Limping to an end...

John Webster XV
April 19, Waikaraka Park

The 15th running of the John Webster was slightly different to previous years with only 2 classes from each of the Auckland tracks, Sprintcars and Midgets from Western Springs and Superstocks and Supersaloons representing Waikaraka Park. There was also a demo derby and fireworks to pretty much guarantee a big crowd and a 6pm start to make sure all the ingredients were there for a great night. I don't know if its just me or if Im a bit jaded or what, but from there it all went pear shaped.  The night was late starting, the track was slushy (understandably though) for the first few races and then I felt the meeting never really lifted to any great heights, in fact it had the foul odour of "end of season" hanging about sadly.

Supersaloons were undoubtably the biggest let down, last year they managed to gather 5 cars and 2 Saloons to boost the numbers, this year it was 6 cars and not much action, 46m Matt Smith taking the Glen Turner Memorial after a race long tussle to get passed 96a Lance Jennings. If this class can't reach double figures they should be dropped from this event, its supposed to be the best of each track being showcased and there are other classes from WP that would fit the bill better than these guys. The other class representing WP were the Superstocks who at least managed to front with a decent field of 17 cars although the 49m Brown car never made it out on to the track. 95r Tony Fabish was the pick of the drivers along with 23r Lance Ashton. 11a Carl Hodge provided the only real action of the night hooking reverse while being spun and tipping 97r Pat Westbury over. The three heats were okay I guess, 5a Brad Ridland taking out the feature. Again nothing stunning to report here and so the two classes from the host track get a "must try harder" on their Webster report card. It was odd seeing the local cars all shoved down the far end of the pits at their own track while the Sprintcars and Midgets had the prime spots. Would this happen if the meeting was held at Western Springs... am I too late for stirrer of the year?

Midgets probably provided the best race of the night (but that's not saying much) with their 30 lap feature. 3nz Hayden Williams repeating his complete domination of the race in a carbon copy of last year. No one was even close to matching his pace and his win was made to look easy. I think he also took the decent cash prize for the shootout provided by the Outlaw Club. Sprintcars were similarly dominated by 3nz Jamie McDonald although 21w Stephen Taylor looked pretty good and lead for a while in the feature race until every car that challenged him decided to give him a shunt, nudge or tag until he was taken out of the race altogether! The track surface for these races was excellent and the saving grace of the show. The night finally dragged to a close with the fireworks and then a demo derby which was still going when I left after 10.30pm. The whole point of an early start lost on the organisers unfortunately. A pass mark then for the Springs two classes, but only just. As mentioned by Macgor on his website the other week, I too am getting a bit over endless shootouts, four wide salutes and jostling for positions on a restarts. These are all good when the programme is running swiftly but last night it wasn't. WP has one more meeting for the 2013/14 season, the King of the Park on April 26th.

John Webster XIV

John Webster XIV, May 11th
Waikaraka Park, Auckland

Incredibly this was the fourteenth running of the John Webster instigated meeting, and with the Ollie Brown Memorial for Superstocks and Glenn Turner Memorial for Supersaloons the meeting has sort of morphed into a Remembrance Champs featuring 'the best of the best' speedway classes from Auckland's two tracks. Six Shooters, Midgets and Sprintcars were the other classes on the programme giving it more of a Western Springs flavour than a night at WP. Usually following right on the heels of Speedfest, the comparisons can sometimes be a bit unkind but with a rain delay following the cancellation of the first running of this event, it had the chance to stand on it's on merits.

Unfortunately, most classes struggled for numbers and the spectacle wasn't really up to scratch in at least two of these classes that represent what is so great about our sport. I felt that Stockcars should have been on the programme - they bring large fields and usually provide the best entertainment. Supersaloons, for me, were the biggest let down. There were 7 cars in attendance, 2 of them Saloons although 46a Nigel Ross would ironically provide us with some of the best racing of the night finishing 3rd overall and leading the feature race for half of the distance. He never once looked out of place and was a star turn. Six Shooters were the other problem child, they look great, they had a decent field of about 13 or so cars but something is missing. I know the class is new and this is only my third sighting of them but the racing is almost pedestrian at times and someone sitting next to me asked "are these vintage cars?" and that wasn't a compliment! There are some recognised names in the field too and former Superstock pilot Laslo Mezsaros was the standout in most races, but the jury is definitely out on this class for the moment.

The original 27 car field listed in the programme including defending champ 19c Malcolm Ngatai (who unfortunately was a no show) dropped somewhat to thirteen cars, but there was quite a bit of class in there and the racing was good. Two drivers stood out for me, 27b Shane Warner and 87r David Elsworth for very different reasons. Warner, a late arrival in the pits took out heat 1 and came home third behind 115a Darren Short and 63a Phil Marx in heat two for a front row start in the Ollie Browne final. Elsworth had a fifth and fourth place finish so was still in contention but rolled out of the pits minus the wing and decided to show he's more than just the runner for the Busters, setting the final heat alight. He held up 5a Brad Ridland first, put Short up the wall, took out 36a Ricky Mitchell, hampered leaders Shane Warner and Karl Ross, before having another go at Ridland. A battle with 242a Bernie Fox left the leading bunch free to race for a few laps, Ross taking over the lead before Fox held him up. Warner regained first place and looked to have the title sewn up until going wide on the last corner - 173a Karl Ross cut under him and took the narrowest of wins. 27b Warner, 5a Ridland and 4p Chad Ace rounded out the top finishers. Shane Warner really had the car humming and looked to have the measure of a quality field, good signs for next seasons NZ title at his home track perhaps.

My knowledge of the Midget field was rather limited and so next season I really do plan to get a few visits in to Western Springs. It used to be my track of choice so its a bit sad not even knowing who some of the drivers are these days. The feature for this class was a 30 lapper featuring 22 cars. When they had trouble doing the 4 wide salute I thought we might be in for a midnight finish but the race was so completely dominated by 27a Hayden Williams they could have given him the flag half way through the race. There were a number of yellow light stoppages and he just drove away from the field every restart. He was lapping tail enders after only 5 of the 30 laps were completed. Twenty minutes into the race and we still had 10 laps to complete. 3nz Dave Gick brought on the final yellow light after crashing into 47a Rose Halfpenny ending Gick's impressive run in second place. If my notes are right the finishing order was 87a, 39a, 96a, 5a, 98a and 3usa Graham Standring who was the car to watch as he made he way through the field starting from a rear starting position. A long race but still spectacular to watch. The Midgets always seem to put on a good display at this meeting.

With only 7 Sprintcars fronting and only 6 surviving the night for the 'feature' they were a bit of an anti-climax to be honest. 6m James Dahm won the final ahead of 55h Daniel Thomas and 4m Colin Entwisle rounding out the podium. 15 cars were listed for the rained out version of this meeting and that really would have been something to see, but I'm not complaining about a meeting that so easily could have been scrapped after that rainout. One of the compromises was always going to be who could make the rescheduled event and it was a far better finish to the season than the King of the Park, which was supposed to end the season calendar. This was my final taste of speedway for the 2012-13 season which really did produce some great meetings and incredible run of good weather that truly made it a golden summer of speedway.