Drive a Tank!

Ever dreamed of driving one of the top Stockcars in the country? Ever wondered what it would be like behind the wheel of one of the famous Tanks? Want to help NZ's '2010 Speedway Competitor of the Year' pursue his goal to race in Europe later this year? Now is your chance.



Click on the link here to go to the auction on TradeMe.

Lights Out Part II

Ollie Browne Memorial, Super Dirt Cup Modifieds
Waikaraka Park, Auckland






I seems hard to believe, during a season that has been difficult for the club, that yet another meeting comes to a premature end when things were humming along nicely. This time it was another lighting malfunction causing the abandonment of the racing before the Super Dirt Cup for Modifieds and the Ollie Browne Superstock Memorial race. They did manage to get through the Auckland Saloon title won by Phil Towgood, the Stockcar Bash for Cash title won by 59a Trevor Mason and the Streetstock title taken out by 66a Craig McKinney. Also the rarely seen Superstocks completed their Auckland title with Huntly visitor 73h Karl Ross the victor. 37r Ken Hunter and 351a Paul Vasey tied for second with the runoff another casualty of the nights power problems.

There were some great moments during the night, the Stockcars really turning on the action with a convincing win to 158a Dan Martin in heat 1, plenty of big hits in this one with 4h Matt Nilson a popular target. 9a Cam Kenworthy put on a great show that would ultimately win him stirrer of the night. Heat 2 win was credited to 59a Trevor Mason although I was sure 741a Craig Chatfield had passed him mid race and won. 88h Justin Hutchby was the troublemaker in this heat but many a car moved to the infield when he engaged them which was a bit disappointing. Only 11 cars from the original 23 coming out for heat 3 which finished with a Chatfield one-two, 91a Paul Chatfield followed home by Craig in second. Hutchby had his sights set on 29a Scott Tennant in this one but Tennants engine let go which kinda ruins your night. 85a Shannon Savage put a HUGE hit in on 38a Phil Smith and then turned his attention to Hutchby resulting in his car catching fire. Up until then it had been his best night in ages! Mason had been leading the points going into this heat but never missed an opportunity to attack anyone he felt like hitting and still managing to take the title. Great stuff.

59a Trevor Mason 62
91a Paul Chatfield 54
38a Phil Smith 45
741a Craig Chatfield 43
29a Scott Tennant 40

The big feature of the night was going to be the Super Dirt Cup for Modifieds, but only the heats for the two groups and most of the pole shuffle were completed. The major incident of the night involved 29a Mark Wade who was involved in contact with 55s Paul Ward resulting in a big roll and taking out a few cars before even crossing the start line. Also a bit of contact and dubious starts during the pole shuffles that became a farce during the 19a Scott Lane and 55s Paul Ward race. 1nz John Jackson and 4s Mark Dixon had really shown impressive pace and looked the goods for the final. Having read the Foxy website it appears they aren't going to have a fifth attempt at running this title and who can blame them. The Ollie Browne will get another go this weekend coming during the King of the Park meeting but the ugly weather looks set to return...

Teams Update X

The Palmerston North Pumas remain unbeaten this year winning the rescheduled Peter Barry teams meeting at Meeanee Speedway. The Tasman Thunder team from Nelson make their first appearance of the season going down to Canterbury. Auckland notch up another win against the Gladiators in the rerun of the first teams race of the season at Gisborne's home track. Only two recognised teams are yet to race, Greymouth and Baypark.



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

World 240's Meeting, Rotorua
Rotorua Rascals def Gisborne Gladiators

At Gisborne Speedway
Foreign Legion def Gisborne Gladiators

South Island Teams, Woodford Glen
Canterbury Crushers def Reece's Rebels
Southern Sharks def Eastern States Titans
Eastern States Titans def Reece's Rebels
Canterbury Crushers def Southern Sharks

At Stratford, 12-02-11
Manawatu Steelers def Stratford Stormers

At Wanganui, 13-02-11
Palmerston North Pumas def Wanganui Vulcans

Peter Barry Teams, Meeanee Speedway
Meeanee Maulers 165 def Stratford Stormers 20
Waikato Raiders 155 def Gisborne Gladiators 35
Te Marua Terminators 155 def Auckland Alleycats 30
Palmerston North Pumas def Kihikihi Crusaders
North Island Select 140 vs Orange Roughies 20
Meeanee Maulers 170 def Kihikihi Crusaders 15
Palmerston North Pumas def Gisborne Gladiators
Waikato Raiders def Orange Roughies
North Island Select def Te Marua Terminators
Stratford Stormers def Auckland Alleycats

At Riverside Speedway, Invercargill
Canterbury Crushers def Southern Sharks

Peter Barry Teams Finals
Palmerston North Pumas def North Island Select
Waikato Raiders def Meeanee Maulers
Meanee Maulers def North Island Select
Palmerston North Pumas def Waikato Raiders

At Top of the South Speedway, Nelson:
Canterbury Crushers def Tasman Thunder

At Gisborne Speedway:
Auckland Alleycats def Gisborne Gladiators

John Webster / Glen Turner Memorials

John Webster Memorial, Glen Turner Supersaloons
Waikaraka Park, Auckland






The John Webster for 2011 had looked a little shaky during the week leading up to Saturday. No Sprintcars or Superstocks on the agenda and fairly vague numbers being tossed around for most classes. But upon entering the pits you could see there were going to be full fields in most classes. Also the feel of the meeting would be different from previous years with the open wheel classes more dominant having Midgets, MiniSprints and TQ's present. I was a little alarmed with Streetstock numbers (which have been low all season) and predictably they were the only class that failed to fire on a night that's original intention was to showcase the best of speedway in Auckland. This is a class that really need a shot in the arm, or a shot to the head depending on your enjoyment of Streetstock racing.

Overall I thought the racing was pretty good, the SuperSaloons completely stealing the show up until their feature race, when we were treated to a four wide salute in honour of Glen Turner, a stalwart of Auckland Saloon racing. The field of 14 cars was top quality and the feature was going to be something really special. 8h Craig Cardwell absolutely overcooked the start of the race and looked to have blown all chance of winning before they had even reached the first corner. He slipped back to about 8th place from his front row grid but little did we all know that within a lap it would prove rather fortuitous as a spinning 99a Shane McInteer would be involved in a melee that would take out six cars and pretty much rip the guts out of the most anticipated race of the night. The remaining contestants basically left a 24h Harding v 8h Cardwell battle that could never reach the heights that the pre-race hype had built. It was a pity but take nothing away from Harding, he powered his way to a great victory.

I didn't quite get the gist of the way the Midgets were doing the qualifying for their final, then the cars that seemed to have been most successful on the night didn't start off the front. The feature was action packed with a few changes of leader and although their were a few yellow light incidents, it didn't turn into a marathon of endurance for the spectators. The big guns didn't quite get to the front of the field resulting in a great battle between 27a Hayden Williams, 9h Angus McLeod and 4a Dave Gick. Williams picking up the win. Of interest to a lot of WP regulars was the performance of former commentator Aaron Drever who was racing the CRC 71a, and huge respect to the guy for having the kahunas to get out there and then put on a pretty decent performance! Apart from a spin in heat two and a few tentative first laps in heat one he was on the pace, drove clean and looked very capable, great effort dude!

Stockcars were the other standout class. Twenty four cars turned out including 898s Sandy Flett and 16h David Ingram in the old Vic Neal chassis looking pretty cool. Lots of contact and good fast racing with 137a Jamie Fergusson and 168a Billy Neill doing most of the stirring. Wins went to 95a Gary Lonergan, 69h Callum Whiter and the feature to 29a Scott Tennant who is having a brilliant debut season in the class. The 74a stockcar was given to Streetstock pilot Jody Hooker for the feature but just as he was getting into his stride a red light incident that he was too slow to stop for meant he was sent infield robbing the race of some action.

So that was another Webster "Speedway Expo" (as it was originally called) completed. Five of the six classes on show were great and compared to a normal nights racing, $20 for all that action and quality fields was a great deal. Whether the promoters take on board comments about the intent of the meeting - the 'best of the best' concept (which the Huntly club have embraced with the Speedfest meeting) is anyones guess. I hope they do, John Webster was a huge figure in Auckland speedway and any meeting bearing his name should be something a bit special.

Ready for John Webster XII?

Are you ready for this years version of the John Webster Memorial? Here are a few reviews from the last couple of years:


8th John Webster 2007 Here


9th John Webster 2008 here


10th John Webster 2009 here

11th John Webster 2010 here

...and a bit about John Webster here.

World of Stocks

World of Stocks
Paradise Valley, Rotorua








Hard to believe, but yet ANOTHER meeting affected by rain! My plan had been to miss qualifying night and just head over for the finals which is pretty much what has happened over the last few seasons. The heavy downpour on Friday meant my plans changed and not being able to stay on for Sundays finals just summed up my spectating season this year. Some speedway is better than none so I headed for Paradise Valley not expecting the world to be set on fire going by the last few 'World of Stocks' qualifying nights but was pleasantly surprised by the action that was served up. Perhaps the difference was the inclusion of 12e Zac Thompson who basically spent the night stirring up trouble in the bright yellow flat chassis that was at the centre of most incidents in his group. 83h Steve Gray also added to the dramas and is fast becoming a stirrer of note with a tank that can actually go fast when needed. One of the other standouts was 24m Karl Daniel also in a tank that was deceptively fast and only narrowly missed out of qualifying after a runoff but would be given the wildcard to get through.

When the dust had settled, the field of 60+ entrants had been narrowed down to 12 qualifiers, 4 from each group with a last chance repercharge adding another one, and the wildcard entry of course joining the 14 already confirmed starters. The results for finals night can be found on the Rotorua website here with 8r Scott Fredrikson finally landing a big title, so often missing out with little support when he was registered to Baypark. It appears the Rotorua drivers really did band together on this occasion which is sometimes not the norm. This was the fifth running of the World of Stocks title I believe, and its future seems assured with a good mix of action and good hard racing. It has been an expensive few weeks for stockcar drivers with the amount of meetings they are expected to travel to for what is essentially a budget class. I did have a fear that after four or five weeks of titles in a row that the field would be depleted, but luckily it wasnt the case. Just from a spectating point of view, I know the amount of Fridays I need to take off work to get to these titles and wonder how many high profile meetings a class like this can sustain before the bubble bursts, just food for thought. Also (small gripe warning) what happened to the awesome programmes that were coming out of Rotorua? Maybe a cost cutting measure but I miss those AWS graphics...

Finally, Peter Ress may not have made the podium for this title but he did take out the BOP Superstock title on Saturday night despite a great effort from 37r Ken Hunter to take him out in the third heat. Has any driver ever had a season as spectacularly successful as Rees is having this year? Its almost a privilege to watch him drive. So a qualifying night that I didn't think would offer up too much excitement presented Rees at his best and the much vaunted Zac Thompson from Blenheim living up to the hype that we in the North Island have heard so much about.

8r Scott Fredrickson 80pts
95r Dale Stewart 76pts
17b Aaron Iremonger 69pts
71w Benji Sneddon 67pts
2nz Peter Rees 63pts

Related links:
2010 review here
2009 review here