Thank you

Countdown

10 days until I take off to London for a well earned break. First visit back since I left in 1991, just hoping that the weather improves before I get there... some things never change. Got tickets for a Prince concert at the O2 Arena and for The Merchant of Venice at the Globe Theatre and hoping to get a trip in to Berlin and Santorini in the Greek Islands while we are there. Also a slim chance we can get to see Pete Rees racing too. Will try and post some pics of my trip if I get the time. This website will be a bit slow until then.

Season Review 06/07

This was never going to be a huge speedway season for me as my main goal for this year was saving for a trip to England in September. Something I hadn't realised when booking the trip was that I will be there at the same time as Peter Rees for the Formula 1 Stockcar World Final where he will be representing NZ. Unfortunately, and in keeping with my rather low key season, I leave the UK the day before the Final so the most I can hope for is to catch him at one of the warm up meetings he might be doing. The opportunity to see the English stockcars in action, and in particular Frankie Wainman Jnr would be great though. Considering the reaction Stan Hickey got one year for his 'hardman' racing style, the mouth waters at the prospect of seeing what they will think of Peter Rees!

Rewind

Anyway, looking back at the season just gone my options were pretty slim with the NZ Superstock title being held in Dunedin that meeting was out, along with the Palmerston North Superstock Teams (that really hurt) and the Wellington Stockcar Teams which basically left me with the NZ Stockcar title in Auckland and a couple of trips down to Rotorua. I did manage to go to meetings at Whangarei and Dargaville which was something new for me and was a good way to end my season.

At times during the season I had wondered whether it's worth writing up reviews and putting time into a site when you get such a backlash if your review isn't glowing, or emails questioning why I thought I had a right to comment on things (I always love the "do you race a stockcar" comment to anyone who dares to have an opinion) and then just recently an editorial in NZDTR that was ill thought out and probably damaging to the magazine. Also really badly timed to send me the resubscription slip with that issue too. I'll quote some of the editors comments:

"...I confess, I used to scroll through the drivel on these sites, I would sit there, blood boiling, sitting on my hands, aching to set things straight, but I have refrained. Why bother? These people don't want to know, their lives are so insignificant that all that motivates them is to rate Tracks, Drivers, and Referees, select race Teams they think should have been chosen and pick apart performances..."

Now most of her rant I assume was aimed at the Discussion Board on Macgors site rather than individual websites and there is no denying that often there are stupid comments and drivel, but there is also alot of really good content and it doesn't take long to work out who's postings are worth reading, a bit like her magazine ironically. Launching into a tirade against a huge amount of your readers who no doubt are members of these sites is probably not good business.

"...Speedway cannot move forward to a professional era whilst we have people continually going online bagging our sport, competitors and officials. If they channelled as much energy and enthusiasm into promoting Speedway in a positive light people wouldn't be so depressed with the rubbish they see online and engage in proper discussion. These comments are not aimed at those people who use these discussion boards for the intended purpose of obtaining information and sensible debate..."

Sites like mine have come about after sitting through meeting after meeting of appalling racing, small fields, disappointing facilities and little or no opportunity to express your displeasure. If moving to a professional era is your goal then the internet is a valuable tool and clubs that have embraced it like Rotorua and Palmerston North are profiting from and presenting a very professional image. Also the internet isn't going to go away, so you'd better get your head out of the sand and embrace the future or your magazine wont be around for much longer. Even a column in the NZDTR reprinting some of the more interesting comments or threads that unfortunately get deleted after a while would be a step in the right direction. In my opinion the one thing that NZDTR holds over the internet is it's permanence. You can always go back to an old issue and re-read it, quite often, as seen with the awesome MIA section of Macgors, once files are gone they are lost into the void of cyberspace.

I would just like to end this section with the important point that if I go to a meeting that's good, I make sure I say that, but if I've just paid $20 to sit through a substandard meeting I'm going to comment, it's only fair and who wants to read a site that's just full of track propaganda (everything is good) or angry rantings (everything is bad)? I personally believe that Speedway in general is better since the involvement of online sites. On that note, lets have a look at the meetings I did go to this season and the ratings for each one (click on the meeting title to read the review if you want):

Opening Meeting Fireworks WP 5/10
Huntly Teams 5/10
Demo Derby Night WP 4/10
Auckland Streetstock Title WP 6/10
Meeting Five WP 6/10
Auckland Modified Title WP 6/10
NZ Superstock Title Dunedin Review by Del Nield
World 240's Rotorua 8.5/10
NZ Modified Title WP 7/10
NZ Stockcars Practice
NZ Stockcar Title Qualifying WP 8/10
NZ Stockcar Title Finals WP 9.5/10
Woop Ass Saturday WP 6/10
Saloon Nationals & Auckland Mods WP 6/10
Auckland Superstock Teams Nationals 7/10
Club Night WP 5/10
John Webster Memorial WP 7/10
Whangarei & Dargaville Final Meetings
Taipa Queens Birthday

That's more meetings than I thought I'd see this season and an average rating of 6.4/10 which is way better than last season's wrap up which I think had an average of 5/10. From a spectators point of view, things have definitely improved at my local track Waikaraka Park. This is one track that sometimes takes a beating on the internet but have shown recently that they do respond to constructive criticism and with numbers in a few classes like the Superstocks improving perhaps some more good meetings are ahead. I hope so, because as this season proved to me, when you can't travel as much as you'd like to and pick and choose your meetings, then you really are at the mercy of what your local track puts on each week and I'm sure there are loads of people that aren't in a position to travel everywhere following the big fields.

Websites

The continuing trend in Driver's and Fans coming online and having a website is great but as with any website you have to keep updating it and that's the hardest part. Just have a look through the links on Macgors and see how many sites are either out of date or have "sorry for the lack of updates but..." a few sites that I always check and enjoy reading because they are always current and interesting are 14a Horridge Racing, Rees Race Cars, Marx Motorsport, Harwood Racing Team and other sites like StockCarScene, Percy's site and as mentioned earlier club sites for Palmy and Rotorua and of course Macgors site which has been at the forefront of the online community for some years.

Stockcars

This class has now officially become Gregobro's favourite! Add to that the burgeoning scene in the South Island and the quality of machinery that seems to be migrating south, the future for this class is brighter than any other. It truly is a national class with almost every track having stockcars and quite probably within a few years will be able to have teams championships for both islands and will need qualifying for the teams event currently held by the Wellington Young Guns.

Summary

My expectations for this season weren't particularly high with little travel involved and one of my overriding memories will be sitting on the computer during the NZ Superstock finals run in Dunedin constantly hitting the refresh button only to be told there were too many people logged on to Macgors desperate to see who had taken out the title! 72p Simon Joblin won in a meeting that many predicted was too big for the Island Park club to run. By all accounts it was a cracker and much like the title held at Gisborne a few seasons ago the smaller clubs shouldn't be denied the opportunity to host the big meetings as they seem to have a knack of pulling it all together.

Seeing the improvements that have happened at Paradise Valley first hand and the ambitious changes that are being undertaken right now for next season make you feel positive about the sport and that hopefully the example being shown by Rotorua might flow on to other clubs.

Finally my trip up to Northland Speedway in Whangarei was one of the best trips I've had in ages. Apart from the unusually sunny weather, meeting some of the guys was great and hopefully the numbers up there will continue to grow. I was a bit concerned seeing the 99wr, 346wr, 343wr and 344wr cars all being sold recently, hopefully it's because new cars are headed that way for the Northern Bulls stockcar team... there I go starting another rumour, it must be the off season!

Cheers
Gregobro

Taipa 2007

Although I couldn't make it up there, a mate from work did go and took these photos for me, thanks Lawrence. Sounds like he had a great time and enjoyed the racing. The programme he brought back had 126 races listed in it which is pretty good value for your $5 entry fee!

Off Season Reading

There are quite a few good books available these days about Speedway. Here are a few worth checking out. I haven't reviewed them all yet but if you click the word review under the book it might take you to a linked review.


Review


Review


Review


Review


Review


Review


Review


Review

Picture Loading Test

Bear with me while I experiment with the picture sizes to get the best size on here without having too much download time. I've been using photos at 200dpi which for me has been a bit slow on the PC at home but fine on the Mac at work. Most people are on PC's so hopefully trying some at 72dpi will quicken things up for everyone. If you have any feedback, let me know.

The pics by the way are of Mike Dodd's 345wr tank from Whangarei.

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Grassroots Speedway

Saturday 5th
Whangarei

I had been meaning to go up to the Northland Speedway at Whangarei for ages and this past weekend we were staying with friends who live up there and it coincided with a meeting being run which was their final club day meet of the season.

The track is down by the old port and pretty easy to find. I went in to the pits and started taking a few photos and was surprised to see quite a few Auckland TQ’s here to race against the locals but as I wandered a bit further I was even more surprised to see a genuine tank sitting amoung the eight stockcars in attendance. I went over to speak to the driver who was Mike Dodds 345wr who told me it was bought from Shaun Smith in Wanganui by Neville Macken who sold it on to him. It was great talking to Mike and then after I took a few more photos Stacy Macken came over and introduced himself, he is part of a family of racers including Dad Neville in the recently purchased from Rotorua 75r, brother Deon 343wr, Stacy 48wr and partner Paulette 334wr who all compete.

Stacy told me about the club and the stockcar scene up north and was very welcoming and awesome to talk to. In fact most of the family came over before the meeting and introduced themselves and told me about their cars and their involvement in the sport. Talk about passionate, it’s families like these that are the backbone of our sport. Stacy said although the numbers were low today being the final meeting (there are about 15 local cars but getting them all to the track at the same time is the hard part) that they would turn on the action for the crowd and have some fun and that they did. Two rollovers and more blocking than flagracing in four heats was great entertainment. Two of the stockcars are currently for sale and the 343wr of Deon Macken (the former Iron Maiden of Dean Watts 88p) is on the Macgors Buy and Sell. A good fast car that dished up some punishment for the other cars including Dad who was left on his lid.







Also racing were TQ’s, Quad bikes, Escorts and various grades of productions and saloons. Four heats for each of the seven classes was great value for only $8 and with decent food, good soundsystem and the friendly atmosphere on a brilliant sunny day made it a memorable visit to a track we don’t hear too much about. No delays between races and plenty of on track action. I fully recommend to anyone thinking of visiting or to race at Whangarei to check out their website for next seasons racing calendar, I know I will be going back up. It was a reminder that the sport is supposed to be about having a good time and getting the family involved something that is foremost at this track.





There are some great action shots on the Black Widow Racing site here.


Sunday 6th
Dargaville





As we were leaving Whangarei a guy mentioned to us that there was racing at Dargaville the following day for their final club meeting so we decided to do a small detour on our way back to Auckland and went to Finlayson Park Speedway on the outskirts of Dargaville township. It’s a smaller set up than Whangarei but the fields of mostly productions, saloons and four stockcars were no less passionate in their racing. Actually the biggest hit we saw of the weekend was here when the 349h of Chris White sent the 13wr Stockcar of Gary ‘Grub’ Bankcart right up and over the banked grass wall that surrounds the track! Awesome stuff. Only disappointment was knowing that there are a few good cars up here like the Rees chassis of 49d Andrew Drinnan that I would love to have got a few photos of but unfortunately they were not in attendance.

The commentator here was extremely funny and basically wandered around the track with a roving mic in his hand talking about the racing, the food or anything that took his fancy. And get this, the ‘Pit Stop’ which was the food stand had PIES! Bringing pies back to speedway is my new cause. Forget global warming, there is a pie crisis at most tracks. The weather leading up to the next ice age has been great lately so lets concentrate on the critical shortage of pies!

There was a small selection of photos and information about the track on display and so I hope its okay to reproduce a bit about the Dargaville track for those like me who know nothing about this speedway:

The Dargaville Production Stockcar Club raced for several years in TeKopuru, a settlement near Dargaville.

In 1977 the Dargaville Production Stockcar Club Incorporated was formed and moved to it's current location at Awakino Point, situated approximately 1.5 km from Dargaville on State Highway 14, the road from Dargaville to Whangarei. The racing track has undergone major changes since 1977 when it was just a swampy paddock surrounded by maize fields. The track is now a small clay oval approximately 400 metres long with 12 metre wide corners and 10 metre wide straights.

The Club went through a period of uncertainty during late 1999 and early 2000 with the possibility of the Club losing the lease on the land on which the track was situated. Members reacted positively to this and bonded together with a good result in early 2000 when an agreement was reached with the Council to purchase the land.

The land then became known as Finlayson Park Speedway, owned by the Dargaville Production Stockcar Club Inc., thus making it the first Northland dirt track to own its own land. The Club is currently in a positive growth era with membership currently at 14 family memberships, 13 single memberships and approximately 10 junior drivers and increasing.

So an excellent weekend of racing and an insight in to two of the northern most tracks in New Zealand that I’m really pleased I made the effort to go up and see. That leads nicely into a mention about the forthcoming meeting at Taipa Speedway on Queens Birthday weekend when alot of these drivers will be having their last run of the season. If you can, you should go, you can be assured of a warm welcome and you wont be disappointed.