Teams Update lX

Despite the rain the Peter Barry Teams meeting at Meeanee managed to get the qualifying night completed, with the finals night delayed yet again. The Palmerston North Pumas keep their incredible record of wins going as they head towards the top of the table. Unbeaten in their 12 appearances last season and 10 appearances so far this year, they seem unstoppable. The Huntly Raiders move to the top of the table after two wins at the Kihikihi teams meeting on April 15th.

Photos from Meeanee Speedway courtesy of Kenley Brown, visit his website HERE






October 29
Rees Shield 1
At Waikaraka Park
Auckland Alleycats def Gisborne Gladiators

October 29
At Stratford Speedway
Kihikihi Crusaders def Stratford Stormers

November 5
Eastern States Speedway Blenheim
Canterbury Crushers def Eastern States Titans
Ken's Cowboys def Canterbury Crushers
Eastern States Titans def Ken's Cowboys

November 11
At Woodford Glen
Canterbury Crushers def Team Moon Goon
Ken's KB Cowboys def Eastern States Titans
Canterbury Crushers def Ken's KB Cowboys
Eastern States Titans def Team Moon Goon

November 19 & 20
TWS Huntly Teams Night 1
Manawatu Steelers def Meeanee Maulers
Auckland Alleycats def Stratford Stormers
Huntly Raiders def Wanganui Vulcans
Rotorua Rascals def Gisborne Gladiators
Wanganui Vulcans def Meeanee Maulers
Auckland Alleycats def Gisborne Gladiators
Waikato Raiders def Manawatu Steelers
Stratford Stormers def Rotorua Rascals
Night 2
Meeanee Maulers def Stratford Stormers
Manawatu Steelers def Gisborne Gladiators
Auckland Alleycats def Wanganui Vulcans
Waikato Raiders def Rotorua Rascals
Stratford Stormers def Gisborne Gladiators
Meeanee Maulers def Manawatu Steelers
Wanganui Vulcans def Rotorua Rascals
Auckland Alleycats def Waikato Raiders

November 26
Palmy Teams Invasion
Palmerston North Pumas def Wellington Young Guns
Manawatu Steelers def Stratford Stormers
Waikato Raiders def Meeanee Maulers
Wanganui Vulcans def Manawatu Minors
Palmerston North Pumas def Stratford Stormers
Manawatu Steelers def Wellington Young Guns
Wanganui Vulcans def Waikato Raiders
Manawatu Minors def Meeanee Maulers
Waikato Raiders def Wanganui Vulcans
Palmerston North Pumas def Manawatu Steelers

At Nelson
Tasman Thunder def Greymouth Grizzlies

Stockcar Teams Title Palmerston North
Night 1
Meeanee Maulers def Auckland Alleycats
Auckland Alleycats def Stratford Stormers
Meeanee Maulers def Stratford Stormers
Wanganui Vulcans def Gisborne Gladiators
Wanganui Vulcans def Waikato Raiders
Waikato Raiders def Gisborne Gladiators
Eastern States Titans def Wellington Young Guns
Eastern States Titans def Kihikihi Crusaders
Wellington Young Guns def Kihikihi Crusaders
Palmerston North Pumas def Canterbury Crushers
Canterbury Crushers def Rotorua Rascals
Palmerston North Pumas def Rotorua Rascals
Night 2
Rotorua Rascals def Auckland Alleycats
Wellington Young Guns def Waikato Raiders
Palmerston North Pumas def Meeanee Maulers
Wanganui Vulcans def Eastern States Titans
Meeanee Maulers def Rotorua Rascals
Wellington Young Guns def Eastern States Titans
Palmerston North Pumas def Wanganui Vulcans

At Huntly Speedway
Waikato Raiders def Wanganui Vulcans

At Oceanview Speedway
Palmerston North Pumas def Wanganui Vulcans

At Gisborne Speedway
Gisborne Gladiators def Meeanee Maulers

At Greenstone Park Speedway
Greymouth Grizzleys def Tasman Thunder

At Riverside Speedway, Invercargill
Canterbury Crushers def Riverside Raiders

At Meeanee Speedway, Napier
Night 1
Palmerston North Pumas def Wanganui Vulcans
Palmerston North Pumas def Orange Roughies
Wanganui Vulcans def Orange Roughies
Manawatu Steelers def Meeanee Maulers
Meeanee Maulers def Stratford Stormers
Manawatu Steelers def Stratford Stormers
Waikato Raiders def Wellington Young Guns
Gisborne Gladiators def Waikato Raiders
Wellington Young Guns def Gisborne Gladiators

Kihikihi Teams Meeting, April 15
Huntly Raiders def Kihikihi Crusaders
Stratford Stormers def North Island Select
North Island Select def Kihikihi Crusaders
Huntly Raiders def Stratford Stormers

John Webster Xlll

Waikaraka Park, Auckland
April 21




Following hot on the heels of Huntly's Speedfest is the almost identical John Webster Memorial meeting. The Auckland club had only four classes on show, leaving out the Stockcars and Saloons that made up the field in Huntly. I thought "this will be a quick night" until I saw the programme and noticed that all classes had been split into two groups, a bit of a stretch with only 11 Sprintcars. The Superstocks were obviously down on the numbers they expected and they ran as one group of 18 cars. The meeting should have started at 6pm which was wise considering how cold it gets this time of year but was a bit slow to get out of the starters gate. Heres a brief breakdown of the four classes on show:

Midgets
Two groups of 14 cars started the night with Group A wins to 49a Shane Alach and 2nz Chris McCutcheon and Group B wins to the impressive 99c Dave Kerr and 88a Brad Mosen. 24 cars came out for the final with highest points from the heats at the front; Mosen on grid 1 alongside 21a Worboys for a 30 lap feature. Mosen and Worboys had a coming together before they even reached the start line and the race was restarted. Five lots of yellow lights later and plenty of drama including the leading pair coming to grief mid race after Worboys had lead and looked good for the win, left 2nz McCutcheon with the lead and basically untouched for the rest of the race. Most attention was on 88a Mosen who moved up and down the leaderboard with every lap getting as high as second but finishing 4th behind 2nz, 77a and 4a. I was really impressed all night with 99c Dave Kerr from Christchurch who had the misfortune to puncture the left front in one of the heats and also during the feature, but continued on finishing 6th overall.

Supersaloons
After their star turn at Speedfest, much was expected of this class and they didn't disappoint. Heat wins to 8h Craig Cardwell, 96a Lance Jennings, 21n Ian Burson and 21h Steve Williams. For the Glen Turner Memorial, Williams and Jennings filled the front row of the 20 lap final ahead of 24w Martin Halcrow and Burson on grid 4. There were only 3 yellow lights in this race on a night of MANY yellows, the first one for 1nz Steve Flynn spinning in turn 4 early on, the second for 24a Ben Harding with collapsed suspension ending his race and finally for 26m Shane McIntyre who had made huge ground moving up through the field after a rough night of qualifying, over cooking it in turn 1. 96a Jennings had taken the early lead after a bad start for Williams saw him drop to 5th. Once Burson got past Jennings he cleared out and made easy work of the final, showing the Auckland crowd some of the classy driving we have heard so much about. Halcrow secured second place and crowd favourite Jennings in third.

Superstocks
The Superstocks raced for the Ollie Browne Memorial with combined points from all three heats. After the first two heats it was 87r David Elsworth who had two impressive wins to his name, leading 19c Malcolm Ngatai, 16h Aaron Headington and 351a Paul Vasey. 28h Glen Drabble took Elsworth to the wall early leaving him in last place, but the real action was between Vasey and Ngatai who battled for the lead and overall win. Both of them suffered blows to their chances with Ngatai sending Vasey off the end of turn 3 into the wall, while Ngatai ran into the spun car of 282s Phil Ogle. 32p Graeme Barr took over the lead and eventually the heat win while Ngatai managed to retain second place for the overall title. 16h Headington came home in 3rd completing two very good meetings at Huntly and WP. Overall points had 19c on 54pts, 16h on 50pts and 87r Elsworth on 49pts.

Sprintcars
Strangely, the class that had the least competitors and looked most likely to bore the pants off everyone, also had the most spectacular competitor in 8a Ryan O'Connor. Absolutely stunning is the only way to describe his performance on Saturday. They may as well have put the other cars back on their trailers and let him have the track to himself to see how many lap records he could break. During the second round of heats for the Sprintcars, O'Connor set a new lap record of 13.16 seconds as he charged around the WP track in what I can only describe as the fastest thing I have ever seen at Waikaraka Park. It was truly awesome, as if the car was on rails. Stunning! So it should come as no surprise that he won the feature 20 lap race quite convincingly.

This meeting did seem to have a bit more spark with the on-track action than Speedfest, but considering it started early the timekeeping wasn't so great. A bonus of the night though was Jamie McCarthy, once again proving he is the best in the business, plenty of info, great knowledge of the drivers taking part and his commentary style is just so easy to listen to and enjoy - no wonder he is in such great demand. In hindsight, I still think Stockcars should have been on the programme and Sprintcars not split into two groups, but there you go. A great display put on by most of the South Island visitors didn't go unnoticed either, 19c Ngatai, 21n Burson and 99c Kerr in particular. Thanks for making the effort to entertain on one of the best racing surfaces in the country.

Meeting rating : 7.5/10
Programme : $3.00 A5 some in colour
Driver of the night : 21n Ian Burson
Parking : Free
Best Moment : 8a Ryan O'Connor, sublime.

Speedfest 5

Huntly Speedway
April 19, 2012

On paper they had the perfect mix, two contact classes, Superstocks and Stockcars, two open wheel classes represented by Midgets and Sprintcars, and then the Supersaloons and Saloons to round out a very strong programme. Four of the classes had excellent fields with only the Sprintcars and Midgets missing a few of the top flight drivers that make this meeting live up to the "best of the best" tag. I missed this meeting last season and by all accounts it was one of the best Speedfests ever, so its not surprising there have been a few comments about this one being a bit flat, lacking a bit of action and not quite living up to expectation. Don't get me wrong, it was still a great watch and there were no hotdog classes at all, which is how speedway should be every week in the perfect world. It was bitterly cold though, another gentle reminder that winter is nearly upon us, more reason for a few drivers to let loose perhaps in the Stockcar classes with the season winding up and a few scores to settle one would have thought?

Apart from heat three when the leading point scorers after the first two heats, 17b Aaron Iremonger and 95a Gary Lonergan, were set upon by 34h Anton Leek and 81r Damian Orr with help from 88h Justin Hutchby, there seemed to be more incidents caused by the sheer number of cars rather than any real intention to stir it up. Lonergan's run ended rather acrimoniously, tipped over by the combined efforts of Orr and Hutchby in turn four, but as Lonergan indicated as he walked back to the infield, Orr's previous attempts to get him in turn two a lap or so earlier were a bit dubious and crippled the car making him an easy target. Ironmonger was well and truly taken to but the Ironforce just kept on going, despite being out of the hunt for the title fairly early in the race. Winner 48h Scott Gallop taking the Speedfest Stockcar title for the second time. A special mention for the 211g of Joel Gardner from Gisborne who was a highlights reel of his own, every time I seemed to see the car it was hitting or being hit, good stuff.

Standout class for the night were the Supersaloons. What an impressive display from the cars that physically seem to be getting bigger and bigger every season. Shane McIntyres Hypermac chassis almost makes the 8h Geoff Fletcher car look like a Bambina, they must be a nightmare to pass, not that many of the Hypermacs were being passed during the course of the night. The flying Flynns and Ben Harding really were stunning to watch. 24a Harding taking the title overall and well deserved. 1nzb Joe Faram must have a soft spot for the Huntly track because he seems to achieve his best results here. After two heats he was tied on points with 282s Phil Ogle going into the third and final heat and drove a cool, calm and collected race to win. Ogle was spun early in the race but still managed a podium finish in 3rd behind 87n Thomas Stanaway. 71h Tony Wootton and 38r Scott Redfern rounded out the top five on points.

It will be interesting to see what direction this meeting takes next season with the last Hamilton 400 in its death throws right now, obviously the night will change from a Thursday unless there is some big announcement about a replacement V8 event. The obvious problem I see, is this meeting is basically an exact replica of the John Webster Memorial in Auckland, what will be the point of difference between the two meetings and obviously they both can't run on the same night next season. If you are going to charge top dollar for an event like this, you have to have the right classes on show which Huntly did, BUT the on track action has to be exciting and the competitor mix can be the making or breaking of an event, particularly with classes like the Midgets, Sprintcars and Stockcars. Thats a big ask for any club to have to 'encourage' the drivers to perform.

Speedfest Champions 2012
Saloons  124m Dan Corrin
Super Saloons  24a Ben Harding
Stockcars  48h Scott Gallop
Superstocks  1nzb Joe Faram
Midgets  73k Brian Edwards
Sprintcars  29m Colin Entwisle
























Meeting rating : 7/10
Programme : $5.00 A4 full colour
Driver of the night : Sprintcar 55h Daniel Thomas
Parking : $2.00 with security
Best Moment : Supersaloons, spectacular racing

CTRA Stockcar Title, Dargaville

It was a toss up between this meeting and the stockcar teams at Kihikihi, but since the Alleycats were not racing and I hadn't been up to Dargaville for a few seasons, I headed north. The weather was not looking great (how unusual) and probably had an effect on the number of entries, so it was not surprising to see only 7 cars turn up. None of the far north cars from Taipa or Kaikohe had managed to make it down but we did end up with one car from Whangarei, 2 from Auckland, and four locals from Dargaville.

The racing was actually very entertaining and a pity that we didn't have a bigger field. The title was over three heats and it ended up with a classic locals vs Auckland battle in heat three, with 22a Leigh Cossey and 344wr Stacey Macken running for the win while 348d Nigel Bree and 9a Cameron Kenworthy providing most of the blocking. Cossey was able to eventually shake off Bree but Macken and Kenworthy's cars would end up locked together and requiring a runoff for second place. Unfortunately for Macken, his car had developed a miss during the course of the day and finally gave up the ghost before the runoff could be started. Congrats to Leigh Cossey, our newest NZ1! Seriously, if you are a driver who can make it up for this meeting next season, it is well worth it. I assume it moves around the different CTRA tracks so keep an eye out for it and have a go at the title. Im going to offer my services to promote it next year through this website, its great to see a few cars that have been off the radar like the 36d which was an early 45a Neville Langdon car running out of Waikaraka years ago. Imagine how many other gems are waiting to hit the track again.

I also got the opportunity to catch up with Shane and Michelle Bessant and their son Jesse who were at the track for some fundraising, and what a character Jesse is. It's heartbreaking to see what this family is going through but they have great dignity and a positive outlook and I urge you to support them when you see the team selling raffle tickets or fundraising at meetings over the last few weeks of this season. They have a huge goal to reach but when you meet Jesse and the team of fundraisers including Cameron Kenworthy and crew, Nicola Powdrell and Clive Turner and others who's names I dont know - sorry, you just want to help and do your bit. Every dollar or donation helps, check out their facebook page HERE. It's an achievable goal and the hope it gives this young fulla is worth more than a few dollars sitting in your wallet!