Good times, good times

Auckland Superstock Title / Ollie Browne Memorial

Twenty-one Superstocks in the WP pits is not a regular feature these days sadly, so anyone who failed to take advantage and attend missed out a cracker of a meeting Saturday night. Going by the very average crowd size perhaps a few people have thrown in the towel when it comes to this glamour class, but word of mouth and a few more meetings of this calibre will only do good things as far as crowd numbers are concerned. Top marks then for Paul Vasey and Dave Tennant who I believe were the driving force behind the meeting. Not to be outdone, two of the support acts for the evening, Saloons and Stockcars really were entertaining and if the Streetstocks had a few more numbers then I think you could have added them in there too.

Auckland SuperStocks Heat 1
Twenty cars made it out of the pits, 86h Chris Allen failed to make the start of any of the four heats unfortunately. Rick Campbell and Tony Wootten diced for the lead for the first few laps before Woottens night became one of blocking, stirring or DNF's in the impressive looking 71h. Biggest mover was 351a Paul Vasey moving up from grid 20 to second behind a seriously slick looking 99r of Mark Decke who took the first heat win. 38r Ross Ashby had the tank flying for a 3rd place finish. There were a number of DNF's including 9k Baker, 71h Wootten, 23k Taylor and 28h Drabble.
99r, 351a, 38r, 5k, 73a, 6k, 73h, 63a, 22r, 37r, 52r

Heat 2
Eighteen cars made it out for heat two, 71h Wootten being spun on the first lap then deciding to have a play with whoever was unfortunate enough to be in his vicinity. First up it was 37r Ken Hunter who was able to power away without too much difficulty. The same could not be said for the luckless Vasey who was forced up the wall and over ending his title hopes. On the red light, Hunter was leading from Ridland and Karl Ross. Upon the restart 99a was in block mode with no one keen to pass resulting in a bottleneck of cars until 5k Ridland decided to have a go. 99a Mason spun him. 5k hooked reverse and sent the passing 63a Campbell up the wall and over on to his side in turn 2. I think by this stage we had seen two rollovers and more hitting than the entire rest of the season! Ken Hunter held his lead and took the heat two victory from local hope Bryce Marx.
37r, 73a, 73h, 38r, 22r, 99r, 28h

Heat 3
Going into the final heat, three cars were tied on 37pts; 38r Ashby, 73a Marx and 99r Decke. Further back on 34pts were 73h Ross, with 37r Hunter on 33pts and 6k Remnant on 30pts. A healthy 17 cars made it out considering how much action had taken place in the first two heats. Decke was off grid 4, Ashby off 6 and Marx on grid 9. Ross and Hunter were both starting near the ROF. Dave Baker had had a fairly quiet night up to this point but certainly made his presence felt with attacks on a number of cars most notably Ashby who's challenge basically ended fairly early with 53a Marx managing to block him. 22r Bryce Steiner almost had Decke spun early on infront of the pack but was able to button off and let the 99r correct himself and eventually power away for the win and the title. Throughout the race it was whether local hope 73a Bryce Marx could catch Decke and late in the race had his best chance when the other two Marx cars had Decke blocked and slowing only for 9k Baker to be doing the exact same thing to Marx further back in the field. A great nailbiting finish though. Plenty of action and one of the best Auckland titles in years. Vasey took the win and proved how costly that DNF in heat two was. Final points: 1st 99r 56pts, 2nd 73a 55pts and 3rd 22r 47pts.

Ollie Browne Memorial
The 4th heat for SuperStocks on the night was the Ollie Browne. 14 cars made it out for this race and although not as much action as the Auckland title we still got a rollover for the 99a, plenty of argy bargy and only 9 cars managing to finish. 22r Steiner pulling off a well deserved win from 6k Remant and 73a Marx first local home in third.

Not to be outdone, Stockcars went ballistic all night. 67a Krizo in heat one alone managed to give 33a a massive wall ride, then another huge hit on the 43a Smith car (sister car to 34a Wearing's back from Stratford, the old coupe sold to Huntly) and then rolling 69a Dave Seymour. Billy Neill managed to take the win. Heat 2 Krizo was back at it, taking out 46a, then 43a then 34a before 22a Leigh Cossey gave him an enormous serve into the pit gate. It didn't stop him but retribution came from the Pick-a-Part cars before 69a gave him a massive hit up the rear that he took exception to, and some infield hitting may have ended his night as he didn't return for the final heat? 95a Lonergan took the win. Not too much action in the remaining heat but 9a Cameron Kenworthy picked up his maiden win and two buckets of water for his efforts in the 12 car feature. 82a and 22a took out the other placings.

Meeting was all over by 10pm and the actual Auckland Superstock title was completed by 9pm which was great. Good commentary too it has to be said with points updates and Aaron back behind the mic which injects a bit of life into proceedings. There were a few incidents not mentioned though (Krizo coming out for heat 3 but parking on the grass?) that would have been worth knowing but these are small issues. Once again a great show put on by WP, perhaps fewer classes with shorter shows and bigger fields is the answer?

Meeting rating : 7.5/10

Widget Test 2

This widget lets you see all pages from the 2007/08 season review.

Widget Test

First 15 pages of last seasons review book

Promo 2

One good thing with having done this website for nearly five years (hard to believe but June 2nd, 2010 will be 5 years of reviews) is I can look back and see what last seasons version of an upcoming meeting was like. This Saturday at Waikaraka Park is the Ollie Browne Memorial and Auckland Superstock titles combined. Both separate meetings last year, reviews are here:

Ollie Browne Superstocks 2009

Auckland Superstock Title 2009

Defending champs for the Auckland Superstock title are 87r Pat Westbury, 515r Stan Hickey and 135r Scott Hewson. Westbury has just been confirmed as entered. Last years Ollie Browne was taken out by 66r Steve Hampton, 515r Stan Hickey and 414a (now an H) Warwick Ansty rounding out the top three. Talk of a field of 25 Superstocks would be quite a tasty prospect.

There is a thread on Macgors here.

Hemi, Foxy and some crazy stockcars

What was originally going to be the finals night of the Superstocks Teams Nationals morphed into a Dunny Derby of all things, ironically capturing the mood of this speedway season it would seem. Most people are by now aware of the problems and subsequent cancellation of the teams meeting and with hindsight it probably was a good call (not even taking into account the cost of such a meeting) with Friday night being wet and cold and Saturdays replacement Derby meeting also serving up a chilly night with a sprinkle of rain but at least able to go ahead. Someone forgot to change the entry price though and $20 seemed a bit steep for what was on show. Ignoring that fact, the racing was good and finished by 9.30pm (that has to be a record for WP) and included four heats for most classes before the Derby did its thing.

Crowd was pretty good and Stockcars, Streetstocks, Saloons, Supersaloons and Mods were the classes running. Jamie Fox and Peter Hemi took all the wins in their respective classes (Modifieds 7, SuperSaloons 12). Saloons (13) had wins to 59a Bryan Skelton, and two wins for 74a Scott Lansdown with a great 3 way battle between these two and 6a Torrey/Shane McInteer in their feature. 45a Bill Peat took the feature win for the Streetstocks with 21k Blair Castleton taking the heat wins.

Stockcars (25 including 3 Supers) were the class of the night with visitors from Huntly and Rotorua. 69a Dave Seymour was rolled on the first lap of their first heat and the carnage continued for the rest of the night with wins going to 32r Nicky Johnson, 95a Gary Lonergan, 34a Mark Wearing and 5k Brad Ridland taking the feature in his Super although I think first Stockcar home was probably 82a Robert Neill. Visitor 4h Matthew Nilssen was given grief in every heat and then spectacularly rolled by 84a Brendan Morrison in heat 3. 72r David Rumney took on the locals in the feature until losing a tyre off the rim hampered his attacks. Scott Tennant drove the 75a Super in a warm up to next weeks Auckland Superstock title which appears to have a strong field fronting. The Cossey bros had a tough night with 22a Leigh being rolled while leading the feature and 33a Hayden being hit by almost every car while stalled on the front straight facing the oncoming traffic. This guy either has thumbs that dont go down or is as staunch as Jake the Muss! Great stuff. The Stockcar boys really know how to warm up a crowd and a big field like this was awesome.

Meeting rating : 6/10

Promo

Not often do the words 'elegant' or 'classical' get associated with Superstocks but this promo on YouTube is stunning. Take a look here. Footage from the Palmerston North Superstock teams event 2010.

Modified photo request

Here are a few more of the modifieds from the recent Dirt Cup at WP as requested.

Hurricane Warning!

Michelin New Zealand Superstock Title, Kihikihi Speedway

As meetings go, this one had more twists and turns than a soap opera. With the original 26 qualifiers null and void after a finals night rain out and subsequent failure to complete the meeting within 14 days, the NZ Superstock Championship version 2.0 was finally completed last night at Kihikihi speedway. It was going to take something pretty special to take the focus off the troubled build up, and I think the third heat in front of a modest crowd on a warm and clear night may have done the trick. It was very reminiscent of the third heat I saw in Gisborne a few years ago when Wayne Hemi and the Wellington hit squad aided by one Kelvin Gray gave us one of the best NZ finals I had ever seen.

Leading into the final race, three South Islanders were head of the points table. Reigning champion 1nz Malcolm Ngatai on 49pts, 3nz Brendan Higgins on 44pts, 7n Craig Boote on 43pts followed by a trio of Palmerston North cars; 10p Peter Rees 42pts, 58p Peter Bengston 40pts and 54p Bevan Humphrey on 38pts. What followed was proof that Superstocks do in fact hit, and that there are few types of motorsport that can match 26 Superstocks going mongrel! Five rollovers including 32p Barr, defending champ 1nz Ngatai, 10p Rees and points leader with only two laps remaining 58p Bengsten by 7n Boote who also rolled in the hit. Add into that one of the best performances I have ever seen from 31p Andy McCabe, plenty of stirring also coming from both Joblin boys attacking anything without a P, and 22r Steiner in the mix also. Through all the carnage 96b Murray Long kept circulating almost untouched, while 3nz Higgins managed to repel attack after attack with a punctured front left and rookie 54p Humphrey came oh so close to taking the title. A run off for first place was required, with Higgins using all his years of teams racing knowledge to fend off the young pretender.

What a great race. Compensation no matter how late, for what must have been a difficult and trying time for the host club. Plenty of action then and no doubt some major paybacks brewing if the infield comments were anything to go by. One of my favourites was Craig Boote "...they started it, I finished it!" when asked about the massive hit on Bengsten. Considering his limited racing build-up to this event, imagine what he will be like next season. I really do think he will be the first to reach four 1nz titles... Also worthy of a mention, 492i Campbell MacManaway who really lifted his game and came home in 4th overall.

There will be a lot said about this meeting but I hope that old chestnut (not Carlos) that gets wheeled out right about now that small clubs shouldnt hold big meetings gets well and truly buried. Look at the actual Kihikihi venue that was presented to the public over the weekend. It is light years ahead of what was there last season and this event was the catalyst for all that work. The lighting, sound system, commentary team were all first class and the infield is pretty cool looking and actually works. If big meetings only ever go to big clubs then there will only be big clubs left. This terrible juggernaut called "professionalism" is destroying sports and leaving carnage in its wake. Yes raise standards, yes aim for the best we can be but don't lose what is important and that is all tracks getting the opportunity to host meetings like this.

I left the stadium on a high last night, absolutely loving Superstocks. I was still buzzing this morning with the thought of Brendan Higgins as 1nz. I doubt it counts for much but I hope someone at Kihikihi knows that this punter had a great night and I appreciate all the work that went into this event. Forget the tsunami, there was a Hurricane in town!

Related links:
Check out the Kihikihi website for the full analysis of what happened or view the third heat on YouTube with Petrolfumes great coverage here. And for opinion on Macgors here.

Meeting rating : (Sunday only) 8.5/10

Mixed Bag

Modified Super Dirt Cup / Auckland City of Sails Stockcars

A quality field of 28 of the best Modified drivers in the country had been promised for this years version of the Super Dirt Cup and with the promotion Jamo had been giving it on Macgors I did the unthinkable and decided to miss the qualifying for the NZ Superstocks at Kihikihi and go to my local. Also on the menu was the City of Sails Auckland championship for Stockcars which sealed the deal for me.

26 Mods turned up to play and 24 Stockcars including 3 visitors, 5h, 81h and 72s were all good chances as it turned out. The support classes for the night were looking a little thin and by nights end had most definitely worn out their welcome. In fact I'll go as far as saying the Streetstocks (particularly 51r) tried hard to entertain but with 5 cars it all looked a bit tired and sad. Minisprints and Ministocks were just plain boring. There were gaps in the programme and the night just wore on too long finishing at 11.40pm I think. Enough on that for now.

The Mods were split into two groups for two heats each, then the top 18 would go through and have a top 6 pole shuffle (I love these) and then all the non-qualifiers would go into a last chance repercharge for the final two places. Now somewhere along the way things must have gone awry, there was no repercharge, the programme was running late and Minisprints just kept coming out the gate and torturing us. Heat 1 for group 1 was a Foxy benefit, he looked awesome and my pre-meeting thoughts of who would win were being confirmed. I think he came from the rear of the field to take second behind 871c Luke Keegan who lead from the front for the whole race. Group 2's first heat was similar with 3nz (29c) Glen Leech doing the business followed home by 55s Ward and 78h Chatfield. In heat two for both groups, Group 1 featured a battle between 4s Dixon and 1nz Fox which the national champ won but I dont know if something was wrong with the car or the track conditions (dusty and breaking up in the corners) but the Fox of heat 1 was looking a little less dominant. Result: 1nz, 4s, 6a, 4c, 8s. Group 2 had problems with the track surface too and I noted "spins galore" on my scrap of paper. 56a Blakely looked very ominous and took a great win. Result: 56a, 55s, 3nz, 78h, 13c.

Now remember with this website I just put down what I hear from the commentary team, I dont go searching through the pits for results or whatever so that was how I saw it after the qualifying. I deserve a medal by the way because if you've been to WP recently, getting results is a mission. Anyway, I thought the racing had been top notch. The pole shuffle involved 49c v 6a, 6a v 4s, 6a v 871c, 871c v 8s, 871c v 3nz and finally 871c v 1nz, win going to Keegan for the pick of front row position.

The final 30 lapper had a field of 23 cars. The repercharge had gone west and going by some postings on Macgors something had gone pear shaped down in the pits. Ignoring all that, the actual racing (that's what we're there for) was great, a typical hard fought Dirt Cup. Now since I didn't write this review until today (and I'm still buzzing from the NZ Superstocks last night) I'll just put some of my manic scribblings on my trusty notepad down. Here goes "...871c, 1nz, 3nz leading... 56a + 67s into wall turn 2... 8s hits 49c on yellow light... 13c off, 78h off, 64a off... Fox passes 46c backmarker, 3nz went to pass and 4s all hit wall... 11 laps to go 3nz off... 871c keeping traffic between him and 1nz... 871, 1nz, 4s, 6a, 4c, 8s, 29a, 2nz, 21a, 77s at that stage... 6a flys past 4s, 2nz huge roll in turn 3... 55s off, 11 cars left... Keegan clears out... 1nz v 4s 3 laps to go and 4s passes Fox... Fox holds on to 3rd.." Final placings: 871c Keegan, 4s Dixon, 1nz Fox, 4c Gourley, 6a Jessen. Hope that makes some sort of sense. I'm sure a much better write up will appear on the 1nz Foxy website and it will no doubt give an insight into what was going on behind the scenes too.

The Stockcars were the other feature and like the Modifieds, turned on a great display resulting in a run-off for first place between 69a Dave Seymour and 81h Rodney Smythe, two careers at either end of the spectrum. Unlike the Mods, their championship was over three heats for points. Heat 1 finished with 81h, 34a, 69a, 72s, 441a, 14a and 96a. 24 cars came out for heat two and 34a Wearing was looking great for a win until the last lap went something broke and he coasted over the line well down the field, night over. An unfortunate spin for 69a Seymour when a fellow Auckland car went for 81h cost him dearly finishing well down. 72s won, followed home by 81h, 741a, and 14a. Heat 3 turned the action up a bit and 81h Smythe was held up by a very brave 24a, 72s had his run cut short and brought on the red lights, 84a took a huge hit into the wall and 69a Seymour came home for the win from 741a, 81h, 5h, 9a I'm guessing. Remember all results are usually read in a monotone as the cars cross the line so it's almost impossible to hear. This resulted in a tie and run-off won by 81h Smythe. Not sure who came third as we were heading for the gates!

So there you have it, a really mixed bag. The two feature classes rocked, the rest was dismal. Considering how many meetings were on, the crowd was very big so there was a good atmosphere when there was good racing. This is another rollcoaster season for WP but I hope all those people sticking the knife in realise that they got two great championships with possibly the best field of Modifieds we have seen in years but its hard to ignore there were also some problems. 'Tis a hard job being in charge at Waikaraka Park!

Meeting rating : 5.5/10