L & R Kuru Limited North Island Stockcar Championship
115 cars turned up for the North Island stockcar championship which basically used to be a full blown rehearsal for the NZ event before the class exploded in the South Island. It was a surprise to see only 3 Auckland cars entered and very few from Huntly but I guess with the New Zealand title in Wellington in two weeks and the current economy perhaps drivers are having to be a bit more selective in the events they want to attend. That being said, the pits was still bursting at the seams and Napier had turned on a scorcher of a day which would impact on the track a bit later in the night.
Qualifying was fairly tame in my opinion, apart from a few local drivers who went for the big hits (some worked, some were spectacular failures!) and a few rollovers including main sponsor 37b Ricky Kuru, 85g David Warner in a massive barrel roll, the main casualties were defending champ 89w Dale Robertson, 97p Graeme Ward and 2nz Gerry Linklater all failing to qualify. There were a few surprises too with 88g Ian Barron, 36b Brendon Zachan, 39r Douglas Stanaway and 557p Darrell Wallace all making it through. The locals in fact managed to get the most cars qualifying with 6 drivers including Kuru, Jones, Barry, Zachan, O'Brien and McLachlan. The meeting went fairly well except for a track that appeared to dry out and crackon the turns, an unavoidable delay that was a result of a wild ride up and along the wall for 34p Rob Mason which damaged the fence causing a 40 minute delay, but my only real gripe was with the commentary. The sound system was great but the complete and utter lack of points up until the third heats in each group and then only the top six mentioned was not good enough. The huge delay for the fence was the perfect opportunity to go through the groups and give out points but the music just kept on pumping... anyway the meeting ran long including a 3 way runoff for the final postion going to 49b Mark Jones. Back to the hotel at 12:15am!
Finals Night
The weather did a complete turnaround during the day and there was a real chance of rain. The support programme included Kiwilites, Superstocks and consolation Stockcar races. 64b Beatle Tarrant was by far the most entertaining driver of the weekend and it was a pity he was not in the finals. Heat 1 was taken out by Peter Rees from 557p Wallace and 3nz Gaskin in a fast flag race. Heat 2 was looking like another Rees runaway as he punted drivers out of the way at will in an amazing display of stockcar driving, that is until he punted 88g Ian Barron who took exception chased him down and repaid the favour with interest in the pit bend. 3nz Gaskin took the win from 92p Lloyd and Rees recovered for third. This meant going into the final Rees was on 50pts with Lloyd and Gaskin on 49pts each and 14m Keatinge on 42pts. Heat 3 had everything you want in a final with action everywhere and during the red light stoppages we were given the current points situation which looked as though 92p Lloyd was headed for a win. As any stockcar fan knows though, until you get that flag anything can happen. Rees had been delayed by several 'brave' Bay drivers including 84b and 49b but it was one pivotal moment when 52b O'Brien sent Rees spinning across the track in front of the leading pack which blocked Lloyd giving Gaskin the gap to pass him and effectively take the victory by a point on the last lap. A Keith Spanhake win cost 8m Scott Fredrikson in second the point he needed for a clear third place leaving him in a runoff which 11p Rees won.
3nz Richard Gaskin 71
92p Brett Lloyd 70
11p Peter Rees 64
8m Scott Fredrickson 64
48r Ivan King 60
14m Graham Keatinge 59
37b Ricky Kuru 56
72s Bevan Phillips 56
67w Kane Hargreaves 52
68r Keith Spanhake 45
39r Douglas Stanaway 41
557p Darrel Wallace 36
1nz Allan McRobbie 34
5k Brad Ridland 33
62v Francis Potaka 29
7r Graham McRobbie 27
99w Tony McLaughlin 22
52b Regan O'Brien 21
84b Mike McLachlan 21
6w Paul Gaskin 19
18g Sam Hughes 18
56r Kevin Henry 18
36b Brendon Zachan 14
71b Peter Barry 11
88g Ian Barron 9
49b Mark Jones 0
The rain did arrive mid meeting giving the track (and crowd) a good watering that required some major wheel packing but still wasn't enough to ruin a great meeting. I'm really pleased we made the last minute decision to drive down from Auckland although now it has made the thought of missing the NZ title even worse! 3NZ Richard Gaskin once again on the podium, what a fantastic record the Gaskin-Robertson clan can boast with 7 podium finishes in the 9 times this event has been run including 4 firsts. They must go into the New Zealand title at their home track with massive confidence and so they should. What a meeting that will be.
Meeting rating : 8/10
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