Beachlands Delivers The Goods This Christmas

Andrew Andrew

• RACE REPORTS

Beachlands Delivers The Goods This Christmas

Beachlands Speedway

Photography by Robin Simpson

Images supplied by: Christopher Scrimgour

(Disclaimer - results as seen by myself while commentating, results may have changed slightly due to relegations etc. - This article or extracts from it are not to be used by any other form of media without prior permission.) The dust had settled on Christmas Day, everyone got out and shopped their hearts out with the Boxing Day sales, it was now time to kick back, relax and take in some hard and fast Speedway action at Custom Signs Beachlands Speedway in Dunedin. It was a warm but overcast day, rain threatened on the odd occasion late into the meeting but officials ensured the races flowed in quick succession and weather would not play a factor in this event.

The stage was set for the Meikles Transport Otago Saloon Championship, the South Pacific Super Saloon Grand Prix, the A&H Ltd Production Saloon Grand Slam as well as round one of the Tri Series for Stockcars and Youth Ministocks who will also complete rounds at both Riverside and Central Motor Speedway over the coming days.The club paid tribute to "The Hoon" Darrell Richards who led the Grand Parade for the very last time with the 1NZ emblazoned down the side of his Streetstock, proudly holding his New Zealand Championship trophy high to the fans. Richards has held the trophy for the last two seasons but the trophy will again be up for grabs in Blenheim in early January.

The main event was the Otago Saloon Championship and a fairly talented bunch of drivers entered certainly meant it was hard to pick a firm favorite going into this meeting.

Heat one saw a couple of cars capable of winning the title parked up on the infield with flat tyres, both Stu "The Flying Scotsman" Millar and Dave McCallion both of Dunedin would be spectators and pretty much putting any chance of a podium spot in the championship to bed.

Beachlands Jason Gold set the pace early but it didn't take long before second generation speedway racer Aaron Andrews would come from mid pack and snatch the lead mid way through the race. Andrews worked away up front and extended his lead to comfortably take out the heat one win, Gold settled for second with Mark Newall also of Dunedin showing solid pace up in third. Heat two would see Andrews start from the front row of the grid and again dominate from that spot. Dunedin's Shane Greer bought out an early caution when he clipped the wall on the back straight, he managed to limp around to the main straight where he would park up stationary bringing out the yellow flag. When they cleared Greer, Andrews would have to withstand some intense pressure from McCallion who was looking fast in second while Blair Leigh from Woodford Glen was also working his way through the field. Dunedin's Paul Carr caused all sorts of havoc with the lead cars while going a lap down, Carr would spin on multiple occasions making for championship implications should one of the lead cars get tangled up with a car that simply wasn't handling the Beachlands track, Andrews, McCallion and Leigh all had close calls trying to get past the back marker. Carr would eventually loop himself in turn two with just one lap to run, putting heat two down to a two lap sprint. The top three placings wouldn't change with Andrews banking his second win from as many starts, McCallion secured second with Leigh third. Heat three and Andrews already had one hand on the silverware but would need to run a cautious race from the rear of the field. Gold got off to a solid start but was soon chased down by both McCallion and Leigh, while behind them an epic battle was happening between Millar, Greer, and their Beachlands clubmates Travis Smith and Ryan Bennett, all four cars running wheel to wheel for a number of laps, leaving Andrews running nervously at the rear of the field not wanting to become a part of any mishaps that may unfold.

Eventually midrace it all came unstuck for Millar, spinning up also taking Newall and Greer with him, Andrews lucky to miss the spinning cars just ahead of him. At the restart Leigh would again get off to a flyer, ensuring he was going to be in the championship mix somewhere. Andrews was still driving with caution, you could sense he wanted to pass cars up front but also had the championship in mind, Newall fought hard with Andrews and even managed to pass him on a couple of occasions, but when the flag dropped Andrews fifth placing had given him enough points to claim the Otago Saloon Championship. The race win would go the way of Leigh with McCallion second and Gold third, but rumor has it Gold may have been hit with a relegation. Overall win as mentioned went to Andrews, while second equal were Gold and Leigh. The nights entertainment started with a bit of fun with the running of the Youth Saloon parents race, this was a chance for the Youth Saloon drivers to sit back and judge their parents or guardians who no doubt would have offered some hand advice of the season. The race was entertaining with two breakaway cars putting on a great show, Jules Bennett and Corey Cron were in a league of their own, Bennett racing off to a commanding lead but Cron showed pure grit and determination to chase down the leader and make a real race of it. Bennett almost looked assured of a race win but on the very last lap Cron made the move that would give him the race win and bragging rights over every other parent in pit lane. Bennett held on to a well driven second while Neil Howard would be rewarded for a solid drive in third place. Youth Saloons put on some great racing across all three heat races. Heat one was a green to checkered race with no stoppages at all, Dunedin's Madi Stewart drove well to come from mid pack to snatching a race win, Deikin Borthwick claimed second just ahead of his Beachlands clubmate Brooke Soper in third. Race two saw a couple of restarts, the first after debris was found in turn one, the second when Dunedin's Ashley Bennett spun up in turn four. These restarts made for great racing as it kept condensing the field and race leader Maia Johnston of Dunedin had to keep absorbing the pressure from some very fast cars in behind her. Johnston's Dunedin club mates Jayden Cron and Soper were eager to take the front spot, Soper challenged on multiple occasions until Johnston managed to negotiate lapped traffic better and pull a gap. Soper would also lose a spot to Cron through lapped traffic also having to settle for third overall, Cron second with Johnston doing enough to hold on for the win. Soper definitely wanted to turn the tables in race three and put up a great fight with Beachlands Max Kemp who was looking fast. The first caution of the race came when Dunedin driver Max Fleet parked his car against the wall between turns three and four. The race restarted just as a few drops of rain started to fall, Soper still held the lead but only just, Kemp was on the charge along with Cron who was joining the party up front, the race would be called early when Bennett suffered damage stopping on the track, giving Soper a well deserved win, Kemp second and Cron third.A bumper field of Stockcars sponsored by Gordon Road Mechanical thrilled the crowd with Round one of the Tri Series, from a commentators point of view you simply did not know where to look, there was plenty of great action unfolding on track. Heat one was fast and fairly clean, drivers not wanting to sustain any form of major damage with a busy few days ahead of the teams. Central Motor Speedway driver Casey McEwan got out in front early and managed to negotiate a number of back of the pack battles to take a solid race win. Second was McEwan's Cromwell clubmate Jack Honeybone while Christchurch's Murray Greig would drive from mid pack up to third on debut in his new grade. Race two saw a big crash on the main straight, Riverside's Peter Knight was making a move on Dunedin brother Billy and Harry Greer but just got tagged by another car sending him nose first into Harry Greer pushing him hard into the concrete wall, this also pinned Billy Greer as well as Christchurch driver Amber Brooks, all drivers thankfully walked away unscathed. Riverside driver Shanan Knight found his way to the front amongst all the action and grabbed himself a well thought out race win, in second was Christchurch driver Tyler McPherson who was also looking very quick, the locals cheered on Zac McClenaghan who got up to third.Heat three and McPherson would get a front row start alongside Dunedin driver Zara Lee Tuhura, McPherson won the race into turn one and set off on his way early only to be stopped just one lap in. A big crash coming out of turn two occurred when Christchurch's Jason Brooks got a tap sending him into a spin, unfortunately for Brooks, McClenaghan didn't see him parked up due to the amount of cars around him and hit him with force head on, this led to Dunedin driver, former All Black Liam Squire hitting Brooks hard in the side locking the two cars together. Officials gave both cars every chance to unhook themselves under their own steam but both cars were locked tight, meaning outside assistance was needed putting both cars out of the race. While this was playing out it was Brooks daughter Amber who was having issues of her own being hooked up with Peter Knight on turn four, thank fully both cars freed themselves and both would continue to race on. At the restart McPherson would again get down to business, weaving his way through multiple lapped cars as behind him Dunedin's Paul Simon, Shanan Knight and Greig were all working their way through the field. Two more stoppages would prevail for cars that were parked up on track but McPherson would keep his nose clean to bag a race win, Simon was certainly making ground on McPherson getting up to second with Shanan Knight adding to his already consistent results claiming third. There was a fourth race for Stockcars which was not part of the Tri Series, Zara Lee Tuhura took out a win over older brother Zane with Simon claiming third. Youth Ministocks are following the Tri Series circuit of the Stockcars running their own series and the event has attracted drivers from Cromwell, Christchurch and Nelson Speedway. The Youth Ministocks were sponsored by Mulford Holdings and put on a great show. Heat one saw Central Motor Speedway driver Ashdyn "Smash" Gable race off to an early lead, looking fast out front while the pack behind him battled hard. Gable would soon come under pressure from clubmate Clay Dawson who has been the form man of the Youth Ministock grade in the South so far this season. Dawson would eventually slip past Gable to bank a race win, Gable home in a well driven second with Trent Ainsley of Cromwell impressing with a drive through the pack to third. Heat two and the Speedway New Zealand Officials must have been in a very festive mood as the race had to restarted twice due to cars in the second and third rows charging off early. On the third attempt the race got underway and again it took no time for Dawson to get the upper hand on his competition and snare the race lead.Gables good form from heat one all came undone when his car would stop on the main straight, a push from the crash crew saw his car fire up but just as he was about to rejoin the field he was instructed to retire to the infield where he parked up clearly showing his frustrations. As the race restarted no one could even get close to Dawson making it a second race win in succession, second was Christchurch driver Jaxyn Houtos while a fast finishing Zac Phillips of Cromwell would secure third spot. Heat three and the real question was who could stop Dawson, the short answer to that was no one, Jacob Skurr of Christchurch got off to a flying start and looked a strong chance but Dawson got into a rhythm and banked another race win, making it three from three and the perfect start to his Tri Series campaign.In second was Skurr with Houtos claiming the third spot. The South Pacific Super Saloon Grand Prix was on the line at Beachlands but only a handful of cars made the event. Heat one was an easy win for Central Motor Speedway's Ray Stewart who to a half lap win ahead of Beachlands duo Terry Soper and Ricky Boulton, Soper coming in for a barrage of hits from Boulton who was reliving his Superstock days in the closing laps. Heat two and Boulton took the win despite coming under pressure from a hard charging Stewart with Soper, this race had the one caution when Matt Greene and Alister Lister both spun up in turn two. The final for the South Pacific Grand Prix saw race two winner Boulton a noticeable absentee. This made life a little easier for Stewart who took off when the green flag dropped and remained unchallenged to bag the championship with ease. Soper withstood some late race pressure from Lister but managed to hold onto second with Lister grabbing the last spot available on the podium. Production Saloons would race two heat races to establish the grid positions for the thirty lap Production Saloon Grand Slam, the format would be lowest points scored would start from the front in the feature with the fast drivers who won the heat races having to work their way from the rear of the field.In heat one action Dunedin's Tyler Kelk would prove to be too good claiming a well driven, hard fought win. Sam Martin who had made the trek South from Eastern States Speedway in Blenheim was the only rear wheel drive car in the field, he drove a tidy race working his way through the grid to secure second ahead of Dunedin driver Olivia Glover in third. Heat two and again Martin look impressive but couldn't get himself into the race lead which was held by Dunedin's Lucy Greer. Greer drove off nicely from the outset but looked like she may relinquish the lead when Central Motor Speedway driver Gavin Hurring came to a stand still late in the race. This would give Martin a chance to attack but Greer sat her car mid track and Martin never had an answer watching Greer take the heat two win while Martin took second and claimed the top points score over two heats while in third was Beachlands driver Clay Marshall. This would mean Martin would have thirty laps to come through a sizeable field from the rear if he wanted to win this event, what he didn't know was a fair chunk of the field would end up parked up on the infield with multiple cautions leading to a stop start affair. Glover was the first casualty, clipping the wall on the back straight causing considerable damage to her car, leaving her parked up on turn three. Next was Cassie Campbell of Dunedin who suffered heavy damage to her car on the back straight, Rylee Stewart of Beachlands was leading at this stage but was instructed to head infield due to a flat tyre ending her chances early. Martin by now was working his way up through the field and starting to reignite his battle with Greer. Another quick caution came when the bumper of Dunedin driver Cam Bower came off then the next caution would involve the two cars challenging for the lead of the race, just so happened to be Greer and Martin. Martin had stalked the back of Greers car lap after lap, and like race two he just couldn't find a way to pass, finally on the back straight Martin made a big move on the outside which allowed him to pass cleanly, that was until he turned into turn three and got nailed by Greer who was trying to come back up the inside, both leading cars spun and parked up. Officials would send Greer to the infield but Martin once restarted would take his spot back at the front of the pack with Marshall brothers Kaleb and Clay both right on his rear bumper. A three lap sprint to the flag would eventually see Martin take the race win, Kaleb Marshall grabbed second while Dunedin driver Aaron Brookland stole third on the line from Clay Marshall. The last grade to run was Streetstocks who were pretty much having a shake down before venturing off to Blenheim to contest the New Zealand Streetstock Championship. Race one winner was Shya McHardy with Benji Smaill second and Brett Bower third while in race two the win went the way of Ben Jenkins ahead of Bower with Josh Murdoch taking the third spot.

ARE YOU READY TO MAKE A MOVE?

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