I have never been to the Kihikihi track before and for some strange reason have always had an impression of it as being a sort of 'Rangeview' type of track. How wrong I was! An impressive set up and not unlike Rotorua in that the track sits in a natural sort of ampitheatre with a high bank at one end. No seating, but masses of room and free access to the pits which was great. Not a bad drive down from Auckland either and the little "Speedway, this way" signs from Te Awamutu were a simple but great guide for anyone like myself who had never been this way before. One hint I will give is don't stand by the fence on turn 1, as by the end of the race you will resemble a Chokito bar. There was alot of track surface sent flying our way!
A big field of about 95 cars had turned up split into 5 groups with a noticeable lack of Palmerston North and Gisborne entrants and a few late withdrawals but still a great field anyway. I dont need to go into great details as the excellent Kihikihi website will no doubt have all the facts and figures so here a just a few random thoughts from the meeting.
The amount of action in the first round of heats was a bit of a surprise in what usually is only a flag race and points grab at most championships. One of the highlights was the Rose Halfpenny v Mike Hohneck battle that resulted in a win for 74r but huge respect for 117a with her never say die attempt to win the heat and give out some punishment! The flawless performances of both 109h Jason Brown and 58m Graham McRobbie who both look strong contenders qualifying easily for todays finals. Also the quality of some of the machinery is awesome. I dont get to see many of the Wellington cars often but the presentation is superb. Also the 517s of Mark Woods would have to be the best looking car I've seen this season. The dominance of the Rotorua cars in qualifying which is something we see quite often but will it follow through to results in the finals? Its good to see a few different cars qualify like 78b Powell, 64a Chestnutt and 484s Barker which will add a new element into the finals.
Unfortunately for me I will have to check Macgors for results as I can't make the meeting today but for my first visit to KK I came away well satisfied and will be making the trip down again in future.
Meeting Rating : 7/10
Blue Group
109h Jason Brown
36r Mike Ranger
1nz Gerry Linklater
29a Steve Gavin
517s Mark Woods
95a Gary Lonergan
Green Group
226s Blair Luscombe
2nz Keith Spanhake
64a Martin Chestnutt
28w Rhys Greig
48m Scott Gallop
78b Andrew Powell
Yellow Group
3nz Steve Axtens
18v Tony James
72s Bevan Phillips
74r Mike Hohneck
117a Rose Halfpenny
484s Haydin Barker
Orange Group
58M Graham McRobbie
168a Billy Neil
81r Damian Orr
89r Paul Mabey
84r Greg Viles
92m Scott Hayward
Purple Group
22w Richard Gaskin
89w Dale Robertson
86r Richard Keijzer
16r Clive Pritchard
81a Rod Smythe
510s Jay Knight
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