round of feature races. Going by the comments on Macgors discussion board (Waikaraka Huge Success!) you would think it was an amazing meeting but I felt it was fairly average but well run and a good start to build on. In fact reading some of the comments has got me wondering if I missed something? If the NZ Stockcar title does drag in the '180 cars' the commentators mentioned and the action is anything like past years then these same people better hope they are selling Adult diapers at the FanVan because they 'ain't seen nuthin' yet' and I really mean that! That can be my suggestion to the woman at the FanVan who was asking for ideas on what to sell!
One major criticism that appears to have been missed that I have to point out was that during the fireworks display the Moon was badly positioned and affected my view of the fireworks and if the promotion could just sort that out for next season... okay, I know, there's only so much the organisers can do but there is always going to be a few moaners and groaners and so long as the team at WP get on with what's really important and that is to present big fields of action packed exciting racing then they cant go wrong and crowds like the one that turned up on Saturday will be the norm.
So that was the first meeting and it must have been a boomer for the Promotion's bank balance which is great, followed by a practice next week that they are charging for and then a Demo Derby which always brings in a huge crowd, the finances should be looking healthy to say the least. As always, I believe it's going to be competitor numbers ON the track that will be the real gauge of success this season and making the drivers want to appear at WP rather than somewhere else or not appearing at all, is the key. Lets not forget that they are the core product and the real reason we want to be at a speedway meeting.
Meeting rating : 5/10
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