It's Speedway Jim, but not as we know it...

If you were completely oblivious to the goings on this past week with Tiger Woods appearing at a charity celebrity stockcar meeting in Huntly, then reading the international websites reporting on the event might leave you wondering what actually happened.

My favourite so far is from MSN "...(Woods) won the second of two celebrity stock car races on a dirt track in this small coal mining town...to raise funds to provide sporting careers for disadvantaged youth, Woods forced his way from the back of the grid to the front..." it sounds more like a script to a tear-jerker movie of the week but in actual fact the whole night felt a bit unreal and definitely a bit Hollywood. No matter what the reason for the event the Huntly club were on to a winner here. I've been to many speedway meetings but nothing like this, a 'drivers-by-invite-only' showcase of the sport featuring some heavyweight celebs that received positive front page newspaper coverage and even the leading story on the major TV networks. You can't buy that sort of exposure and Steve Williams and the Waikato Stock and Saloon Car Club should be commended for their achievement.

I will admit though, at some stages during the buildup last week and specially during the meeting, I had some 'ownership issues' to deal with. My usual seat gone, my complete and unrestricted access to the pits and cars suddenly removed! People at work talking about Tiger racing at Huntly and telling ME what was happening and how great this was for speedway, I just wanted to shout "you dont know the first bloody thing about speedway... I'm a REAL fan!" Funny how possesive we become of something we've supported for years through the good and bad just to suffer these fools... hold on, isn't the whole point of this exercise to get these people coming every week? Do we take for granted that speedway will never grow bigger, that we will always be this secret society that gathers in 'small coal mining towns' across the county to enjoy something as special as teams racing? It's an odd feeling knowing that you're in on something great before the masses know about it and sometimes that's the feeling you get sitting at a speedway meeting that is just 'going off' wondering "why isn't this on TV?"

Two teams of stockcars (the Tigers and the Tanas) were the main feature of the night and in a promoters dream ended up locked at one win each (race one Paul Radisich, race two Tiger Woods) requiring a run off third heat that the drivers were keen to see happen and the crowd even more so. The surprise for me was that the ability of most of the celebs was much better than I thought they would be but how hard must it have been for the 'real' stockcar drivers involved not to show them how it's supposed to be done and on one occasion the restraint it must have taken for Carlos Chestnutt not to put Tiger up and over the wall when he had the opportunity...

The crowd was huge and vocal and even though the weather and traffic tried hard to spoil the script, we were well entertained and lucky to be part of something a little bit different and a little bit special. I would have killed for a pit pass and the only time I was close to a celeb was when Tana Umaga walked right past me and as usual I was stuffing my face with an eggburger. If I was part of this 'movie' I just had my Jimmy Olsen moment...Doh!

So as 'novelty' events go, it was rather well executed, and hopefully not a one off. Getting someone with the star power of Tiger Woods was the key to the success and also the problem, there aren't too many tigers in this neck of the woods so to speak and without Steve William's connection I doubt the idea would have got off the ground. Maybe it will be a one off, if that's the case I hope the Huntly club will be able to capitalise on the exposure the club and speedway in general received.

From a spectator point of view, things went smoothly, the track and facilities looked stunning and the commentary team outdid themselves (Paul Hickey, Ken Sines and Mintie). Tana's team proved they weren't playing tiddlywinks and won the challenge but Speedway was the real winner... oh, and the disadvantaged coalmining orphans of Huntly.

The Tanas:
13AB Tana Umaga
21 Paul Radisich (1st race 1)
1nz Tony Galbraith
64a Carlos Chestnutt (1st race 3)
206r Bill Keijzer

The Tigers:
1 World Tiger Woods (1st race 2)
21h Steve Williams
51 Greg Murphy
96h Kevin Ngakai
98h Justin Hutchby

Meeting rating : 8/10

King of the Park

Late Saturday afternoon and luckily I checked the WP website and realised the meeting started earlier than usual at 6pm. Arriving a bit late, a quick check of the pits revealed a large turnout for the final meeting of the season. In fact there were quite a few visiting cars from as far a field as Gisborne and Meeanee. Also a few new cars in the pits, early purchases for next season getting a last chance run.

The crowd size was better than expected and I wonder if the high profile speedway has had this past week piqued the interest of a few punters who wanted to check out WP? Well if that was the case, Waikaraka Park turned on one of it's best meetings in ages. I'm one of the many people who seem to take every opportunity to point out every little thing that's wrong with the place, so get ready for a review full of praise... it's only fair.

I dont know what happened on Saturday night, (I'm still a bit dazed and confused) but apart from a small understandable delay to the start of the meeting because the ambulance was late, there wasn't a single holdup for the rest of the night. Every class has decent numbers beginning with 22 ministocks who not unlike the ministocks last week at Rotorua, were determined to go out with a bang. The Saloons were a little light on numbers but the combination of 9a Steve Louden, 12a Nevano Cowan and 58a Gavin Hinsley provided plenty of thrills with Hinsley taking out the final heat and title.





The stockcars were amazing. Boosted by visiting cars 37g, 49b, 78m & 137k the action started from the first corner of the first heat as Paul Vasey driving 93a was rolled. Now this is where one of the innovations of the night was played out, instead of 93a being towed off he was put back on his wheels and allowed to restart. This happened throughout the night to any car that caused a red light and what a difference it made. Immediately the car that had been rolled or put up the wall had the opportunity for revenge! This was an inspired move, and should be done on any club night or night like this if the drivers agree to it. Although the King of the Park title was up for grabs, a number of drivers were only out there to cause trouble, which we love. 137k Paully Rawiri performed his usual antics and probably was the stirrer of the night, he gave a great interview about his driving style too. The hits in every heat were full on and sometimes you didn't know where to look so much was happening. 45a Daniel Knight was another who seemed to be constantly in the action along with Carlos Chestnutt in the 14a.

The Modifieds capped off a successful season with three heats of superb racing with Jamie Fox and Scott Lane absolutely flying. Fox claimed the title with a brilliant performance, he was just awesome to watch. With the Mods holding the NZ Title here next season this class will only get better and better. The programme listed the title dates as January 1 + 2, 2007 so another quiet New Years eve for these guys! Streetstocks have been a bit average this season but not tonight. Finally a bit of biffo and 45a Bill Peat was paid the ultimate compliment when he decided not to run but stir and had a group of cars queued up behind him unwilling to pass. 89a Shane Waldon took out the title.

Superstocks had a field of 11 cars, not big numbers at other tracks but for WP it was large and also a fairly even group too. 11a Gary Ellis had the car really firing in the first heat for the win but it was 99a Mark Decke who won the other two races and the title with ease in a car that is for sale. Supersaloons also provided some tight racing between 11m and 3nz and a spectacular crash for 16a John Parlato in the last race with 3nz Lance Jennings taking the title.

Summary

The sound system functioned (at last!) and the combination of Mike Howe and Aaron Drever's commentary worked well. They managed to get some comments from the drivers, give out results and even the infield mic was working. The most notable thing for me about the whole night was the lack of delays. In between races they had a novelty ramp jump thing happening but instead of the usual mucking around, the next class was being assembled ready to race immediately afterwards... this is exactly how it should be done. A great meeting with plenty of action, and most importantly a professionally run, entertaining night. This is how Waikaraka Park should present it's show every week, it proves that the combination of decent fields + good organisation = happy punters. Hopefully there were a few new spectators who would have been well satisfied...

Kings of the Park
Superstocks: 99a Mark Decke
Stockcars: 34a Mark Wearing
Modifieds: 11a Jamie Fox
Supersaloons: 3nz Lance Jennings
Streetstocks: 89a Shane Waldon
Saloons: 58a Gavin Hinsley

Meeting Rating : 6.5/10

Hot and Cold

I wisely chose to drive down on Saturday and so avoided the traffic nightmare on Good Friday that other family members got caught up in resulting in a five and a half hour drive to Tirau for them!

Anyway, it's been a while since I've been to Paradise Valley, in fact the last time I went down I think they had just finished the first lot of terracing on the back straight, so I was looking forward to seeing what else had been done. The improvements are great and the look of the place is a credit to everyone involved. I usually sit in turn three, in front of the food stand (of course), and now there is the option to lean on the wooden rails at the top of the bank which offers a fantastic view of the track. Perfect.

Before the meeting started I had planned to meet up with Mike from Superstock 21r to check out some old Rotorua photos of cars from years ago, and can I say it was a pleasure meeting you and hopefully at a later date I'll be able to post some of the amazing photos he had (specially of a bright yellow 83r Wayne Houston 'Sherman Tank-like' standard stock from years ago, I've never seen a more solid looking car)!

Then as I was about to leave the pits, I saw Neil McCoard who I hadn't spoken to for ages and managed to chat for about half an hour. He's always been one of the nicest guys in the sport and very approachable. We talked about the old 14a tank, the 'Concoard', racing injuries and his plans for next season. What a great start to the meeting and the racing hadn't even begun!

Night one of the Easter Meeting featured Superstocks, Stockcars, Production Saloons and Mini Sprints. Now two of these classes I love and two are not so lovable, can you guess... the minisprints had good numbers and did what minisprints do, so no real gripes about them. Productions saloons are less interesting. There was a bit of biffo though which made them bearable but it offered me the opportunity to test the theory offered by Barry Brown about the popularity of classes and the numbers of people ordering food and I can say the woman cooking the hamburger patties at the food caravan was getting her panties in a bunch because she was overwhelmed by the masses during the production saloon racing! During the Superstocks and the Stockcars there was virtually no one ordering food. This survey has a plus or minus error rate of about 5 burgers.




The Superstocks and Stockcars both had massive fields of cars with the Stockcars being split into two qualifying groups. The cars were mostly from Rotorua with a few W, P, K, M, a couple of H and one token Stratford entry. From the get go Wellington cars were set upon and dealt to. This made for great viewing! Also the two tanks in attendance, 33r and 26k were constant targets all night and perhaps because 26k used to be 26m the Baypark cars specially 91m, took to him. It proved that Bill Peat style tanks can take the hits!

The Superstocks were running a best pairs meet along with the knowledge that this would be Rodney Woods last meeting before the jump to Sprintcars, so I knew at some point there would be some paybacks. Most of the action for them was kept until night two but the stand out performers and points leaders after the first three heats were 1nz, 51r, 515r, 62r and Jeff Mohi in the familiar green 74r.

So night one over, the overwhelming feeling was that I had no feeling because of the cold. Fortunately I ate my body weight in food (to keep warm) and looked forward to more of the same for night two. The meeting ran smoothly and was over pretty quick which was fine by me.





I knew night two would be better because of the addition of Modifieds and Saloons. Ministocks were also on the programme, hundreds of them it seemed, in two bunches, I had grave fears for the hamburger lady, I hope she took some V or Red Bull because she was in for a big night...

Modifieds have a love/hate relationship with this track and when 16 of them rolled out of the pits I thought there is no way this meeting is going to run smoothly. In actual fact, although there were some rollovers and some 'incidents' I thought they were great. 10s Willie Noonan is one of my favourites and seeing him back on the track was a bonus. The eventual winner was 9w Tama Arapere from 11a Jamie Fox. A bit of a dust problem was the only negative from this class.

The Ministox were not on their best behaviour and I would imagine some harsh words were said to a few of them afterwards. Made them more entertaining if anything and some infield action also got the crowd going.

The saloons were alright, stand out for me was 98h who seemed to have no fear in attempting the outside pass when others hugged the pole line hoping for an error so they could jump inside the car ahead.

In the Stockcars only four non Rotorua cars made the final 26 for the three heat finals and were put upon fairly early. 77p was harder to stop but they got him in the third heat. 16r Clive Pritchard took the win and was well deserving. The non qualifiers though really turned on the action and were great to watch. Quite a few cars were 'sponsored' by FOR SALE, so it will be interesting to see how many changed hands over the weekend.

The Superstocks turned things up a notch for their final three heats and what a great spectacle it was. The noise and atmosphere that 26 Superstocks create is the drug that keeps me coming back time after time. I sort of hoped 51r would get the fairytale ending he deserved, but this is stockcars and so he ended his career with three wheels and a second place finish, which really sums up his Superstock racing, always in the top finishers and a never say die attitude. Quite a fitting end I thought. Apparently the crew were wearing black armbands! 1nz Darcy Hunter took the title with 515r Hickey in third.

Overall I was well pleased, heaps of cars on the track, good sound system and commentary, improved viewing and seating, good food, a great catch up with some speedway people and the chance to wear four layers of clothing at once. I don't think I've ever been to a disappointing meeting at Rotorua which is a pretty good record to have.

Meeting Rating : 7/10

The Wrath of Jamo!

The title above refers to the feeling I had as I ventured towards my first speedway meeting in over a month at WP, the final round of the Leisurerite Spa Pools and Pacific Urethanes North Island Modified Series.

You see, over the past few weeks there have been some fairly heated arguments about the way in which meetings are being presented/promoted/cancelled at WP after the resent Stockcar teams two night meeting that became a no nights meeting. The Jamo I refer to is involved heavily in the modified section at WP and is passionate about the class and has along with a few others like Phil Crumpe (driver of 36a Modified), gone about resurrecting the modifieds with or without the support of the club. It hasn't been easy and criticism of anything to do with WP, whether it be modified related or not has been met with some fierce 'fightin' talk' and challenges laid down to be 'more positive' in posting comments about the club or to get off your butt and do something about it. So writing a review of any sorts about a meeting that features Modifieds, Sidecars and a Caravan Derby is not going to be easy if the meeting follows the usual 2006 season at WP.

Well, first I will say that the Modifieds turned it on (phew!) 15 of them turned up which is pretty good for this time of year. One from Stratford 4s Dixon, 2 from Rotorua 19r and 16r, and all the rest from Auckland. Now just to be clear, if there are any classes at WP that turn it on week in week out, it's the Stockcars and the Modifieds, so there was little doubt that the Mods would be anything but spectacular on this last meeting in the Series.

Three heats were run on a heavy track that didn't help the drivers any, and probably played a part in a huge crash in the third heat that took a bit of the sting out of the race but no complaints from me, Jamie Fox took out the series with an almost faultless performance. Winners of the three heats were 11a Fox, 19r Lane and 6a Jesen. The Auckland drivers took out the top three spots in the series too. The resurgence in Modifieds over the last two seasons has been a credit to everyone involved and it looks as though it will only get stronger with the continued support from the two main sponsors featured tonight.



Now the difficult bit... the sidecars were canned due to the track conditions, now that's unavoidable and just part of racing although massively disappointing as it looked like they had one of the best fields of sidecars I've seen in a while including 1nz and 2nz and representation from Wanganui and Christchurch.

The superstocks numbered six, although 271h only appeared in the last race and they were boring to say the least. In fact 441a Andrew Weir ran with them to boost the numbers in the first heat and actually won the race! This season must rate as one of the worst for this class, there's not much entertainment you can create if you only have five cars on the track.

The Stockcars numbered about 10 which has to be one of their lowest turnouts and barely touched each other. One of the most reliable classes for entertainment value was decidedly average and a let down.

Limited saloons were alright, not one of my favourites although 12a Nevano Cowan was excellent, and the streetstocks were pretty tame to say the least.

The night finished with a Caravan Derby that was pretty good. I'm usually gone by the time these things start but thought I'd check it out for once and stayed until about three of them were endlessly lapping before I did go.

So there you have it, a meeting that was held together with one section performing well, and all the rest on cruise control. Not great. Perhaps these other sections are missing behind the scenes people like Jamo and Co. who's passion for their class has not only raised the numbers competing but has made a difference to what is happening on the track and made their class a standout worth going to see? Perhaps they are the template that should be used for Superstocks because something has to be done soon, the horse is bolting and the metophoric gate needs shutting now before the actual gates are shut for good!

Meeting rating: 4/10

Tanks!

There are three threads on Macgors "Stockcars Missing In Action" board with a collection of some of the best tank photos you will see outside of "The Tank" book published a few years ago. Check them out...

Original Palmy Tanks

Other Tank Variations

McCoard Tanks

19m

This car was for sale a few seasons ago and then disappeared. I've no idea who's got it now, but it was run by Nick Valance as 19m out of Baypark and was usually involved in all the trouble.

Any info appreciated.

Auckland Superstock Teams 2006

Who would be mad enough to volunteer to compile the printed programme for the Auckland Teams Nationals each season? What a nightmare job! Who knows what teams will appear and unlike the Palmerston North event, it's not unusual for teams to pull out at the last minute. It seems to me that every year it gets harder and harder to organise this meeting and eventually it will go the way of most other teams events and the plug will be pulled.

Walking around the pits on the friday night it was still not obvious who the teams were, and even during the racing it was hard at times to make out some of the teams as the commentary and sound system at WP were both at their worst and cars didn't have much in the way of track letters or matching bodies or even an identifying flag. If people like me are struggling, what chance does Joe Public have of knowing what the hell is going on? The crowd for the Friday night was smaller than I had expected although there was a much bigger crowd for the finals.

After a delayed start, the very first race between Kihikihi (with only three cars) and the Palmerston North Panthers would provide a shock upset and immediately all the pre-meeting rubbish is forgotten, this is the reason we turn up religiously for Superstock teams racing!

I wont go into a blow by blow account of each race but I will mention the eight teams that turned up and a few other thoughts about the meeting.



8th Place
North Island Invitation

A mix of brave Auckland Stockcars and Rotorua Superstocks thrown in for good measure. For the record they were 9r Anthony Brown, 37a Jonathon Lauder, 74a Craig Chatfield, 68r Peter Fleming and 166r Bryce Steiner. As expected they lacked cohesion but were appreciated for volunteering for a pretty thankless task making up the numbers. 9r was the standout for this team as their runner in most racers.



7th Place
Hawkes Bay Hawkeyes

The team lacked a big hitter and 33b Nigel Cooper seemed hesitant in the running role. I've always loved the Musgrove car but something about this car just doesn't suit teams racing. It rarely finishes a race with all it's wheels and seems to falter when involved in the big hits. The team was definitely an underperformer. 31b Jason O'Brien was the standout for this team, giving his all no matter how damaged the car.



6th Place
Waikato Wanderers

Defending champs they were, but this must have been a disappointing result for a team that on paper showed lots of promise. Just didnt seem to fire, and car reliability put paid to their hopes. 23h Ashton was on the receiving end of a 'Hammond special' but got his own back when Hammond ground to a halt later in the race. Waikato always guarantee you a spectacular race but the cowbells were keep fairly quiet this weekend.



5th Place
Auckland Allstars

Prior to the meeting, the hosts couldn't name a team apart from Warwick Ansty. Then they have 43p Darryl Hammond as a ring in while six other Auckland registered cars appeared in other teams? Anyway, they actually performed pretty well and after night one looked a possible contender for the title. 73a Marx and 5a Ansty were the standouts although whenever this combination race I cant help but watch Hammond, you just know he's going to be in the thick of the action.



4th Place
Kihikihi Kings

From their very first race they had the crowd behind them, and with a sublime move from 28k Mytton to stop three Panthers in their tracks to score the upset victory over Palmy they entertained for the whole two nights. Car reliability was a problem but to finish 3rd (on the night, protested back to 4th) they can be suitably proud. Their arrival on the national teams racing scene has been spectacular to say the least.



3rd Place
Wanganui Warriors

Now this basically was an Auckland B team! I think they originally started out as Stratford but with Aucklander Rick Campbell in the team and registered to Wanganui someone must have decided that 'V' they would be. Campbell actually performed better than I've seen him drive in years and with the support of 36a Ricky Mitchell the team was actually a real chance of winning. No obvious markings on the cars made it hard in some races to identify them as a team and relying on the commentary to identify them was pointless but for the record the team was 17v, 36a, 99a Mark Decke, 5a Scott Fredrickson in Brad Ridland's car and 71a Dean Mulholland...I think!



2nd Place
Rotorua Rebels

Easily the best presented and up until the final the obvious choice to win. In fact 66r Steve Hampton had basically gone through every race as their runner with barely a scratch. A polished performance but something was lacking, and in the final it cost them. Perhaps the ease with which they seemed to reach the final was their undoing, considering what the other finalist had to do to get there, I think they lacked passion.



1st Place
Palmerston North Panthers

After their first race disaster, who would have thought this team would win? 6p Wayne Hemi sat out the first race and boy did they look ordinary. When he was brought back into the team his performance was head and shoulders above anyone else at the meeting and the passion that was lacking in the Rebels finals performance was so obviously abundant in the Panthers attitude. 5p Rees provided the backbone for the team and made the hits the mattered. Worthy winners. In fact Hemi gets my driver of the weekend, he was quite spectacular... just ask Tony Wootten!


Summary

Overall the meeting was pretty good, how could it not be? There was a feeling though that a few of the stars were missing. Names like Wood, Hunter, Penn, Demanser, Podjursky and Gray that you always associate with teams, and all that experience and knowledge that has disappeared in the last season or two. There appears to be a changing of the guard. Uncertain times ahead for the Auckland event although I think the Palmy Teams event is too much of an institution for it to end. The support programme was good but as always with WP it's the sound system, commentary, delays in the programme and other supporting factors that let the show down. Finally I'd just like to mention the guys that turned up to race in 'standard stocks' who fleshed out some of the teams. Without them there wouldn't have been 8 teams and then to actually get out there and be competitive and entertaining deserves a special mention.

Just an interesting side issue, a mate of mine from work went to the Friday night racing and he is not a regular speedway follower but sick of seeing my stockcar screensavers all day, thought he might check it out. He thought the meeting was action packed and exciting but a bit pricey at $20. He didn't understand the letters on the cars and was a little unsure of the teams and his only complaint was the parking, but he did arrive right on 7pm.

Meeting rating : 7.5/10

Is this what I've come to expect?

As is typical with Auckland weather, the closer it got to racetime the darker the clouds became, and rain it did during the hotlaps for the saloons but luckily it was just a short burst and that was it.

I was going to give this meeting a miss and go to the 'Symphony in the Park' event but as Superstocks are a pretty rare sight up this way I went along. Now after reading some comments on the Harwood Racing Team website that were not exactly flattering towards WP, I tried to look at the place through fresh eyes and as I sat in the grandstand in the cold light of day with a minimal crowd, you have to agree that WP is looking a little tired. Crowd numbers for this meeting were not great and as the sound system fizzed and popped you couldn't help but think that this brand of entertainment is not long for this world. In other towns you might get crowds no matter what you dish up, but in Auckland there is always something else on, and WP needs to get it's act together and present something a little more classy than what's currently on offer. I've always been a "go no matter what" follower of speedway but those days are ending. I work hard for my money and sitting down in a run down old stadium with average food, poor sounds, low numbers on the track and unusual classes filling in the gaps, 'lap record attempts' which we got for Streetstocks and ATV's isn't good enough. If you run a speedway with amazing on track action maybe you can get away with it, but if your presenting a show with quite a bit of downtime, the punters eventually start to ask questions.

On paper this meeting looked pretty good but within seconds of going through the pit gate you were greeted with ATV's, there was no previous mention of them racing and not being one of my favourites, was not a good start. Now I'm sure the ATV guys are great people blah blah, but it's not what I go to WP to see. As it turned out they got four goes at 'racing' plus the aforementioned lap record attempts and it was just as they came out for their last race that I finally packed up and left even though there was one more stockcar race to go, and of course some presentations that 'might happen' before the stockcar race. Yawn.

The stockcars, who were down on numbers (only 12 fronting for their second race) were still the standout class of the night with almost everybody in a stirring mood. I've said it time and time again but if it weren't for these guys (and gals) the meetings would be completely lacking in action. 168a Billy Neill won most of the heats. 441a, 96a and 24a did most of the stirring.

The features for the night were the $15,000 Superstock series round three decider and Stan Hickey came into this meeting almost assured of the win unless something untoward happened and apart from an accidental tip over in the second heat he won it pretty easy. His only challenge was from Kerry Remnant as Rodney Wood was not in attendance, in fact only 15 cars fronted after 20+ cars in the two earlier rounds. Kelvin Gray drove the 66r Hampton machine and took to the field with ease winning two heats. There must be something about Mac Chassis and Gray brothers that is magic and imagine for a moment if you will a 'dream Superstock team' of Darren Gray, Kelvin Gray and Tony Mac in Mac built cars and back them up with two tanks driven by Scott Miers and Dave Evans... perfection! Anyway stop dreaming and get back to the dull reality of a fairly tame 3 heats of Superstock racing and a final result of Stan Hickey 1st, Kerry Remnant 2nd and a much improved 99a Mark Decke 3rd. Stan Hickey well and truly deserved the title, he makes it all look so simple.





The other feature was the Saloons Gold Coast Travel Series where a trip to the Gold Coast was up for grabs and would go to the car that passed the most cars in the course of the night, not the winner of each race which actually worked quite well because sitting on the pole line playing follow the leader wasn't going to get you many points. The Saloons put on a pretty good display because they HAD to! Passing was the name of the game and 58a Gavin Hinsley obviously passed the most, something he does on a regular basis and something that should be rewarded more often in saloon racing. I think this series was a winner for the spectators.

Modifieds were down in numbers and not too much else happened to report on them except that 19r Scott Lane won. 45a Bill Peat easily won most of the streetstock races and little else happened in a fairly tame night of racing.

I left the meeting not unhappy but not exactly buzzing. It was a workmanlike meeting that pretty much followed expectation. Is that what I go to Speedway to see or is it just what I accept as the norm? Maybe I expect too much because just occasionally you go to a meeting like the Superstock Teams at Palmy and see something special and you just want to see it every week at your OWN speedway, there I go dreaming again...

Meeting rating : 4/10