Photographers: Glenn Taylor, Daniel Reyland, Steve Green.
Speedway action for competitors and spectators started Friday night at the Robertson Holden International Speedway in Palmerston North with qualifying for the New Zealand Superstock Grand Prix and the North Island Minisprint Champs.
Levin drivers Wayne Norris in 77p and Gary Trotter in 61p took to the track along with Darren Grey from Paraparaumu who normally races Standard stock 11w, however for this event he was in Superstock 95p. All three were in the midst of the action on Friday night especially Trotter who was spun around at the Pit end and lost the best part of a lap getting turned around and pointing the right way down the track. With 53 drivers entered from as far away as Auckland, Nelson and Christchurch the competition was pretty fierce on Friday night.
For Shane Mellsop of the Hawkes Bay in car 7b, his weekends racing finished in a very spectacular fashion with an impressive roll over below the grandstand that saw the car actually bounce on it’s roof at one stage. First aid personnel assisted him out of his car after they had checked him over and despite the big roll he was conscious and talking, although apparently rather sore. He was taken to the Palmerston North Hospital for two hours for observation before going home later that night.
The North Island Minisprint Champs also had three Levin drivers competing, Carol Golding, Declan Roe and Andrew Johnstone. After Fridays qualifying it looked like Roe was in with a good chance to actually win the Championship after he came second in the points, just 2 points behind the nights leader, current NZ3 Shaun Cook. Both Johnstone and Golding were further down the 25 car field in 15th & 16th place respectively. For James Cossey in Minisprint 34p, his night finished on the exit from the Pit turn when something broke with a distinct crack after which his car went straight for the pit wall still at full speed. Cossey had time to get off the gas and onto the brakes but the cars speed was such that it hit the concrete wall with a huge thump and rolled, demolishing much of the car along the way. When I spoke to him afterwards he was a little shaken up but uninjured and said that this was his first major crash and apart from the obvious damage to the car he was fine.
The other class racing on Friday night was the Youth Ministocks which saw younger competitors like 13 year old, Stephen Taylor of Whitby take to the track in 21p which is a car that was built 15 years ago. He had very mixed fortunes on the night coming in 8th of the 32 cars in race one then a crash in heat two put him on the infield for that race and ongoing troubles in the last race also saw him parked on the grass infield.
Saturday nights action started with a bang and a flash in the first Superstock race with Garry Foley in 24b losing a driveshaft, Wayne Hemi in 591p missing a big section of his cars sidepanels and Neil Frew in 7c rolling over and catching fire. Even Levin driver Wayne Norris finished the race parked on the grass after his cars engine began to radically overheat. Of the 30 starters only 20 where able to finish the first heat. In a later heat the current NZ1, Brendan Higgins spun out and was stalled backwards beside the pit gate when Brad Ridland in 5k came around the turn too fast to stop and too wide out towards the wall to miss the stalled car. The resulting collision saw Ridland’s car roll sideways, bounce on it’s tail and then crunch back on the track upside down. Once again the red lights came on and the infield safety crew were on the spot within moments checking that he was ok and as usual the driver walked away with a few bruises thanks to the onboard safety equipment.
In the Minisprints there was one notable collision between Sean Rice in 81p and Chad Ace in 77p which left the two of them in a pile beside the pit gate, neither sustained any injuries although the cars were a little bent. The final result for the night had Declan Roe placing second in the North Island Minisprint Champs with Daniel Thomas in 2h first and Dayne Maxwell in 26h third.
In the New Zealand Superstock Grand Prix, the win went to Shane Penn in 7p with Dale Ewers in 14n second and Shane Harwood in 18n third.
The next meeting at the Robertson Holden International Speedway is the North Island Streetstock and Solo Champs on March 27th, for more information visit their Website: www.pnspeedway.co.nz
By Steve Green
Entries (RSS)