Auckland Teams Night 1

Here's a quick rundown of what I thought happened, pretty good racing but I think once again Palmerston North are going to be hard to beat. They are machine-like in there performances, absolutely awesome to watch.

Waikato Wanderers v Nelson Tigers

It only took until turn 3 of the very first lap for probably the biggest hit of the night. 114h Bryce Steiner and 86n fired into the wall with Steiner going up and over the top into the fencing in a massive hit that took both cars out and brought on the red lights for repairs to the fence. The two runners were 85h and 85n and it looked like Waikato had this one in the bag until 82n held up the tank enough for 85n to take the win. Nelson Win, 85n, 85h

Auckland Allstars v Stratford Scrappers

The action for this one started in the hotlaps with 34s Moseley taking out 4a Vazey before the race even started and generally making a nuisance of himself for the rest of the Auckland cars trying to do warm up laps, great gamesmanship if thats what it was. Unfortunately 34s became the reserve for both Stratford heats so we never got to see if anything developed from the hotlaps niggle. Fairly even race with 4a leading 818s but not realising he was a lap down and 6a couldn't close the gap from 2nd. 7a Whittaker's lunge at 686s in front of the clubrooms failed and resulted in a rollover and then 5a Ansty's car expired, the Allstars hopes of a title shattered at the first step. Stratford win, 818s, 6a, 4a

Hawkes Bay Hawkeyes v Palmerston North Panthers

An unusual sight at the end of the hot laps with 8 of the 10 cars needing the 3 minute bell! 8p Miers and 35b Foley sat this one out as reserves. A big pile up in the first corner sent 9p Penn up the wall and left him perched there. 31b spun while leading giving the lead to Palmy. Red lights brought on just as Bengsten about to push Penn off the wall. Hemi takes over the running while 5p Rees sends 31b into the wall in a huge hit that causes Rees car to ignite bringing on the red lights again. 33b Long and Bengsten are locked together on infield while Rees manages to hold up the 3 remaining HB cars, awesome stuff as Hemi takes the win for the 3 car team. Palmerston win, 6p, 31b

Rotorua Rebels v Kihikihi Kings

Remnant and Mytton running for KK with 52r Herbert doing the running for Rotorua. Problems for 22r Stove out early and 138r Barry Hunter jnr with heavily smoking car take the heart out of the Rebels effort. Dave Baker and Brad Ridland take care of the Rebels cars leaving an easy run for 28k + 29k. Only 44r Redinger manages to get some good hits in for the Rebels mostly on Remnant. Kings win, 28k, 29k, 52r

Waikato Wanderers v Auckland Allstars

The 114h Steiner car missing and 6a Headington reserve for this one. 4a takes the early lead but 85h and 96h both running for Waikato, 7a Whittaker again up the wall and damages front right effectively taking himself out of the race. Dave Roigard blocks Ansty for most of race and 23h Ashton has one of his best races in ages taking out the lead car of Vazey, leaving a 1-2-3 finish for the Wanderers in a great performance. Waikato win, 85h, 96h, 23h

Nelson Tigers v Stratford Scrappers

Only four Nelson cars front and again 34s the reserve for Stratford. The exciting prospect of the Bolton brothers on opposing teams for this race. Nelson in trouble immediately with 86n out on the infield early on but 85n takes the runner role as does 818s for Stratford. Heaps of action in this race and 83n Bolton manages to take out 82s and give his bro a good hit and spin too. I thought 818s had done enough to win this one but the flag came out for 85n and Nelson got the win and a place in the final. Nelson win, 85n, 818s, 84n

Hawkes Bay Hawkeyes v Rotorua Rebels

Reserves for this one were 32b and 22r. From the drop of the flag 31b is put up the wall by two Rebels but the end result is 138r stuck on the start finish line for the whole race unable to restart. 35b Foley and 52r Herbert are the runners but with 551r slowing to a stop on turn 4 its now four cars on two and a fairly easy win for Hawkes Bay although 44r Redinger never gives up. Good blocking from O'Dwyer stops Herbert's chances. Hawkeyes win, 33b, 35b

Kihikihi Kings v Palmerston North Panthers

The reserves for this were Ridland and Bengsten. Deja vu for Penn as he is immediately sent up the wall at the start by Remnant but does manage to get down this time. Rees takes out 28k Mytton who was running for KK while Hemi once again does the runner role for Palmy. The damage to the Kings cars in the first few laps mean this is a fairly easy win for the Panthers with Hemi and Miers both managing to come through unscathed. Three Kings cars tried to take out Rees all at once which backfired although once again Dave Baker put in an amazing blocking effort with major damage to the car. Panthers win, 6p, 8p

So that was the qualifying night, great teams racing as usual. The support programme was a bit of a let down with only 11 streetstocks fronting and 40 Ministocks split in to two groups of 20 for double your ministock viewing pleasure... also 6 Sidecars racing for the Auckland City of Sails title. A fairly big crowd with the promise of some great finals racing tomorrow night, the draw looking something like this:

For 7th and 8th Auckland v Rotorua
For 5th and 6th Waikato v Hawkes Bay
For 3rd and 4th Stratford v Kihikihi
Final for 1st and 2nd Nelson v Palmerston North

Meeting rating : 7/10