Baypark Gold Cup Stockcars

Last year this meeting was worth the trip down to Tauranga, so with the usual amount of Baypark promotion (none) it was good to see about 33 Stockcars in the pits. The breakdown of cars had about 16 locals and the rest visitors from Auckland, Huntly, Rotorua, Meeanee and Kihikihi. The format was two heats for points and then most points off the front for a grand final winner take all.

Heat one was okay with most cars having a good run and grabbing as many points as they could. Major casualty was 291r Chris Brown who started from pole postion only lasting about 1 lap before retiring. 109r Jason Brown looked good for a win but a spinning 66a Peter Church cost him vital seconds and he settled for second behind clubmate 81r Damian Orr. 8m Scott Fredrickson took third from 84m Ryan Smyth and a hard charging 17b Aaron Iremonger rounding out the top five.

81r, 109r, 8m, 84m, 17b, 82m, 218h, 48m, 81h, 13r

Heat two was a humdinger! Any local car who hadn't performed well in the first heat went into stirring mode and best of them was 24m Ian Daniel. At various stages of the race he managed to spin, hit or eliminate 98r, 218h, 109r, 66a and made a general nuisance of himself - top stuff and his battered car just kept on circulating. At the front of the field it was 29m Ryan Hunt for most of the race until a problem saw him head for the infield leaving a fantastic tussle between 95a Gary Lonergan, 81h Rodney Smythe and 82m defending champ Brent Haynes. Lonergan looked to have it until the last corner when Smythe managed to half spin him but fortunately Haynes tucked in behind righted the 95a and kept him moving forward for the win.

95a, 81h, 82m, 48h, 8m, 81r, 35m, 98r, 84m, 26m

For the 15 lap Fredrickson Gold Cup feature race the three-wide front row consisted of 81r, 8m and 82m. What followed was one of the best stockcar races I've seen in a long while. Hits going in left right and centre with the overall theme of the race seemlingly to eliminate whoever was at the front! One by one every leading car seemed to be taken out. 81h spun, 109r puncture, 95a spun, 8m spun, until a red light stoppage 5 laps from the end showed that 82m defending champ Brent Haynes was leading from 81r Orr and 17b Iremonger. Upon the restart the carnage continued and it looked like Haynes was home for the money until he clipped Scott Fredrickson's rear bumper while he was taking a car into the wall sending the 82m heavily front first into the wall. At this stage the teamwork from the Mount cars paid dividends and 35m Graham Keating inherited the lead taking the win from 84m Ryan Smyth and I believe 81r Damian Orr grabbed third place.

The rest of the programme included 15 Sprintcars, 22 Saloons, 8 Supersaloons and 38 Ministocks. I will mention that the only real problem of the night was the continual dust coming off the track - maybe there is a special place to sit because during the Sprintcar and Saloon races you could hardly watch such was the red dust cloud and if you were foolish enough to be eating food it got a few extra spices even the Colonel wouldn't touch. When I got back to my friends place in Papamoa I almost had to be hosed down outside before I could go in the house - I kid you not! Anyway, dust aside it was a step up from last years meeting and definitely a stockcar meeting worth venturing to Baypark for if you love heaps of contact. Outside of a teams meeting you wouldn't see this much action at most tracks.

Meeting rating : 7/10

Black Friday Biff & Bash

One thing you can say about Auckland is that not only is the weather fickle but so are the crowds going by the sparse turnout for WP's second meeting of the year. The Black Friday 'Biff and Bash' was essentially a club night meeting and I thought that car numbers would be light given the fact is was being run on a Friday but although down on the opening meeting the pits was still very full and included a number of new cars.

Paul and Craig Chatfield made they first appearances in a while sporting what can only be described as "Chatfield Racing Green" on two very slick looking cars. Also debuting was 9a, 82a, a very welcome return of 441a Andy Weir and 24a Trevor Cook. Numbers for the stockcars (19 in the pits) are very impressive this early in the season. Superstocks managed 9 cars which isnt too bad considering Rotorua only pulled in 8 last night at their meeting. Huntly cars took out all three wins but 61a Nicholls looked promising in the first heat although gremlins appear to have ended his night early ("We burst a pressure line from the oil pump, nothing sinister, we will be back next week") emailed from Tim. 85h Jared Wade learned the hard way that if you take on one Marx car (there were three of them racing: 53a, 63a and 73a) you will be punished and so the honour of first rollover in this class for the year was his after a perfectly timed hit by 63a. Don't mess with the Marx! 28h Glen Drabble won heat one, was second in heat two and took out the feature.

Supersaloons managed a very decent field of 10 cars and once again 99a McInteer was the one to watch although 38h Peter Hemi kept him honest. Keep an eye on 51a in the beautifully presented Mainline car, this guy has really stepped up a gear. 61a Roy Walker took a clean sweep of the Saloons and looked the goods in a field that could only muster 11 cars. The rest of the racing included a whopping 35 Ministocks, 8 Modifieds and 9 Streetstocks in some pretty tame racing. My only real gripe perhaps is the starting grids for some of these races with Jamie Fox barely tested with front row starts, likewise for McInteer in the Supers.

So a another small step forward in regards the actual show being put on, I'm sure the crowd will be huge at the next meeting being a Demo Derby. Special thanks to whoever was in control of the flow of events as there wasn't a single break in the programme and the 21 races were completed before 10pm giving the Modifieds a bonus race at the end of the night. When its as cold as it was last night, simple things like this make a huge difference. Also putting up stirrers money for all three Stockcar races made them the standout class for the night. Not sure of who took the money but 441a Weir, 007a Fergusson and the real surprise of the night 21a Brett Dixon who found his inner mongrel must have been contenders. Onwards and upwards then for this new promotion hopefully.

Meeting rating : 6/10

Cracker!

WP Opening Meeting

If ever there was an important meeting this season for WP, this was going to be it. A lot of pressure and expectation for the new promotions team and club who perennially under-perform each season, usually giving a glimpse of how good the place can be at only a few meets during the season. Fortunately they delivered with a quality show, fantastic fireworks display and decent fields in most classes even requiring some of the cricket grounds for the abundance of MiniStocks in attendance. More noticeable than the on-track action (which was great) was the HUGE crowd and excellent atmosphere (yes atmosphere!) that has been missing for several years.

From the moment you went through the public gates the new signage signalled change. The amount of competitors in the pits (probably double any figure a usual opening night has drawn in) and a quick look through the new-look full colour A5 sized programme which is very spectator friendly, confirmed that indeed, change is happening.

The four man commentary team (Howe, Drever, Duff and new man Chris Lawrence) gelled well although there were a few hiccups with driver info and results that can be overlooked on a normal race night. There were some hilarious jokes at the expense of John Duff who put the commentators hex on EVERY car he mentioned to the point that he refused to even say drivers names towards the end of the night. He must owe Nigel Ross a drink such were his powers of destructive suggestion! The flow of the meeting was pretty good although the fireworks usually means a late night - starting promptly at 6.45pm and finishing just after 11pm stretching it a bit. The programming of a teams race between Auckland and Gisborne (win to the Alleycats), a Rock FM promotion infield, a chance to win a season pass and the complete lack of pointless downtime for a crowd that would have included many families probably only there for the fireworks meant that for once the club were taking advantage of the opportunity to convert a few first timers and get them coming back for the speedway viewing.

The Gisborne Gladiators made the long trek up for a match-up with the local Alleycats team who haven't made a home appearance since the disastrous cancelled encounter with Rotorua last year. The race was essentially settled in turn three of the first lap as Gary Lonergan took out Gladiators runner 66g Sam Hughes leaving 5 cars on to 4 for the rest of the race. The visitors never gave up, which is becoming a hallmark of the new era Gizzy teams but with a polished looking Auckland team including new cap Dan Martin performing clinically and without too much need for mega hits, Gary Lonergan took the win from a late charging 65g Andrew Powell. Lets hope this is an omen for the Alleycats big season ahead at the Huntly and Wellington events.

The rest of the programme included 8 Modifieds, a big quality field of Saloons, a mixed field of SuperSaloons and Saloons with some spectacular if unpredictable driving from 99a Shane McInteer, 30+ MiniStocks, a very big field of 26+ Stockcars, a strong field of StreetStocks, MiniSprints and the Sidecar rigs who raced on the big track (another good decision that gets a thumbs up from me) plus the feature race photos and interview with the winning driver to finish the night off. As I left I heard over the pit speakers the drivers all being thanked for their efforts and no doubt relief that the first date was done and dusted.

Mission accomplished for the first meeting then, the big challenge now is to repeat it and keep the crowds coming through the gates. Having the big crowd there really makes a difference. Even when the winning driver went on their chequered flag lap people were cheering on the backstraight like in the old days. The old days... now there's a hard act to measure up to, nobody has been able to even get close in recent years, but if we remember massive speedway fan Rachel Hunter's sage advice "it wont happen overnight,..."

Meeting rating 7/10