Waikaraka kicks off

Delayed a week due to the weather, Waikaraka Park kicked off its second season under promoter Bruce Robertson and immediately you would have noticed a change in the pits pre-meeting... Superstocks! What a welcome return, particularly for a number of cars that used to have the letter A grace the side of the car, falling back into the fold it would seem. Hopefully the promise of full fields of a class that all but died save the efforts of the Marx team and Paul Vasey. The programme had listed 15 drivers not including Tim Nicholls who ran the 63a Super last night. Bryce Marx, Phil Marx, Wayne Whittaker, Lance Ashton, Darren Short, Karl Ross, Gary Ellis, Kerry Remnant, Gavin Entwistle, Brad Ridland, Ricky Mitchell, Paul Vasey, Warwick Ansty, Aaron Headington and Ryan Harrison from the UK.

Anyway onto the meeting, similar to Huntly last week, WP decided to offer an incentive for the Stockcar class by running the City of Sails Stockcar title on opening night. Whereas Huntly canned their Waikato Title due to low numbers, the City of Sails title was contested with only 14 cars which is a pity as this title has been a huge highlight these last couple of seasons. One little nitpick I will throw in here that I have noticed happening at ALL clubs over the last few seasons, there is little or no history of the event being contested mentioned in the programme, no previous winners, defending champs etc. So just to fill in the gaps, last seasons running of this event was won by 59a Grant Littlewood ahead of Gary Lonergan and Bernie Fox. In 2010 it was a run-off between 81h Rod Smythe and 69a Dave Seymore to find the winner, Smythe taking the honours. This year Gary Lonergan improved one position and took the title from visitor and main threat 8r Scott Fredrickson, 29a Scott Tennant by virtue of a heat three win took third place.

Heat one was fairly tame as expected being the very first race of the season. 8r Fredrickson took an easy win although he did have to avoid a few attempts by 9a Cam Kenworthy to impede him, 29a Tennant, 95a Lonergan, 21a Dixon and 741a Chatfield filled out the top 5 places. 11 cars fronted for heat two. Spins for Chatfield and Tennant would cost them plenty of places and Bernie Fox almost had the win until riding up over the wheel of 33a Haydn Cossey. Lonergan able to take the lead and win. Fox finishing second ahead of a tentative Fredrickson who looked like he was waiting for the big hit that never came. 21a Dixon running well and getting his second 4th place finish ahead of 441h Andy Weir. This left 8r and 95a tied on 26pts, 21a and 29a on 22pts, 441h on 19 and 741a on 16pts. We were down to 10 cars although the 9a managed to get back on track and provided most of the action. With 33a sitting on the brakes at the start and 9a having a jab at Lonergan, Tennant took off in the lead. Lonergan saw an opportunity to end Fredrickson's chances and just missed with a big lunge in turn 4. Kenworthy had another go at Fredrickson and Lonergan paid back the earlier hit from 9a. Kenworthy had one more good go at 95a forcing him into the wall and a shower of sparks before the 9a car eventually died. 2nz Fox then took over the stirring and after holding up the Rotorua driver, Lonergan passed them and took outright second behind Tennant and the points win over Fredrickson. Chatfield finished 4th ahead of Dixon who was another target of Fox. Good stuff but at times with a field of only 10 cars it wasnt really going to set the park alight.

The support programme consisted of 14 Saloons, 24 Ministocks, 9 Superstocks and 6 Modifieds. Bodie Abrahamson in the saloons and Luke Brown and the Ministocks really stood out and the battle between 55s and 64a Modifieds in their feature race was a great. Superstock wins went to 11a Gary Ellis,115a Darren Short and 5a Brad Ridland.

It's good to be back!

Valvoline Waikato Saloon Car + TWS Stockcar Championships
October 20 / Huntly PlaceMakers Speedway



Welcome to Season 12/13! After a long off season drought for the spectators (I'm sure it doesn't feel quite so long for the drivers and crews getting their cars ready) and with a break in the usual dire Labour weekend weather, Huntly PlaceMakers Speedway was one of the lucky few to get their season underway Saturday night. The original plan had been for a two nighter featuring the Waikato Stockcar Championship to open Huntly's calendar - which in theory is great with the intention of attracting cars to the track - but a midweek posting advising it had been reduced to one night meant the reality was 40+ cars was going to be a stretch (I think we had 21 in the pits pre-meeting). Pity as it would have been a sensational start, some opening nights can be a bit mundane. So I'm rather pleased to say this opening night was anything but mundane, any rustiness or first night nerves was quickly dispensed with, and some good hard and fast racing ushered in the beginning of season 12/13.

TWS Stockcar Championship
Three heats with points to decide the TWS sponsored title instead of the postponed Waikato Championship was a great battle and highlighted the fact that any visiting driver to Huntly will be hard pressed to take away any title. 68r Keith Spanhake and 98r Mark Costello were the obvious threats and proved that with a comprehensive win to Spanhake in the first heat heading home 88h Justin Hutchby and 55h Neville Hazelton in third. 69h Whiter and 48h Gallop had the biggest incident bringing on the red lights early in the race. A spin late in the race in turn 3 for 441h Andy Weir courtesy of 36h Caldwell that left him nursing the car home with an almost detached left front wheel coming home 16th. Result courtesy of Huntly website HERE.

68r Keith Spanhake
88h Justin Hutchby
55h Neville Hazelton
86h Kris Allen
98r Mark Costello
51h Alistair Van Amsterdam
49h Tony Van Lieshout
99h Mark Powell
34h Anton Leek
44h Anthony McNeil

Heat 2 was a chance for many to really test their cars out and as such was more of a flag race. 98r Costello was taken to the wall immediately though and spent most of the race playing catch up. Hutchby started on poll and made easy work of the win finishing well ahead of anyone else. Spanhake started well down the grid in 15th and was mid pack early on and as far as I could tell finished in 3rd despite a few attempts by 99h Mark Powell who made life difficult for him, an incredible drive. The only fault I could find with this meeting was the sound system which of course meant I could hardly hear any results. We were between turns 3 + 4 and unfortunately Mintie's commentary was barely a whisper, usually drowned out by the pit speakers which were louder. From what I could hear I think the points after two heats had 88h Hutchby on 41pts, 68r Spanhake on 40pts, 55h Hazelton on 37pts and then a bunch of cars back on 30pts including 98r Costello and 49h Tony Van Lieshout.

88h Justin Hutchby
36h Mark Caldwell
68r Keith Spanhake
55h Neville Hazelton
34h Anton Leek
48h Scott Gallop
49h Tony Van Lieshout
99h Mark Powell
98r Mark Costello
33h Russell Michie

Heat 3 had a few gaps on the grid particularly near the front giving Costello essentially a grid 2 start in front of Andy Weir while Hutchby was well down the pack on about grid 10 and Hazelton off the back of the pack. 51h Alastair Van Amsterdam lead early on from Costello but Spanhake's chances took a dive when 168a Billy Neill stood on the brakes holding up the entire outside row with the 68r on about grid 6. 7k David Moore decided to give Hutchby a few problems but 36h Mark Caldwell attacked him freeing up Hutchby. Costello was not so lucky with 48h Scott Gallop stopping him first in turn one and then again in turn 4. 99h Powell again was on Spanhake's case nearly spinning him mid race only for that man Gallop to send the Rotorua driver into the wall just as he was about to take on Hutchby in turn 1, Hutchby escaping and taking second place behind Weir and the overall title. I think Spanhake may have come in second overall, an impressive early season result and great to see one of the sports most popular drivers back on the track. Justin Hutchby proved he is not only one of the toughest competitors on the track but has the car to take the wins also.

441h Andy Weir
88h Justin Hutchby
27h Rodney Smythe
51h Alistair Van Amsterdam
68r Keith Spanhake
34h Anton Leek
98r Mark Costello
55h Neville Hazelton
99h Mark Powell
36h Mark Caldwell

Valvoline Waikato Saloon Championship
A decent field of 13 fronted up for the other feature of the night and the first heat probably was the race of the night with a battle between 49h Bodie Abrahamson and 48a Phil Towgood. They were neck and neck all race but coming up to the last corner there was a coming together and Towgood crossed the line attached to the wall and none to pleased going by the friendly gesture out the window! Going by the results on the Huntly website Abrahamson was disqualified from the heat. In heat 2 it was Gisborne visitor 77g Daniel Cook who really impressed but Towgood again stole the show with clouds of smoke emitting from the car for the final two laps. Heat 3 had Towgood in the box seat starting at the front but after a lap or two of smoke he was hauled infield and his title hopes really did go up in smoke! 21h Steve Williams inherited the lead and won the heat. Overall Williams took the title from Cook and 6m Kevin Moore in 3rd.

The meeting was rounded out with support from 10+ Production Saloons, 7 Minisprints, 22 Ministocks and about 4 Supersaloons. Well done Huntly Speedway on running a meeting with something more exciting than just the fact it is opening night. I wasn't fooled by the new palm trees out the front of the entrance though, I suggest if you are visiting Huntly for the next few weeks take your thermals!

NZ Stockcar Champs 1996, Wellington

Someone has uploaded a great video of the 1996 NZ Stockcar title won by 71w Kim Lace at Wellington, from the 'Grandstand' show on TV1. 84w Ian King looked to have won the title but a protest means a runoff is required, which is also included in the coverage HERE.

Special deal from Blurb

From the Blurb website:

Savings for your friends and fans!
It’s always the right time to sell more books, right? At least that’s what we think. To make it easier, here’s an offer to share that gives people 20% off your books. Have your fans and followers use the code FANS at checkout and they get 20% off a print book from now until October 23, 2012.

Link to order any of my books is HERE.

The curious pleasure

Well worth a look is this 1967 documentary gem featuring Dexter Dunlop racing at Palmerston North. Another great piece of history long forgotten but now on YouTube. Some interesting facts and figures including prize money and attendance at meetings. If you have a spare 30 minutes, sit back and watch The Curious Pleasure. Link is HERE

TradeMe Stockcar roundup!

I always find myself looking at the stockcars for sale on TradeMe, I have no intention of buying one but it kills a few minutes working out which one I WOULD buy if I had the money. The turnover of cars is fairly slow compared to Macgor's classifieds, not sure why, but some hang around for a long time. The one thing about TM is that sometimes it features a car from the past or one like the 52r from Rotorua that I've never seen before. Here are a few featured at the moment:

52r is HERE Asking price: $6,000 Or Near Offer

44m is HERE Asking price: $7,000 Or Near Offer

96v is HERE  Asking price: $4,000 Or Near Offer

58k is HERE Asking price: $6,250

13c is HERE Start price: $1,000.00

Tony Mac Rolling chassis is HERE Start price: $3,000.00

66n is HERE Asking price: $26,000 Or Near Offer

2011/12 Speedway Review arrives!

There were a few setbacks and plenty of work over the six months it took to compile the latest book in my series of Speedway Season Reviews, but the finished product always makes it worthwhile. I had more contributors than ever this year including award winning photographer Graham Hughes, MikeyB from Christchurch, Troy Adamson, Go Slideways TV in Palmy, Kenley Brown from Hawkes Bay, Blair Hall from Nelson, Philip Scott of Dunstan and Kinge in Gisborne, Gavin "pallmall" Evitt, Wal Joines of Stockcarscene website, Craig Baker of Coast Photos in Greymouth and my own pit photos as well.

I originally created the 2007/08 book as a safety net in case my website ever got hacked and I lost all the reviews and photos I had taken that season. It seemed a good idea to have a permanent printed record and Blurb had a fairly simple programme called Booksmart which essentially was some templates you dropped your photos and text into. It was basic and sometimes a pain to work with but I managed to create a book that year and the following season also. In 2009 they offered the opportunity to upload your own finished pdf file to print rather than use their templates and so the last three books are the ones I'm really proud of, 2009/10, 2010/11 and now 2011/12 Review.

The time involved and the cost of the books have meant I wont be making any money from the books but I like to think that there is a unique record of at least 5 seasons of racing that isn't just a list of winners names on a website or a trophy with no backstory or images of what happened. The books have evolved from the original concept of my personal reviews and photos and include obviously a few more photographers work now which is probably not the original intention, but I guess I will have to reassess if its worth doing this again next season considering the cost and time to produce it. The biggest buzz I get from it, is when I get an order for a book from a driver or family member of a driver. They are the reason I love going to speedway and I like to think the book will be proudly displayed if they are in it. I know Beatle Tarrant bought a copy of the second book which has his legendary 64b tanker on the cover. I have a copy of that book also that I spent the following season getting autographs of as many drivers featured in the book and the overwhelming positive response from almost every driver was the reason I continued to produce the books. I particularly remember getting Craig Boote to sign the book and it was the first time I had spoken to him. Not only did he sign the book but he had a good read and was great to talk to, unaffected and a genuinely nice guy, part of the reason he is one of my favourite drivers these days.

This years book is dedicated to Gavin Evitt, who as you may know sadly passed away recently. He was a contributor to the very first book I did (along with Graham Hughes) and I had received some more photos from his visit to Baypark early in the season to use this year. He was going to send me some more shots I needed from the NZ Superstock title at Huntly when I found out he was unwell and in hospital. Sadly that was my last conversation with him and his loss to the speedway community will be immense. Personally I still cant believe he wont be at the first meeting this season at WP, where we would always have our pre-meeting chat in the pits as we walked around taking our photos. He always championed the books and was incredibly encouraging. I will miss him.

If you do buy a book, thank you for your support. If you don't then I urge you to purchase photographs this season from the contributors to the book from their websites. They do a great job every season and there is some stunning work out there. Like the drivers we celebrate every season by going to the meetings, the photographers also invest a huge amount of money in equipment and time spent working and the photos they take should be valued and respected.

Link to the book is HERE.