Four nights in Paradise

New Zealand Superstock Championship
Paradise Valley Speedway Rotorua










Continuing a trend that has wrecked havoc with the last two NZ titles, rain rolled in on Monday evening during the grand parade and ruined the party, meaning a 48 hour delay for the most anticipated meeting of the season. With the qualifying now held over until Wednesday, four of the original competitors pulled the plug leaving a field of 80 cars to contest the title. Any thoughts of a tame qualifying night were blown away with a pile-up on the first turn of the first heat ending the title hopes of 7b Shane Mellsop, 4b Joe Faram and very nearly 492i Campbell McManaway. In fact, the first round of heats for all four groups had plenty of action and a number of title favourites were immediately on the back foot with damage or a poor finish. Overall I felt the qualifying night was one of the best I've ever been to, and certainly the biggest qualifying night crowd too I'm guessing. A number of big names failed to make the cut and would be relying on the repecharge to get through.

Qualifiers
Red Group
89w Robertson 10r McRobbie 19c Ngatai 62h Conder 8p Miers 46n Cunningham
Green Group
48n Nicholls 7p Penn 135r Hewson 23h Ashton 32p Barr 1nz Higgins
Blue Group
31p McCabe 515r Hickey 10p Rees 73h Ross 216r Pritchard 18n Harwood
Yellow Group
14n Ewers 52p Joblin 16r Osborne 4r Westbury 5v Taylor 87r Elsworth

Rotorua 7
Palmerston North 7
Nelson 5
Huntly 3
Wanganui 1
Christchurch 1
Wellington 1
Invercargill 1

Finals Night
72p Simon Joblin and 492i Campbell McManaway grabbed the last two spots for the finals in a dramatic repecharge that saw the likes of 92r Kyle Fraser, 351a Paul Vasey and 85n Dale McKenzie so unlucky not to qualify. What followed were three fantastic 15 lap heats to find our new NZ1 after reigning champ Brendan Higgins had punctured in heat one, ending his hopes of defending the title. The history books will show the heat winners as 16r Mark Osborne, 72p Simon Joblin and 19c Malcolm Ngatai but Dale Ewers managing a 2nd, 4th and dramatic third heat 9th placing getting him home by 2 points from 72p Simon Joblin and 10p Peter Rees who required a runoff for 2nd place, won by Joblin. A full report will no doubt be available on the Rotorua website.

A few personal thoughts...
I managed to get hold of a pit pass for the first time ever and saw a large chunk of both nights racing from the pit side of the fence. Thanks to Graham Hughes for the pass, it was quite an eye opener. The amount of organisation, chaos and tension that goes on "behind the scenes" was incredible. The sight of 77p Wayne Norris's battered car being brought back to the pits after that first turn pile-up in heat one was incredible - how they managed to get that car back out for heat three was beyond me, and of course the amount of racing that the crew members miss as as they work on the cars is a pretty high price to pay especially at a meeting this good.

Also the incredible scenes as 46n Blair Cunningham's tank was towed back to the pits minus a wheel (and he was the winner!) after a great runoff with 99r Mark Decke or seeing the state of Wayne Hemi's car (and crew) when his make-or-break drive round the outside of the pack failed spectacularly in yellow groups third heat. There's not a lot you can say but you certainly get to see the extreme highs and lows. My favourite sight though is an odd one, just as heat 1 of finals night had finished and the cars are about the head back to the pits, there is this massive wave of crew, family and trackstaff sprinting from trackside to the various pit spaces they have been assigned and it is pandemonium - its also exhilarating.

A lot of work went into this meeting and even with mother nature doing her best to disrupt things, as a showpiece for the sport, you would be hard pressed to find fault. As far as worthy winners, you cant deny 14n Dale Ewers was a massively popular victor. The top of the south Nelson club sure know how to produce great winners and unlike a few years ago at Stratford when the Nelson cars in the finals failed to bring home a winner, the complete opposite was the case here as Higgins and Harwood in particular made life very difficult for anyone without an 'N' on their car. Also getting a glimpse of drivers like Blair Cunningham and Dale McKenzie who are already making their mark on the national stage, the future of Nelson Superstock racing seems assured. In fact a number of younger drivers are really exciting future prospects, 87r David Elsworth, 10b Sam Bartholomew and 88p Jack Miers to name a few.

Finally I'd just like to say thanks to my friends Carolyn and Graham who put me up for the four nights during their Christmas break, and listened to me moan when it rained, and talk endlessly about what happened at stockies for the rest of the time, cheers!

Meeting rating : 9.5/10

Quality, not quantity!

For the first time in years I'm going to both the New Zealand Stockcar and Superstock titles this season. Usually its quite hard to narrow down who you are going to support but this year it should be easy with Auckland fielding only one entry in both titles! In Rotorua, it will be 351a Paul Vasey and in Blenheim it will be 95a Gary Lonergan. Both are capable of snatching a victory and are having great seasons so far, so although it will be tough... bring it home lads!





New Zealand Superstock Title Rotorua HERE
New Zealand Stockcar Title Blenheim HERE

Book Offer

I just got 10 copies of my book in from the USA today, which means by buying bulk I can sell them a bit cheaper than usual and will courier them out to you from Auckland to anywhere in NZ for $90. As I said there are only 10 of them until I get another good deal from the printers next year so first in gets them! You can check out the contents HERE and I will let the preview show you the whole book rather than just 15 pages. If you want one, email me at gregobro@xtra.co.nz and I will give you my bank details to deposit the $90 also give me your address to post the book to you.

Nearly 200 pages, full colour of the 2009/10 Speedway season with contributions from Drew Hamblin, Mikey B, Gavin 'Pallmall' Evitt, Warren 'Wal86' Joines, Yaz 'NZ Stockcar Crazy' Dolbel, Hadleigh 'The Observer' Smith, Alan 'Godfather' Hoult, Steven Brown, Aaza01, Roger Morrison and all the photos and reviews from this website last season. Remember if these sell out you can always order this or the two previous season reviews from the blurb website, click on the advert top right hand side of this website.

Latest Teams Update

With the Steelers not appearing at the Teams meeting in Wellington, they drop down the table to 4th place. Auckland have taken over the top of the table again with the Palmerston North Pumas moving up to second and remaining the only unbeaten team after their victory. The Wanganui Vulcans climb up to third position.



Oct 30:
Auckland Alleycats def Gisborne Gladiators

Nov 6:
Eastern States Titans 135 def KB Cowboys 34
KB Cowboys 130 def Canterbury Crushers 39
Eastern States Titans 124 def Canterbury Crushers 45

Nov 12:
Wanganui Vulcans def Canterbury Crushers
Canterbury Crushers def KB Cowboys
Wanganui Vulcans def Eastern States Titans
KB Cowboys def Eastern States Titans

Nov 19
Huntly Teams Meeting Night 1
Manawatu Steelers 140 def Meeanee Maulers 55
Gisborne Gladiators 180 def Waikato Raiders 0
Huntly Hawks 160 def Stratford Stormers 30
Auckland Alleycats 105 def Wanganui Vulcans 90
Meeanee Maulers 160 def Stratford Stormers 30
Manawatu Steelers 165 def Huntly Hawks 30
Wanganui Vulcans 150 def Gisborne Gladiators 40
Auckland Alleycats 100 def Waikato Raiders 95
Night 2
Auckland Alleycats def Stratford Stormers
Waikato Raiders def Huntly Hawks
Meeanee Maulers def Wanganui Vulcans
Manawatu Steelers def Gisborne Gladiators
Stratford Stormers def Huntly Hawks
Waikator Raiders def Auckland Alleycats
Gisborne Gladiators def Wanganui Vulcans
Manawatu Steelers def Meeanee Maulers

Nov 27
Palmy Teams Invasion
Palmerston North Pumas 135 def Wellington Young Guns 60
Manawatu Steelers 185 def Stratford Stormers 10
Palmerston North Pumas 140 def Stratford Stormers 55
Wellington Young Guns 150 def Manawatu Steelers 45
Manawatu Steelers 3rd def Stratford Stormers 4th
Palmerston North Pumas 1st def Wellington Young Guns 2nd


Dec 10
NZ Stockcar Teams Night 1, Wellington
Palmerston Pumas def Wanganui Vulcans
Meeanee Maulers def Canterbury Crushers
Eastern States Titans def Stratford Stormers
Wellington Young Guns def Waikato Raiders
Auckland Alleycats def Gisborne Gladiators
Waganui Vulcans def Canterbury Crushers
Palmerston Pumas def Eastern States Titans
Meeanee Maulers def Waikato Raiders
Gisborne Gladiators def Stratford Stormers
Wellington Young Guns def Auckland Alleycats

Night 2
Wanganui Vulcans def Stratford Stormers
Auckland Alleycats def Eastern States Titans
Auckland Alleycats def Wanganui Vulcans
Palmerston North Pumas def Gisborne Gladiators
Wellington Young Guns def Meeanee Maulers
Gisborne Gladiators def Meeanee Maulers
Palmerston North Pumas def Wellington Young Guns

A damp night in Vegas

House of Travel Stockcars & Superstocks
Paradise Valley, Rotorua

A spur of the moment decision on Saturday morning to go down to Rotorua looked like a bad one with the weather looking more cloudy the further south I went, but fortunately the meeting was run and although drizzle did its best to make it uncomfortable, big fields of Stockcars (30) and Superstocks (25) made the trip worthwhile. This meeting was round two of the House of Travel series and had attracted a few out-of-town cars in the Supers but from memory I think only two Huntly cars in the stocks. Although Rotorua has some of the largest fields in those two classes, with Baypark and Huntly both running, the support programme of Streetstocks, Productions and Saloons was mighty thin on the ground and decidedly average. Add into that two fields of Ministocks and there was room for improvement.

The good news is that as a taster of the NZ Superstock title in a fortnight, the thought of up to 100 of these beasts flying round the tight Paradise Valley circuit really got the blood pumping. 48n Brett Nicholls made the long trek up from Nelson and I'm guessing he was well pleased with his performance, taking out the first heat and looking extremely strong in heats 2 & 3. 351a Paul Vasey took heat two and 135r Scott Hewson winning from a depleted field in the final heat. The driver though that really impressed me was 87r David Elsworth. I haven't seen him before and he was carving through the pack like a seasoned pro, a real prospect for the big title if this performance was any indication of his ability. It would seem the Rotorua club have a number of contenders and if they work together it will be very hard for any outsider to leave with the title.

That is of course if they work together, which leads me to the Stockcars. Heat one for them was fairly tame I thought except for lap one, when Huntly visitor 83h Tony Whyte was prepared to have a go right from the green flag, sadly, the only other car that seemed out to cause trouble, 99r Shannon Orr was his first target and his race ended there. Heat two though and Whyte basically was free to attack anyone he liked with little or no retribution. 48r Ivan King was responsible for the only rollover of the night on 24r Shane Newland and remember that there were extra points available for rolling other cars. Fortunately the locals woke up in heat three and the action was far better. 48r King gave the tank a good beating and the Orr-Stanaway battle was great. Rotorua really have the makings of a great team here, lets hope the Rascals re-appear in the near future. Perhaps the reason why the action was down on what I expected and the Rascals team being in hibernation is that there are so many unbelievably cool looking cars at this track that they dont want to scratch them!

Finally, I had the chance to talk to Wayne and Mike Francis about the 21r Superstock and whether it will be out for the big title. It's looking shakey at this stage, so here's hoping with a bit of luck the boys get the green machine together and are able to compete. The track is looking amazing and going by some of the comments Paul Hickey made about the programme, merchandise and planned events its going to be an unmissable title.

Meeting rating : 6/10

Visit the webpage for the New Zealand Superstock title HERE for everything you will need to know.