DHL Series
Group 1, Race 1: Daryl Ainsley in the fluro orange number 5 car all the way up from Cromwell made a great start taking out the first Saloon race of the night, leading away from the field on a bumpy track, 2nd place went to 16s Thomas Korff with 43H Aaron Tonks rounding out the podium.
Group 2, Race 1: Steve Williams looked very impressive first race out, carving his way through the field with somewhat ease and taking the win. 74A Scott Lansdowne matched him in the end though, making near identical passes for a fantastic second place and the fastest lap of the race, with 8S Craig Korff in 3rd.
Group 1, Race 2: The immaculately presented 46A car of Nigel Ross passed his way into the lead and took the race win from 77K Rossco Cresswell and 97A Robin Thomas in 3rd.
Group 2, Race 2: Dan Corrin came out and showed he wasn’t here to muck around with a very impressive high paced win and fastest lap to match. The ever consistent 74A Scott Lansdowne took another second place with Gary Shaw in the number 44 car all the way from Dunedin taking third place.
B-Main: It was now B-Man time and the last chance for drivers to book their spot in the final. This field included the current 2NZ Phil Towgood and the only local driver 24W Gary Marshall. In the end Towgood took the win from Marshall with 66A Peter Church in 3rd.
Dash 1: Dash one is the all important grid setting up stage. The result of this set the line up for the inside line on the grid for the feature. It was a close battle all race but 43H Aaron Tonks took the win from 10T Paul Renton the fluro orange car of Daryl Ainsley.
Dash 2: Just like the first dash, this one would set up the grid for the outside row. In super fine form 272 Chris Cowling took out the win from the flying Dan Corrin and Lansdowne again right up there in 3rd.
Feature: With the grids set and the 20 cars ready to do battle, all that was left to see was the four wide salute to the fans. The crowd loved this and we were all ready to witness the excitement of 20 laps. Throughout the race close battles raged on through the field but it was right at the end where the fun began. Dan Corrin in the 124 car produced the drive of a lifetime all race long but no one could stop the 272 car of Cowling from running wherever he wanted to go. After Corrin led the majority of the race, right at the end Cowling pulled off a fantastic pass to take the round one win with 124 Dan Corrin in second and yet another perfect run for 16S Thomas Korff in 3rd.
Streetstocks
With the New Zealand Champs coming up very soon for the Streetstock class, every driver agreed before the meeting to go a bit easier with the hitting to avoid the cars that are travelling picking up any damage. The first race still ended up pretty brutal on a tough track with 13w Paul Sammons picking up the win from 69w Ryan Kilburn and Barry Parsons in the 66 car taking third place. The second heat for Streetstocks was some way down the race programme and it was time for the change in direction. Only seven cars fronted for this one and 18W Clive Rogers took the win from 10W Wayne Draper in 2nd 52W Nathan Gardiner in 3rd. The third and final heat was back to normal race direction. Clive Rogers made it two from three with Kilburn second again and Barry Parsons back on the podium for third.
Ministocks
The annual Wellington Champs rolled round this week for the Century Distributors Ministocks with a full field of 27 cars turning out to race. The Century Distributors team car of 13W Todd Jenkins made it the perfect start heading out from the front to take the early race win honours. The travelling car of 92V Aimee Barnes drove well for second with the 97W Macbilt Engineering black and blue car of Jordan McLeod pushing until the end for a great 3rd position. The second heat saw a slow start with 4B Jarrod Lindsay from Napier leading an all fluro orange painted front pack with 34W Matt Eckersley tucked in for the ride in second place. These two spots didn’t change with the drivers taking first and second, #174W Jayden Musgrove charged his way through the pack for a great 3rd. Finally it was time for the Championship deciding third heat. It all came down to this one and the driver knew exactly what they had to do to win it. Mat Eckersley drove a brilliant clean race to pick up his first Wellington Championship win, with 34B Caleb Waerea taking second in the final heat and Todd Jenkins taking third. Jenkins took second overall with 174W Jayden Musgrove taking the 3rd overall.
Modifieds
Heat One saw Brian McPhee in his new number 5 rocket ship take the win from a hugely impressive drive from rookie Modified Driver number 17W Jonas England for second and fastest lap by 6 tenths and third place went to #9W Blair McPhee. Race two started off with Blair McPhee off the front row. It was hard to see the race ending with anything but Blair winning and that was the case as he went on to win by over 3.5 seconds, setting another fastest lap in the process. Second place went to the race one winner, 5W Brian McPhee with Jonas England again making the new 17W car run outstandingly well. Third and final heat for Modifieds and we were set for another great race. The winged warriors went wheel to wheel with the rookie who impressed a lot of people all night, 17W Jonas England taking his first Modified win from the 91w Jordan Arapere and 5W Brian McPhee rounding off his consistent night.
Minisprints
With this just the second to last practice run before the NZ Grand Prix on January 14th for Minisprints, 11 cars arrived to try and nail down a set up for the big meeting. Current number two in the North Island, #93P Declan Roe led out from the front of the first heat and never looked back picking up his 4th ever Minisprint win in Wellington. The 48P Hermansen Transport car of Christian Hermansen made fantastic passes on his way to the 2nd spot, with 21W Stephen Taylor ducking and diving his way through the field to take a well earned third place. Christian Hermansen took the lead early from the front with Stephen Taylor charging through to second by the first lap. Hermansen led easy for the majority of the race before the suspension collapsed sending him out of the race and continuing his bad luck this season. Taylor went on to win the race from guest driver Martin Halcrow in the Byron Dennis owned 24p and 93P Declan Roe taking yet another podium. Feature race time and the 2NZ car of Jamie Larsen blasted past Stephen Taylor early to take the lead and pull out in front. Driving a borrowed car after a huge wreck the night before in Tauranga, Larsen finally had the set up locked in perfect. Larsen took a great win and his 16th Minisprint win in Wellington, with 93 Declan Roe 2nd. The drive of the race was the 22W Glen Shingleton car who pulled out a brilliant pass on Taylor and moved through to third. Taylor got the position back under yellow but was relegated after the race, boosting Shingleton onto the podium for the first time in his Minisprint driving days.
Overall, a jam packed night of action with hours of entertainment. Bring on the next meeting!
