The Pilgrimage

ENZED Superstock Teams Meeting
Palmerston North







It has become our yearly pilgrimage, our February journey to the Arena in Manawatu. Upon arrival in Palmerston North at lunchtime on Friday, we had that horrible sinking feeling that there was little chance the meeting would be going ahead that night, or even that weekend. We left the hotel at 4pm to see what the situation was at the gates outside the stadium and were shocked to see a queue of people waiting to get in. The meeting managed to proceed and we were very happy indeed! A massive effort to take the top layer off the track and run the meeting so long as there were no more heavy bouts of rain proved to be a great decision and I'm sure at many other tracks (in fact most) this meeting would have been canned hours earlier.

Eleven teams made it to the event but unfortunately for us the Auckland Allstars were not one of them. The same system they used last year was put in place meaning all teams had two races against random opposition, and the four teams with the highest points would fight it out to reach the one race, first across the line, final. There was a long delay to get the track right and once the parade laps for each team and the wheel packing were completed, it was after 8pm. The surrounding banks of threatening clouds failed to halt the meeting. The first few races were lacking in action and the track was slushy and difficult for the teams to put on much of a show. Just trying to stay on the track was proving difficult for some. It wouldn't be until the last race of the night, Wanganui Warriors vs Kihikihi Kings that the place really came alive. A one man demolition job by Dion Mooney who managed to roll two of the Kings cars gave the Warriors a massive victory and took them into the top four teams at the expense of the Hawkes Bay Hawkeyes. Joining them were the two best teams of the night, Nelson Tigers and Palmerston North Panthers and surprise package the Stratford Scrappers. Once again two very strong teams, Rotorua and Waikato had failed to make the step up and would be left fighting for the minor places. My drivers of the night were Mooney obviously, who really gave us a great taste of old school teams racing action and 95h Warwick Ansty from the unlucky Waikato team. His performance was one of the best I've ever seen in his many years of racing. Also Peter Rees who put in the biggest shot of the night on 77p in the Palmy v Manawatu derby. It was one of those 'ouch' hits that stuns the crowd for a few seconds.

Finals Night
Once again the weather held and the racing was all on for Saturday night. What a huge bonus considering we were expecting to be watching Sky TV inside our hotel room all weekend. Nelson beat Stratford and Palmy defeated Wanganui in two excellent encounters that were a huge step up from the night before. We were relishing the prospect of what would be a 'dream final' between the Tigers and the Panthers but Nelson's hopes of retaining their title were dashed before they even made it out of the pit gate. The crowd was given that news that 83n Brett Nicholls had cut the pole line on lap one of the semi final and was excluded from the results handing the win to Stratford. As you can imagine, this did not go down well with the crowd, except if you were wearing yellow and black or were a Panthers fan! The decision stood and as we now know Palmerston North took on the Scrappers in a final that was a non-event. Such was the brutal power of the Panthers that in the first few laps the Stratford team were annihilated. It was a fearsome return to form for Palmy who had looked shakey in their first race on Friday night. Nelson had to front up to race Rotorua for third and forth and produced one of the best races of the whole weekend, both teams had something to prove and ultimately it was Nelson that took the win. Ross Ashby in the tank, was rolled for the second time on the night and was one of the real entertainers all weekend. In fact the whole Rotorua team seemed light years better than in recent seasons and if they can keep some kind of continuity this group will be featuring in the finals next season I'm guessing. Finally, one of the funniest things that happened was during the usually boring "car of the week" segment, when the car is normally slowly driven round the track for a lap or two, instead the car was given a good thrashing and managed to bounce of the walls a couple of times. Had the crowd cheering wildly. Not sure if anyone would have been racing to buy it though. Great stuff, and there you have it, another fantastic teams racing weekend is over and the Panthers are the champions once again. I won't for one second belittle the Stratford Scrappers achievement of making the finals but I do hope that both Nelson and Palmy front up for the Auckland Teams Nationals, I think any meeting that pitched these two teams together would be worth the trip.

1. Palmerston North Panthers
2. Stratford Scrappers
3. Nelson Tigers
4. Rotorua Rebels
5. British Lions
6. Wanganui Warriors
7. Waikato Wanderers
8. Hawkes Bay Hawkeyes
9. Canterbury Glen Eagles
10. Manawatu Mustangs
11. Kihikihi Kings