I had planned to go to Waikaraka Park for the Modified racing on Saturday but with WP pulling the pin early, I headed down to Huntly for night two of the Stockcar teams action. Again the weather had looked threatening but fortunately Huntly avoided the hassle of a rainout and what followed was an awesome night of Stockcar teams action. I enjoyed the Golden Oldies but was not so keen on the 'legends' driving the Superstocks, seeing a decent field of Superstocks is pretty rare these days so lets have them raced by their current drivers. That said, Evan Mooney and Nellie Irvine would not have looked out of place in a normal race, both absolutely flying.
Auckland Alleycats vs Stratford Stormers
First up was the unlucky but unbeaten Aucklanders against a bruised looking Stormers team. Lonergan was spun early on and so Bernie Fox took over the running duties in the very fast 242a machine but the highlight of this race was the excellent blocking skills of 333a Fergusson, an absolute masterclass in how to stymie the opposition. Stratford lacked any firepower and with 12s retiring early the win was Aucklands and a place in the runoff for 5th and 6th.
Waikato Raiders vs Huntly Hawks
The two local teams were left to fight for 5th place at best, but you would have thought it was a final with all the action. Crowd favourite had to be 16h Ben Patrick who was given a massive ride up the wall but survived and managed to hold up race leader 94h Alderton. Steering problems ended his one man show and Alderton was untroubled to take the win from start to finish. Waikato through for a re-match with Auckland.
Meeanee Maulers vs Wanganui Vulcans
First of the two semi finals and a massive blow before the green flag for the Vulcans with 89v Allan Levien unable to make the Start. 83b Powell did the running duties for HB while the entire Wanganui side decided to run also. 96v had an opportunity to stop Powell but was unable to finish him off and although some big hits went in, this was a much stronger look Maulers side than what we saw on Friday and they became the first finalists.
Manawatu Steelers vs Gisborne Gladiators
510p, 65g and 97p took off from the flag and were flying for the first lap until coming up behind two slow moving back markers. Unfortunately for Gisborne 65g Jason Jones managed to be clipped by one of his own team members and sent flying into the turn one wall in a cloud of smoke and then fire which brought on the red lights. Gisbornes chances were basically gone as the race continued on with no G runner and when 62g retired it left 4 Steelers on to 2 Gladiators. 3 Steelers then took on running duties and 510p Knight blocked elimating another car leaving a valiant 64g Barron as the only Gisborne finisher. Strong win for a team that had cruised its way into the final.
The final round of racing for overall positions had Stratford defeating the Huntly Hawks for 7th and 8th, Auckland and Waikato facing off again for 5th and 6th with a great win to 95h Caldwell from 383a and 98h. Gisborne and Wanganui contesting the minor final for 3rd which looked as though Wanganui were cruising to a fairly easy win when 63g Bruce Harding took out 89v Levien the race leader, suddenly Ian Barron inherited the lead with only 3 tyres on the last lap! Great show by both these teams and a huge 'come-from-behind' win to Gisborne, one of the crowd favourites.
Final
Manawatu Steelers vs Meeanee Maulers
This race was a rematch of the very first race on Friday night but that was the only similarity. The Maulers were much more on their game tonight but from the flag fall were facing an uphill battle against a team that had been almost untroubled in all their previous races. 75p Gavin Taniwha lead from start to finish with 97p Ward as his wingman and with only a couple of hiccups along the way, 34p taking out teammate 510p and 86b finishing off Ward in the later stages Taniwha managed to avoid most contact and took a deserved win for the Steelers who were clearly the best team all weekend.
1 Manawatu Steelers
2 Meeanee Maulers
3 Gisborne Gladiators
4 Wanganui Vulcans
5 Waikato Raiders
6 Auckland Alleycats
7 Stratford Stormers
8 Huntly Hawks
Meeting rating : 8/10
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