The Unstoppable Mr Rees (part 1).

New Zealand Stockcar Title
Woodford Glen Speedway, January 3 + 4

In 2003 I was lucky enough to see Peter Rees win his first NZ Stockcar title, amid controversy, at Huntly Speedway. Ten years on and he has just taken out the title for the fifth time, cementing his place as one of the greatest Stockcar drivers ever. Wins at Huntly, Meeanee, Wanganui, Rotorua last season and now at Woodford Glen Speedway surely must silence the critics who seem to find fault with each and every title this gifted competitor wins. I find it incomprehensible that anyone would doubt the calibre of the man or the cars he drives and it must be time to retire that annoying cliche "love him or loathe him" as his achievements thus far, deserve respect not loathing.

I had never been to Woodford Glen and so it was new territory and plenty of new cars on show for this year's running of one of my favourite titles. About 140 cars had entered split into six groups. The top 5 from each group would qualify for a finals field of 30 on night two. A second group of 36 qualifiers would make up a second tier championship and unusually no consolation races for the non-qualifiers were run. The track surface would provide a lot of discussion and prove challenging, but as a spectator the facilities were great. The programme was very professional and well put together. We sat in the grandstand on the back straight and the sound system was clear as a bell although some of the music made my ears bleed, at least you could hear the all-important points updates and racing info. So here is a brief rundown of what happened in each group (as I saw it) on qualifying night (finals night to follow on later).

Qualifying Night
Blue Group 22 cars
A lap one pile up which would become a common event in most groups, held up 73p Mitchell Hill and 24w Scott McIntosh, 921p Brett Lloyd would be the first to see his title chances end rolled by 7c Justin Galbraith on lap 6 of the very first heat. 66b Randall Tarrant would spend the whole race working his way back through the field after a lap one spin eventually finishing 10th. 29a Scott Tennant would lead for the whole race picking up a huge haul of points. Flat tyres for 191c Dylan Robb and 67c Neil Frew would be the first of many on night one. Heat two was missing a few cars including 14r Matt Nilsson. 24w Scott McIntosh would repeat Scott Tennant's effort in heat 1 by leading for the entire race. 7c Galbraith had a go at Tennant but was dealt to by 74p Chev Taniwha. 32n Phil Krammer went into the wall hard bringing on the reds. 99gm Cleeve Kookshorn punctured the right rear while Lloyd got some payback on a Christchurch car taking 92c Lance Holdem heavily into the wall joined by 67c Frew. 33p Brad Powell DNF while Kookshorn managed to spin the luckless Tarrant. 5c Matt Cockburn joins the list of shredded tyres. McIntosh, Tennant, Hill and Taniwha taking the top spots. Heat 3 and that man 7c Galbraith in the action again taking 66b Tarrant to the wall in turn 4 before Tarrant managed to repay the favour with interest, activating the reds. 89v Blair Lockett leading from this point on for a valuable win and qualifying for the finals. 19c Scott Anderson ending 229s Kylee Symes hopes with a massive hit. A fairly tame last heat.
Qualifiers: 29a Tennant, 73p Mitchell, 24w McIntosh, 89v Lockett, 99gm Kookshorne winning a runoff with 74p Taniwha for the last spot. Hard luck 33p Powell, 74p Taniwha and 921p Lloyd.

Red Group 21 cars
95a Gary Lonergan is spun and hit damaging the panhard bar and eventually puncturing. 29p Stewart Rackham showed great speed and picked up a fairly easy win from grid 1. 9c Dean Franklin's tank retired fairly early along with 6v Mooney, 7s Richard Hart and 88gm Chris Baxter all retiring on the red light for 65c Dan McClure. 17r Murray Kitts hope went up in flames and 94p William Humphries right rear tyre goes costing him several places. 99c Dennis Andreassend the big mover finishing 2nd ahead of 14p Ikey Hautapu from a grid 13 start. An impressive 4th place for the 4w tank of Josh Kahui. Heat 2 started with 6v Mooney spinning 69e Daryl McDonald with Rackham, 7s Hart and 51gm Brent Wilson caught up, Rackham puncturing. 95a Lonergan and 16b Brett Loveridge in a race long battle behind 99c Andreassend who cruised home for an impressive win and looking ominous. 6v and 9c dnf. With almost every car returning for heat three, drivers down on points were going to need a few cars taken out to get into the top five but all five cars leading after heat two would make it through. 94p Humphries would lead from start to finish ahead of Loveridge and Lonergan who would both just miss qualifying. 65c McClure and 77c Shaun Ashton would be involved in the biggest incidents, Ashton being tipped over by 7s Hart after the flag.
Qualifiers: 99c Andreassend, 4w Kahui, 94p Williams, 14p Hautapu, 357p Iremonger. Hard luck 95a Lonergan, 16b Loveridge, 29p Rackham.

Purple Group 21 cars
469e Gavin Marshall and 8n Michael Paynter were both out early and 1nz Rees had the lead from grid 9 inside a lap. 64b Beatle Tarrant was next to go with axle damage in a meeting that would see glimpses of the damage he can do when the car was up to it. 86r Richard Keijser also retiring early. 84c Dave Herns car was smoking while 107c Colin Cameron was unlucky to be spun by clubmate 41c Ben Jacobs who dnf'd. 25p Tony East had the first of two big offs into the wall while 81r Damian Orr managed to come from the rear grid to finish 2nd behind Rees. Only 17 cars made it out for heat 2 but it had the most action of any heat so far with at least 3 red light stoppages. 72c Norton Gowans did what almost everyone else failed to do while spinning backwards clipped and spun the 1nz dropping him to the rear of the field. 17c Vaughan Fairburn was the early leader before red lights for 64b and then another red for 25p East who was spectacularly smashed into the apex of turns 3 + 4 by 84c. 33s Tyler Walker had gearbox issues and lost a huge amount of points drifting backwards although finishing. 73i  Mark Taylor dnf. Rees was up to 8th at this point when 38m James Hamilton launched an attack while 86r Keijzer and 82gm Dwayne Honey got hooked on to each other infield. 107c Cameron taking the win ahead of 81r Orr. Heat 3 was more of a test for Rees with attempts by 64b Tarrant, 72c Gowans trying to block him and a huge hit to remove Gowans on his second attempt while 82gm Honey also had numerous attempts. 22w Richard Gaskin managed to avoid most of the carnage to safely follow the 1nz home in second ahead of Keijzer, Orr and Fairburn.
Qualifiers: 1nz Rees, 22w Gaskin, 81r Orr, 17c Fairburn, 107c Cameron. Hard luck 86r Keijzer, 33s Walker.

Brown Group 21 cars

Scott Fredrickson would be the standout in this group. Taking advantage of his grid 3 start he powered to an easy heat 1 victory. 15v Kyle Heibner would spend most of the race making up for a lap 1 spin eventually finishing 11th. 74c James Gowans was the first to have a go at 2nz Bernie Fox before a dnf along with 87s Shane Kells who failed to finish. 33r Kieran Hines was a brave man to spin 99p Ron Tye, while 492i Campbell McManaway would lose a few places held up by the 99p tank. Fox and 18n Shane Harwood making up the most positions in this heat. 67w Kane Hargreaves one of many to have tyre issues finishing 14th. Heat 2 was one of the best races of the night but also had one of the strangest incidents involving 343c Pat Anngow. Once again, 8r Fredrickson was all class taking the lead from the 67w tank early on and impressively winning again but he was almost unnoticed as Christchurch cars stole the show first with 74c Gowans attack on 99p Tye eventually rolling himself and tipping the tank on its side also. 15v Heibner's car started to smoke heavily after the red light - something it would continued to do all meeting but it didnt effect his perfomance coming home 5th. 343c Anngow put in a massive shot on 33r Hines bringing on the red lights when officials sent his damaged car to the infield. He was not happy and neither was the crowd so the officials appeared to reverse their decision and allow him back out on the track! Red mist was evident as he then attacked 15v, 2nz and then 66p Graham Peter before another red light when he was infield for good this time. Flat tyres for 21gm Gill Simpson and 64c Jason Skurr. 4c Lloyd Jennings who was looking good for a finals berth after heat one slipped a bit with an 11th placing. On my notes for heat 3, I had written "best hits of night" so Brown group definitely was the group to watch with only 11 cars finishing this race. 99p Tye had a field day in this one first attacking 343c Anngow then picking on 33r Hines who was possibly the most attacked car on Qualifying night, before Tye finished off 851y Jamie Bolton in a turn four crunch that 64c Skurr followed in giving Tye some of his own treatment before red lights. Sadly the wheel guard on Tye's car was damaged so he was sent infield robbing us of some more mayhem. 4c Jennings hopes ended about now when his steering appeared to fail driving heavily front-on into turn 4, while 15v Heibner dropped to last place crawling home for valuable points. 492i McManaway finally taking a win ahead of the impressive Fredrickson.
Qualifiers: 8r Fredrickson, 2nz Fox, 492i McManaway, 18n Harwood, 75p Taniwha. Hard luck 67w Hargreaves, 27p Meehan, 44c Ross, 66p Peter.

Green Group 22 Cars
My notes stated "lots of dust and flat tyres" for green group which would be dominated by 126p Asher Rees. Rob Miers was first to be spun on lap 1 along with 62c John Gray courtesy of 222e Ricco Gray. DNF's early on for 48p Damian Mulcahy and 69w Raahiri Connor and costly punctures for 11gm Tony Stanton, 22p Zac Hoult, 6w Paul Gaskin and 52r Mike Herbert. 92m Scott Hayward finished 11th but the car looked sick on the infield at races end. Impressive win to 126p Rees ahead of 74b Tony Palmer and Nelson's 99n Trevor Lineham. Heat 2 had a bit of controversy penalties applied to two cars 74b and 48p and 222e Gray sent infield on a red light to aid the stricken 99n of Lineham after 6w Gaskin king hit him in turn 4. 69w Connor then had goes at 33c Jeremy Booth and then a king hit on 24c Ivan McPhail smashing his front wheel although still able to limp home in 9th place. 4r Hall was apparently docked points for passing on the grass according to the commentary team. 4r Hall would be under attack for the entire third heat that had lots of drama, and unfortunately for 126p Rees a clutch failure on lap 2 ending his hopes of qualifying, sitting on the grass on turn 4 only needing a push over the line to make the finals. 46c Mike McLeod made life difficult for Tony Palmer but the Hawkes Bay driver would comfortably qualify. 22p Zac Hoults win got him into the top 5 at the expense of 89c Jason Smith who lost a number of laps after ending up in the wall on turn 3. 15p Miers also looked to be in trouble stopping in turn 4 but managed to restart and qualify. 222e Ricco Gray the big stirrer until his right rear collapsed joining a number of cars that failed to finish.
Qualifiers: 4r Hall, 74b Palmer, 15p Miers, 24c McPhail, 22p Hoult. Hard luck 126p Rees, 52r Herbert,  11gm Stanton, 89c Smith.

Black Group 21 cars
10p Josh Prentice had a very short campaign, failing to start and bringing on the reds. 52c Owen McFall lead out early but by lap 2 581p Jordan Dare had moved from last spot to 5th place. 28e Ralph Gillespie took over the lead while 3nz Regan O'Brien appeared to lack pace and was losing ground. DNFs for 8t Daniel Mulvena and 77k Graeme Daysh and a costly puncture for 29c Jamie Hamilton. 98r Mark Costello held out Dare for the heat win. Impressive speed from both with 18c Nick Sidaway best of the locals in 4th. 84s Hayden Barker DNF. Only 16 cars appeared for heat two and by lap 2 Jordan Dare was leading. 29c Hamilton spun 38gm Tony Oliver while Barker's dismal night continued with another DNF. 93gm Logan Tomlin brought on the reds facing the wrong way on the track. Puncture for 66c Troy Wilson who had looked particularly fast before 98r Mark Costello who was chasing down Dare for the lead appeared to spin in turn 2, a broken axel ending his hopes. 18c Sidaway dragging the car along the wall to finish in 6th. 12n Wayne Martin impressive with a 3rd place finish ahead of Wellington's 7w Shane Davis. Only 12 cars finishing with a clear top 5 in the points, 3nz O'Brien 6 points adrift of qualifying would need a big third heat finish. 10p Prentice made heat three his with massive hits on 28e Ralph Gillespie and 18c Nick Sidaway ending both their chances, the 18c looking rather secondhand after the hit! A puncture for 3nz O'Brien ended his faint hopes and 66c Wilson spun 992p Taylor Lamp out of contention also. Another win for Dare, ahead of Hamilton, Davis and 6n Alistair Grieg of Nelson.
Qualifiers: 581p Dare, 7w Davis, 12n Martin, 29c Hamilton, 38gm Oliver. Hard Luck 3nz O'Brien, 28e Gillespie, 18n Sidaway, 98r Costello.

Summary
As expected, Palmerston North cars dominated qualifying and standout performances from 8r Scott Fredrickson, 581p Jordan Dare and 99c Dennis Andreassend signalled that current champ 1nz Peter Rees had some strong competition from a quality field of 30 for finals night. 20 North Island and 10 South Island cars making an interesting mix.

581p Jordan Dare
1nz Peter Rees
73p Mitchell Hill
94p William Humphries
14p Ikey Hautapu
357p Aaron Iremonger
75p Gavin Taniwha
22p Zac Hoult
15p Rob Miers

22w Richard Gaskin
4w Josh Kahui
24w Scott McIntosh
7w Shane Davis

81r Damian Orr
4r Chris Hall
8r Scott Fredrickson

99c Dennis Andreassend
17c Vaughan Fairburn
107c Colin Cameron
29c Jamie Hamilton
24c Ivan McPhail

2nz Bernie Fox
29a Scott Tennant

492i Campbell McManaway

18n Shane Harwood
12n Wayne Martin

74b Tony Palmer

89v Blair Lockett

99gm Cleeve Kookshorn
38gm Tony Oliver