This weekend at Max Motors Family Speedway the feature on the programme was the fourth running of the annual McGinty’s Towing Girls and the Kerry Lindsay Engine Re-conditioners Boys Ministock Invitationals.
A field of 32 young female drivers from Auckland in the north to Dunedin in the south took to the track for the first heat of the contest. 29p
Rachel Bradbury and 11w Holly McGee both made good starts from their front grids but it didn’t take long for the current reigning Wellington champion 92v Jemma Barnes to take over the running and run she did creating a strong buffer between her and the rest of the pack., eventually winning the race by more than 4 seconds. 11w Holly McGee, who has been one of this season’s big improvers, hung on to take 2nd place ahead of 3rd place-getter 39r Alyssa Carnell. The big movers of the race were 99m Danielle Duncan, who made up 10 spots to finish 5th, 14b Courtney Hatton, who made up 15 places to finish in 4th place, 6w Hannah McGinty, who moved up 16 spots but the biggest mover of the race was 21a Kaylee Brookes who came from the back of the field and made 22 passes to take 10th place. Their next heat saw 53v Madison Caird and 454r Jessie Henderson take up the front running at the off but it didn’t take too long before 14b Courtney Hatton had found a way past them to take the win. 982v Jemma Barnes started the race well, making plenty of good passes to get up to 7th place; however a race incident saw her spun and dropping back down the field. 6w Hannah McGinty and 21a Kaylee Brookes built on their first heat efforts
with a 2nd and 3rd place respectively. 5a Tyler-Shaye Rumball kept herself in the running with a solid 4th place with 53v Madison Caird and 57m Olivia Moloney completing the top six.99m Danielle Duncan came from her back grid up to 10th place. Their third and final heat presented the spectators with a great race long battle between 21a Kaylee Brookes and 42b Lauren Swift which was won by the 42b by centimetres on the line. The two title contenders 6w Hannah McGinty and 14b Courtney Hatton had to come through the field from back grids to try and keep their chances alive. Both did just that with the 6w Hannah McGinty finishing in 5th place and 14b Courtney Hatton taking 9th place. These placings gave the final points an interesting twist with both of them on 88points and tied in 1st place, 1 point further back on 87points was 21a Kaylee Brookes. The top six were rounded out by 99m Danielle Duncan, 5a Tyler-Shaye Rumball and 92v Jemma Barnes.
The Boys Invitational also attracted a field of 32 young drivers from all over New Zealand. 43p Kyle Rowe showed the benefit of being a
regular visitor to the Te Marua track when he fought off strong challenges from 777w Shaun Hayman and 81w Damon Smith to take the win in the first heat. 81w Damon Smith took the 2nd place with 777w Shaun Hayman taking 3rd place. Another driver who is no stranger to the Wellington track is 7p Louis Redshaw, who came home in 4th spot. 47w Anthony Hocking was the big mover of the race coming from grid 28 to 5th place. Their next heat saw 7s Will Hart make a good start and take the early lead, at one stage a hard-charging 16w Levi Pou manged to wrestle the lead from him; however it was not for long and by the chequered flag the win was again the 7s’s. 9w Cyrus Crook took the 2nd spot ahead of 47w Anthony Hocking and 16w Levi Pou. 741a Codi Chatfield made some good passes to come home in 5th place. 81w Damon Smith cemented his chances coming from his back grid to 7th place. In the final deciding heat 81w Damon Smith settled into the lead early and ran away from the rest of the field despite the valiant efforts of 47w Anthony Hocking to reel him in, but the battle of the race was
between 741a Codi Chatfield and 94w Ethan Donohue which saw them changing places a number of times throughout the race. 81w Damon Smith’s first place gave him a 1 point lead over his nearest rival and therefore the title. 47w Anthony Hocking was 2nd both in the race and in the title chase with 741a Codi Chatfield finishing 3rd in the race and 3rd equal in the title with 9w Cyrus Crook. 777w Shaun Hayman and 63r Dylan Jensen rounded out the top six. As well as the titles being up for grabs there was also Best Pairs competition which was won by 81w Damon Smith and 92v Jemma Barnes with 9w Cyrus Crook and 21a Kaylee Brookes in 2nd place and 35v Flynn Wild and 57m Olivia Moloney taking 3rd place. The Hard Luck Awards went to 455r Kaylee Hika and 24w Keegan Cotter.
The Invitationals were well-supported by the Capital Pools and Spas Stockcars where we welcomed ‘Moon Goon’ and the Wanganui Vulcans
Stockcar team. A new-look squad included two first-time Teams racers in 53v Mason James and 67v Chet Swan. 42v Steve Read had only done a couple of races with the final member 22v Shane Kells being the ‘experienced’ one but with only a handful of races under his belt. In contrast the Wellington Young Guns had a vastly experienced squad with most of the members having been Teams racers for many years. Considering the difference in experience and the fact that the Vulcans lost a car before the green flag they acquitted themselves in a manner they can be proud off. Even though they lost the race they were no easy beat and the Young Guns had to work for it. At one stage the 67v Chet Swan managed to block the two lead Wellington cars, spinning the leader and allowed the chasing 22v Shane Kells to take up the running however the numerical advantage and experience of the Young Guns took its toll on the Vulcans and the Wellington team took 1st and 2nd place. In the next Stockcar race 57w Josh Prentice took 1st place despite the attentions of 28p Mitchell Pescini who took him to the wall and spun him out. 54w Brendon Tye and 19w Noel Bewley took 2nd and 3rd places respectively. In the third race it appeared that the 28p’s actions in the previous race had really ‘set a cat among the pigeons’ much to the delight of the crowd. The first incident was when 66w Liam Sullivan found himself up the wall and rolled fortunately landing back on his wheels and being able to continue. 52w Dale Robertson and 38w Jordan Arapere kept up a running battle and the 23p Paige Metcalf came in for a lot of attention till she registered a DNF. 57w Josh Prentice joined in the action with a big hit on the 751p Jack Lammas that saw them both towed off to the infield. 19w Noel Bewley managed to avoid all the mayhem to take the win from 46w Ethan Levien and 24w Brendon Tye.
The Friday Homes Superstocks had 36p Jake Baker, 471p Daniel Hole and 95p Clive Elliot join the locals. We also saw Justin Wigget in the 7w. In their first race 321w Hilton Parker took a start to finish win from 54w Mike Pye and 24w Grant Littlewood. The next race saw 471p Daniel Hole look impressive as he came through the field to take the win ahead of 54w Mike Pye and 95P Clive Elliot. Unfortunately with the Ambulance needing to come onto the track to provide medical assistance to several of the Ministock girls it was decided to forego their last race.
The CDC Concrete Drilling and Cutting Streetstocks produced a field of eight cars to start the night and even though they provided plenty of action in all their three races there were still 8 cars in the final race. Race one went to 9w Aaron Wilton ahead of 19w Daniel Fergusson and 29w Robert Jackson. In their next race 29w Robert Jackson took the flag from 8w Tristan O’Donnell and 31w Glen Wood. 8w Tristan O’Donnell took the last race with 19w Daniel Fergusson and 9w Aaron Wilton rounding out the podium.
In the Moving Company Saloons 3nz Matt Eckersley took a clean sweep of the races with 57p Calvin Honore the next best with two 2nd’s and a 3rd. 67w Scott Jones took two 3rd places with 8w Garry Smith taking the other 2nd. Normally 4w, Rodney Green appeared on track this week in his newly-purchased HRC ex 69r.
The C & M Transport Modifieds produced three different winners with 9w Blair McPhee, 36w Jacob Free and 17w Jonas England all doing a victory lap. The 9w and 17w also had a second place as did 5w Brian McPhee. Thirds went to 57w Ben Cawthra with two and 11w Wayne Eveleigh.
Our next event here at Max Motors Family Speedway is on the 24th and should be all on for young and old with the third round of the Friday Homes Superstock Tri-series and both the Wellington Superstocks and Stockcar championships.
