This Saturday saw the running of two Wellington Championships here at Max Motors Family Speedway for the Panhead Streetstocks and the Youth Ministocks.
The Panhead Streetstocks attracted an excellent field which included 3nz Brent Redington fresh from his win at the Hawkes Bay champs last week and 2nz Brenden Gooch who has previously performed well at Te Marua. In Heat 1 4p Dean Dingwall lead out only to be overtaken by 3nz Brent Redington and then taken to the wall. 2nz Brenden Gooch got the advantage from this and set off to chase the 3nz for the rest of the race. After quite a bit of attrition in the early laps the race settled down and 3nz Brent Redington went on to take the chequered flag from 2nz Brenden Gooch and 56b Glen Shepherd. The highest finishing Wellington driver was 18w Clive Rogers in 5th place behind 6g Cody Gooch. Their next heat saw 9w Aaron Wilton take the lead while 13w Paul Sammons made life uncomfortable for the visitors, holding up both 3nz Brent Redington and 6g Cody Gooch who also got some attention from 91w Mitchell Sveistrup causing him to drop back down the field. 9w Aaron Wilton took the win but 3nz Brent Redington recovered to take 2nd place and the points lead. 18w Clive Rogers and 2nz Brenden Gooch were 3rd and 4th respectively and therefore both right up there in the points. The last heat was a doozy of a race with action aplenty as the Wellington drivers rallied together to try and prevent the title from leaving the track. 3nz Brent Redington was the first to come under fire when he was taken out on the first corner dropping to the very back of the field. 6g Cody Gooch had the early lead but 88w Mark Brosnahan decided to rectify that spinning and hitting the 6g out of the lead which was unfortunately taken over by 2nz Brenden Gooch. With his brother Cody in the 6g down a lap and running cover for him brilliantly the 2nz was able to take the chequered flag easily. As the attrition grew 3nz Brent Redington showed his prowess at avoiding trouble and was able to make it back up to 2nd place. The two Wellington cars in the running 18w Clive Rogers and 9w Aaron Wilton finished 3rd and 5th respectively, with 6g Cody Gooch coming home in 4th place. The 2019 Wellington Streetstock Champion was 3nz Brent Redington with 62 points with 2nz Brenden Gooch runner-up with 60 points and 18w Clive Rogers in 3rd place with 56 points. Their evening culminated with a one race Spin for Tin which produced plenty of action with the drivers taking the spin part literally. The eventual winner was 99b Shayne Melling from 87b David Adams and 77w Daniel Bouzaid.
The Youth Ministocks Wellington Champs produced a large field of hopefuls. Their first heat showed how determined the young drivers were with several of them unfortunately having to be disciplined for contact in what is a non-contact class. One of the favourites to win 47w Anthony Hocking had a shocking start to his night being involved in an incident on the first corner and having to retire to the infield without completing even 1 lap. 11w Holly McGee, one of the big improvers this season, drove a fast, clean race to take the win from 21p Cody Hodge and 16w Levi Pou. The biggest mover of the race was 24w Keegan Cotter who came from grid 18 to 5th place. In the next heat 21p Cody Hodge unfortunately had his hopes dashed by a DNF when he joined 89w Ella Robertson on the infield. 9w Cyrus Crook made some good passes to take the win from 24w Keegan Cotter and 12p Seth Hodge. 16w Levi Pou got 5th place which kept his championship hopes alive. In the final heat 27w Vaughn Smith treated the crowd to a spectacular roll which, through no fault of his own, saw him go from 3rd place to a DNF in seconds. 25w Josh Moffatt took a start to finish win but really had to battle to hold off the 2nd place-getter 21p Cody Hodge. 23w Logan Bognuda had his best race of the night taking 3rd place as did 16w Levi Pou who came from grid 18 to take 4th place. Another one to make great gains was 11w Holly McGee who came from a very back grid to place 10th. Points leader 24w Keegan Cotter came from grid 21 to finish 7th which unfortunately was not quite enough to give him the title. 16w Levi Pou took the overall win with 75 points from 24w Keegan Cotter on 73 points and 25w Josh Moffatt and 11w Holly McGee who shared 3rd place on 69 points.
Support classes on the night were the Friday Homes Superstocks where the Wellington Wildcats team was announced. The team consisting of 5w Keegan Levien, 7w Shane Davis, 46w Ethan Levien, 52w Paul Fairbrother and 89w Dale Robertson, most notable is the absence of 22w Richard Gaskin who unfortunately is unavailable due to injury. There were several different faces behind the wheels tonight with 39w Dennis Jefferies having a run, Justin Wiggett hopping into the 7w for the third race and 26w Alex Mosely and 11w Shane Hollows returning. In their three races two of the regular visitors to Te Marua took the chequered flags. 371p Daniel Hole won twice with 77p Scott Penn taking the other. 24w Grant Littlewood, 95p Clive Elliot and 7w Shane Davis were the others to appear in the top three.
The Capital Pools and Spas Stockcars had four races with 2nz Keegan Levien showing how he got the number by taking three of them taking his home streak to 6 from 6. 96w Brad McGee added a win to his 2nd and 3rd places, 38w Jordan Arapere took a couple of 2nds and 88w Josh Kahui had a 2nd and a 3rd and 98w Ashlee Gaskin-Robertson rounded out the top three place getters.