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!
No comments:
Post a Comment