Just getting to this meeting was reward enough for me after a few weeks of injury stopping me from doing anything but with the help of prescribed drugs (including Morphine yee har!) nothing was going to stop me going!
It's at this point I'd just like to say to anyone I ran into including Wal86 (StockCarScene) and Yaz (NZ Stockcar Crazy) that I was heavily medicated so if I rambled or didn't make sense that's my excuse! It was great to catch up with you guys at last and put faces to names.
Anyway on to the meeting, 140+ cars were entered and the thought of an entire weekend of stockcars with a few superstock races thrown in on the finals night was just what the doctor ordered. We arrived fairly early on Friday night after a slow drive down to Napier (staying at the Shoreline Motel on Marine Parade - excellent!) only to find my 'pet hate'... the "Blanket People" had struck! Now I try to always write pretty positive stuff but these people really pee me off, HUGE blankets with one person or sometimes no one at all sitting on them reserving seats for 20+ people who wont arrive until after 6pm really sucks. If we can take a day off work, drive from Auckland to Napier and reach the gates at 4.15pm and then have trouble finding a decent seat of course I'm gonna be mad. Anyway I think something has to be done about this before too long because if you have a favourite seat or a group of you are going to meet up then get off your butts and get down there early like the rest of us do.
Qualifying Night
With only 4 cars going through from each heat I thought it would be all out carnage after the first round of heats but surprisingly some of the heats were a bit tame including green group's third heat which was like a flag race with barely any contact and one of the very few low points of the weekend. Hits did come though and the stars of the night for me were 68b Tony Darroch who destroyed his car, 37b Paul Demanser and 9g Steve O'Dwyer who turned mongrel after his chances of qualifying had been ended. In fact there was a few races where there was so much action going on including multiple red lights (that bloody siren sound) and roll overs that you'd have to be a hard nut not to have enjoyed the spectacle. The programme ran smoothly although the points updates where non existant and this is a major low point for me.
Instead of constantly hearing "Crank it up Sonny" and some old porn slapper thanking "Brent Boddy cars for the hot new pace ute with 17" mags and lowering kit oh yeah baby eat some Gala Catering hot dogs mmmm" WE WANTED POINTS UPDATES!!! I don't care if they are official or not, I want to know who the top six are going into the final heat at least and also during a break when both 1NZ and 97p where being removed from the track we got jokes instead of the importance of what had just happened, two of the major players removed from the championship. As the pits was closed to the public we left on the first night only having our own feeble attempts at who might be in the finals? Isnt it typical that at a track that had an excellent sound system, the commentary team had nothing to say!
1nz Dale Robertson's reign was over pretty quickly actually and it was disappointing to see him struggling all night, it was as though all his bad luck for the season hit on night one. Other favourites to suffer and not qualify were 8m Scott Fredrickson who must be one of the most targeted drivers you'll ever see and 97p Graeme Ward who was off the pace all night with various problems. 14r Steve Axtens and 19r Lance Aldridge the TAB favourite both taken out early on aswell. It was good to see a few unexpected drivers qualify like 49b Mark Jones who had some major support in the crowd and the five Straford drivers who really did their club proud.
We left the track well satisfied with what we had seen and thirsty for more carnage on night two.
Finals Night
A much better performance all round with the points updates and a few insides as to what was happening including tell us who was coming where in the points during red light stoppages - this was a much better option than music or husky voice overs but overall Im going to say that the commentary was below par for a meeting of this stature.
The Blanket People were out in force but we managed to get seats in the top row along from turn two so I was able to lean against the back board of the stand only slightly medicated and quite comfortable. I'd hate to think how many people squashed into the stadium but it was definitely a full house!
The actual three heats for the NZ title were great and once we saw who the finalists were (parked on the infield) it was obvious to me that a Palmy car or a Rotorua car would take the title. The Rotorua challenge faltered and it was the Stratford drivers who became a real chance by heat three, but I still didn't think Peter Rees would get the title as I was sure he would be a marked man. Ivan King 48r almost took him out in heat three but you have to hand it to the 11p that he can take the hits and was deserving of the title. We thought 19p Kerry Humphrey had won it and I probably think alot of the drivers did too as 11p seem almost oblivious to the fact he had just won.
19p Humphrey gets my driver of the weekend award. What an amazing achievement to be 3nz after moving up from the ministocks only a few seasons ago and had a tyre not chosen the worst time to give up he would easily have won the run off with 22w Richard Gaskin for the 2nz position. He was humble and gracious and his well presented car was a credit to the man and his club. He is a future 1nz for sure.
The consolation races were great although the attrition rate was high and perhaps a few of the groups could have been combined later on but a special mention to 44c Peter Ross in an immaculately presented car that came so close to qualifying on night one and showed his class taking out two of his three consolation races on night two. It's a great sign for the class that both of the entries from the South Island were competitive, well presented and worthy of being there. 1nz and 86b also took to each other in every race they were in and 37g Ricky Kuru had the best rollover of the weekend in my opinion and there were plenty of those. Generally the entire night was a credit to the drivers and the Hawkes Bay club.
...and finally some good stuff
A few things I'd like to mention that I thought were excellent, the opportunity to go on the infield and take photos of the cars and have a good close up look at them before the meeting. This was the first time I've ever gone on the infield at any track and once the cars fired up to head back to the pits the atmosphere was amazing, a perfect start to the weekend.
The signing session for the kids on Saturday was also a great idea and well done to the club for encouraging the drivers to be more proactive with the crowd.
The food choices at Meeanee are far and away the best of any meeting I've been to (outside Palmy of course) and even included Subway!
The programme was well put together and as a point of interest had an article on the woman drivers competing, Lisa Black, Rose Halfpenny, Kelly Layton and Donna Carter. 93a Kelly Layton and 117a Rose Halfpenny qualified for the Clay Classic.
The seating was great and the general feel of the Meeanee track is always excellent. The last meeting I attended there was Murray Hobbs winning the NZ Superstock title a few years ago and once again that was a fantastic meeting to attend.
If Billy Neill ever decides to leave stockcars he could show the clowns a thing or two, his quad bike performance was spectacular to say the least! Go Billy!
My best presented car award goes to 11r Kayton Beazley.
All in all then a great visit to Napier and a special occasion witnessing Pete Rees taking the 1nz title for the second time, and the first person to do it in Stockcars since the class was officially recognised. The quality and depth of stockcars in Palmerston North is frightening and it's hard to see any one else winning a title when you have the majority of drivers in a final carrying a 'p' on their cars.
Meeting Rating : 8/10
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