After a tremendously windy week in Wellington the weather put on a great show for the GT Radial Super Saloon Series here at Max Motors Family Speedway.
Sunny skies and no wind greeted the impressive field of Super Saloons that converged on Te Marua this Saturday. It has been a long time since the Wellington spectators have seen such an array of machinery and talent on the track and they were rightly excited. The defending series champion, 1NZ Shane McIntyre, unfortunately didn’t make it to the opening round, being too busy making other peoples vehicles to finish his own but we did see a field of 15 drivers take to the track. Each one will be receiving individual treatment in this review.
12B Peter Black: After 14 years on the sidelines Peter has reappeared in the ex-Grahame Strong car. Looking the goods in the pits with a well turned out crew he didn’t have the best of nights, needing to be towed off from the hot laps and only completing half the first race before retiring for the evening.
24W Martin Halcrow: On track in his HRC racing car, which is self-built in his case. Martin, being one of the stalwarts of Wellington Super Saloon racing always gets plenty of local support. With a 9th and a 7th in the heats and picking up a few passing points he looked good for a mid-pack finish but the feature turned to custard. The first lap saw him in his inimitable style come together with 891C Josh Boulton and end his race on the wall. The car was a mess but fortunately Martin was walking around freely after being checked out by the medics.
891C Josh Boulton: The Boulton racing team have a deserved reputation for immaculate presentation and Josh’s Lovelady-built car is no exception. It was great to have a Cantabrian make the long journey up to Wellington. With a 10th and then a 2nd in the heats he promised to be quick in the feature however the same incident that spectacularly ended Martin Halcrow’s race also finished Josh’s.
36A Mike Pegler: In a car built by the late John Clements and in Manchester United colours Mike proved to be quite a character. Acknowledging that he was not as speedy as the top guys he oozed enthusiasm for driving. His heat results showed he was in the class for the unadulterated pleasure of it but unfortunately his feature race only lasted a lap before he was forced to retire with what appeared to be an overheating problem.
46M Matt Smith: Matt appeared at Te Marua for his first time in his self-built car, which is notable for its big block engine. In good form at the moment, winning 3 from 3 at his last outing at Baypark, with a 5th and 4th in the heats and quite a lot of passing points in the bank he was unable to get past 7M Brent Emerson in the Pole Shuffle. The feature saw him running strong in 2nd until a spin dropped him in the field and appeared to affect his performance retiring him to the infield a few of laps later.
5W Grahame Strong: Unfortunately Grahame’s new HRC car was not quite ready to hit the track but fortunately for him Brian McPhee offered him the 5W to race in. A stalwart in the class Grahame was familiar to the Te Marua crowd. In an unfamiliar car however he didn’t generate his usual pace as shown by his 11th and 9th placings in the heats. The feature race yielded up a 10th place for him.
4M Trev Rodgers: In the Mark Walford-built car with its 360 horsepower engine Trev is another amiable character who focuses on the enjoyment of the sport. He was down on track time this season but still made a reasonable showing with a 13th and a 12th in the heats and got up for 9th in the feature.
46H Cody Hata: An ex-Sprintcar competitor Cody has purchased Ian Burson’s 2010 season car. A dreadlocked windsurfer Cody is not your usual Super-Saloon competitor. His stated aim in competing in the Super Saloon series is to gain experience and keep his car straight. He had a consistent night with a 7th and 8th in the heats backed up by an 8th in the feature. This being only his 3rd meeting in this class he could be one to watch for the future.
12M Kristin Vermeulen: She made the jump from Youth Ministocks to Super Saloons 3 seasons ago and has purchased Shane McIntyre’s last season’s 1NZ. Her night was a mixed bag with a good 3rd place in the first heat, an 11th in the 2nd heat and a 7th in the feature.
21N Ian Burson: Another mainlander making the trip over the Strait for the series, Ian presented himself in a new Shane McIntyre-built car with a brand-new engine installed. In his immaculately presented machine his evening started well with a convincing win in the first heat only to spin out in the 2nd and find himself at the back of the field for 13th. The feature race saw him finish in 6th place.
8H Craig Cardwell: It was quite a surprise and a testimony to his crew to see his car back on track after his huge crash at Baypark recently. In another Shane McIntyre-built car he had a coming together with 81M in the first heat which saw him spinning onto the grass and losing his placing to finish 12th although collecting a gaggle of passing points on the way. Heat 2 saw a more conservative approach and yielded him up a 6th place. The feature saw a great battle with Craig and Dean Waddell throughout the whole race with the end result being Craig relegated to 5th for a pole line infringement.
81M Dean Waddell: Another new car, this one a Phantom chassis built by Dean and his crew. With only a few meetings under his belt the double NZ champion is still fine-tuning his performance but still managed a credible 6th, 5th and 4th in the feature.
7M Brent Emerson: Brent has taken on the role of being the Team driver for Lovelady race cars this season in the 17C and so is rarely seen in the 7M in normal circumstances. In the 1st heat he made his way up to 8th place and a 3rd in the 2nd heat were enough to see him in the pole shuffle. He made short work of both Grant Flynn and Matt Smith on the 1st corner as he hung his back out shutting the out and going on to win. The final pole shuttle was a different story. Facing Ben Harding he tried the same tactic only to find that Harding was having none of it resulting in probably one of the beat shootouts Te Marua has ever seen. Spectators were on the edge of their seats as Harding and Emerson traded places the whole 2 laps, but in the end it was Harding by a nose. Brent backed up a good weekend with a 3rd in the feature.
2NZ Grant Flynn: Grant is one of the main people we have to thank for seeing the GT Radial Super Saloon Series. Another Shane McIntyre-built car which has yielded some good results for the flying Flynn. A 2nd and a 10th in the heats put him into the pole shuffle where he took 2 good wins only to fall under the onslaught of Emerson. The feature saw him work his way up to 2nd place but ran out of race to close the gap to Harding.
24H Ben Harding: Harding has a new Shane McIntyre car under construction but one might ask the question “Why?” when his current McIntyre car is so successful for him. A 4th and a 1st in heats made him the top qualifier for the pole shuffle and the ensuing battle showed he can beat the best. In the feature he was in a class of his own, streaking out into the lead and leaving the rest for dust.
The evening was backed up by 5 support classes.
C & M Modifieds saw a new face in 17W Jonas England, driving the ex-Alan Haigh 2NZ and making his transition from the Stockcar class. Winners on the night were 8W Michael Burt, 5W Brian McPhee and 9W Blair McPhee
The Hirepool Stockcars were a bit light on numbers due to the Teams Invasion in Palmerston North but still managed to put on a good show. Points of interest were Richard Goodsell making his first ever appearance on a Speedway track in the 61W, 5W Jaden Munn in his first meeting and current 3NZ Kane Hargreaves unveiling his brand-new Rees tank. Race winners were 71W Benji Sneddon (twice) and 98W Blake Ellett.
CDC Concrete Streetstocks continue to be a crowd-pleaser with all sorts of stirring in the ranks. 66W Barry Parsons (2) and 13W Paul Sammons were the race winners.
Resene Paints Production Saloons had a shortened night due to time constraints but provided the crowd with some close racing. Winners on the night were 32W Tim Gaskin and 73W Michael Wood with 18W Darren McKay bringing home 2nd in each race.
Century Distributors Youth Ministocks also had a shortened programme, but had some good battles in their 2 races, particularly one back in the field between the two Ashleigh’s / Ashlee’s – Halcrow 42W and Gaskin-Robertson 52W. Winners on the night were 97W Jordan McLeod and 13W Todd Jenkins.
A great night was had by all here at Max Motors Family Speedway.
Electronic Lap Data
Please note all lap data is always provisional. Lap Records may be false as the data in the system is fresh this season.
