Three Wellington Championships were decided on Saturday night 3/12/11 at Max Motors Family Speedway and in keeping with the family ethos of the track name, all three championships featured 2 family members on the podium.
The Hirepool Stockcars was the first of the three to kick off in the beautiful balmy summer evening. With 5 visiting drivers Steve Halse, making the long trek from the Huntly track in the 116h, Wanganui Vulcan 321v Hilton Parker with fellow Wanganui drivers 76v Jason Wilson and 15v Kyle Heibner and the lone Palmerston North car of Josh Prentice 10p to fill out the field we saw 21 cars take to the track for the first heat.
Jason Wilson 76v had a Te Marua visit to forget when his car made it to the grid but not much further ending his attempt at the championship before it started. At the front of the field a drag race ensued between 71w Benji Sneddon, 6w Paul Gaskin, 22w Richard Gaskin, 3nz Kane Hargreaves and 11w Michael Gray. Although place swapping with these 5 happened throughout the race they finished in the above order however the big mover of the race was 46w Alan Levien who went from the back of the field to come home in 6th.
Heat 2 saw a lot more good old fashioned Stockcar stirring with 4w Josh Kahui getting the ball rolling with an attack on 10p Josh Prentice that sent him into the wall at corner 2. Prentice has never been the sort of driver to back off from a challenge and began to attack the Wellington cars freely. When he put 11w up the wall he ended up with a passenger on his bonnet which immobilised them both for several laps. 86w Kent Hawkins and 69w Raahiri Connor, fast becoming a crowd favourite, joined in the mayhem meanwhile at the front of the field 33w Richard Gestro kept his nose clean to take the chequered flag followed home by 46w Alan Levien, 6w Paul Gaskin and 22w Richard Gaskin.
Going in to heat 3 Paul Gaskin 6w was leading the points on 39 with brother Richard 22w 2nd on 37 one point ahead of 71w Benji Sneddon and 46w Alan Levien who were both on 36. The 2 Josh’s Prentice 10p and Kahui 4w made their intentions clear right from the start as they continued their battle throughout the race. 46w Alan Levien, 22w Richard Gaskin and 71w Benji Sneddon all started from the front of the grid and remained there, 6w Paul Gaskin thundered through in the first lap to 4th place but was unable to pull them back any further. With Levien taking the maximum 21 points and Richard Gaskin banking 20 the crowd was treated to the interesting scenario of a three way runoff between 6w Paul Gaskin, 22w Richard Gaskin and 46w Alan Levien for the podium places. Paul drew the unlucky marble to start from grid 3 in the runoff, maybe this helped him decide that keeping the Wellington Champs in the family was more important than winning it himself. From the off he harassed Alan Levien slowing him enough to give brother Richard the dream run home. Wellington Champion for 2011/2012: 22w Richard Gaskin 2nd place to 46w Alan Levien, 3rd place 6w Paul Gaskin.
The C & M Modifieds were the next class to stage their championship. The growing Wellington field was joined by Stratford visitors 55s Paul Ward, 77s Craig Ward, 8s Sean Rice and former Taranaki Stockcar Champion, 226s Blair Luscombe.
The first task the Modified drivers had for the night was to help wheel pack a slightly over wet track, after the sunny evening produced a little less heat than expected.
The first heat saw 77s Craig Ward jump to an early lead and never look like being caught. The passing action of the race was for the minor placings with battles between 5w Brian McPhee and 91w Jordan Arapere as they passed and re-passed each other for 2nd. Arapere also had a great battle with 55s Paul Ward for 3rd place finally edging the 55s out by less than 0.2 of a second. Placings were 77s Craig Ward, 5w Brain McPhee, 91w Jordan Arapere, 55s Craig Ward and 9w Blair McPhee.
The next heat saw 8s Sean Rice take the early lead however 91w Jordan Arapere soon found a way around him and once he hit the front could not be stopped. After that there was very little passing in the race except at the back of the field where 57w Ben Cawthra pulled off a couple of good moves. The placings were 91w Jordan Arapere, 8s Sean Rice, 9w Blair McPhee, 55s Craig Ward and 77s Paul Ward. This gave Jordan Arapere 20 points, Paul Ward 18, and made a three-way tie on 16 points between Sean Rice, Blair McPhee and Craig Ward as they went into the final heat.
Heat 3 saw the improving Ben Cawthra turn his potential into reality when he took his first chequered flag. The Sick Puppy sponsored car bounded round the track not even phased by the restart after the orange light, holding out a hard pressing 9w for 1st place. Jordan Arapere continues to be the enigma of the class as he, in one race looks the fastest and classiest driver on track only to treat the track as if it is bigger than it really is in the next. This was the story of his Wellington Championship as he yet again bent his car on the wall and had to be towed off thus ending his chances of victory. Placings were 57w Ben Cawthra, 9w Blair McPhee and 55s Craig Ward. 9w Blair McPhee showed that the key to winning championships is consistency as without any heat wins he collected enough points to claim the 1st spot and the title. 2nd place went to 55s Craig Ward with 3rd spot claimed by 77s Paul Ward.
The final championship of the night was the Moving Company Saloons. The field of 9 Wellington cars was bolstered with the inclusion of Stratford visitors 16s Thomas Korff, 8s Craig Korff and 4s Ash Cook. The first heat had the Wellington spectators excited as 18w Gary Bean streaked off into the lead chased hard by 16s Thomas Korff and 24w Gary Marshall. The drive of the race would have to go to 10w Todd Moffat as, in his inimitable style; he proceeded to pass cars to make his way up to 5th place. The placings were 18w Gary Bean, 16s Thomas Korff, 24w Gary Marshall, 8s Craig Korff and 10w Todd Moffat.
The 2nd heat started with a big tangle on the first corner which unfortunately meant the end of the race for 11w Ian Shingleton. 8s Craig Korff got the best of the restart and stayed in front till the flag fall. Winner of the first heat Gary Bean made up a few spots to keep his hopes alive. Fresh from success in his other sport, bowling, 17w Stu Cunningham had a better heat and grabbed 2nd spot. 3rd home was 10w Todd Moffat ahead of Gary Bean and Thomas Korff.
Going into the 3rd heat 8s Craig Korff was leading on 22 points with 18w Gary Bean close behind on 21 points, 16s Thomas Korff on 19 and 10w Todd Moffat on 18. Point’s leaders Bean and Korff started from near the back of the grid meaning that they would need to pull off a few good passes to make the podium. Craig Korff in 8s did this in spectacular style, making the outside lane work for him as he wowed the crowd with his daring manoeuvres. By the chequered flag he had come within 0.03 of a second of overtaking 10w Todd Moffat. 16s Thomas Korff was also running hot the entire race and finished beside Moffat, only a tenth of a second behind the first 2 places. The naked eye could not confirm the places for the heat but the win was given to 10w with 8s 2nd and 16s 3rd. The display in last heat alone was well worth the entrance money and Craig Korff 8s was a very worthy winner of the Wellington title. 2nd place went to Todd Moffat 10w and anyone that left early missed one of the best runoffs in the class when 18w Gary Bean and 16s Thomas Korff took the track to decide 3rd place. Bean got an early lead and looked to have the runoff sewn up but 16s Thomas Korff followed in his father’s wheel-tracks, taking the outside lane and what ensued was nail-biting door handle to door handle racing at its best. On the line Korff snatched 3rd place by a nostril, making the 3rd family podium pairing of the night.
Support classes on the night were the CDC Concrete Streetstocks, where one time stirrer now flag-racer 13w Paul Sammons took the first 2 chequered flags, although in his defence he did spin a few cars on his way. The third race saw 18w Clive Rogers exhibit a grand sporting gesture when he abandoned his place in the grid to push start competitor Nathan Gardiner 52w. He was rewarded for his good attitude as he went on to win the race.
The Century Distributors Youth Ministocks continue to have close battles throughout the field. 55w Todd McLachlan, 36w Jacob Free and 18w Daniel Head continue to be consistent performers but the race winners on the night were 34w Matthew Eckersley, twice and 88w Josh Bathgate.
The Resene Paints Production Saloons were the other support class on the programme with 73w Michael Wood, 32w Tim Gaskin and 34w Scott Hilder being the winners on the night.
