Central Drivers Snare Southland Titles

Andrew Andrew

• RACE REPORTS

Central Drivers Snare Southland Titles

Riverside Speedway

Photography by Alicia Race

Images supplied by: Christopher Scrimgour

It seems wet weather shut down every single speedway across New Zealand last Saturday, all but one in the deep south. Aotea Electric Riverside Speedway was bathed in sunshine, blue skies and an action packed program to welcome in the New Year.

Two Southland Championships were on the line in Stockcars and Youth Ministocks, as well as the Best Pairs title for Productions and Youth Ministocks and Youth Saloons were entering Round One of The Pits Media Trophy.

Twenty one Stockcars lined up to do battle, cars were entered from Woodford Glen, Beachlands, Central Motor Speedway and of course Riverside, defending Southland Champ Nico Tuhura of Beachlands was on track to defend his title he won last season.

Tuhura started off his campaign in style, racing at the front of the pack in heat one. It was a typical heat one for Stockcars, fast and relatively clean, drivers just getting a feel for the track and gauging the drivers around them, seeing who is a contender and who was there to spoil the party.

Casey McEwan of Central Motor Speedway broke off to an early race lead which would not be challenged to claim maximum points after heat one of the championship. Tuhura grabbed second to ensure he was on for a repeat while in third place Woodford Glen's Murray Greig would put in a solid drive on his old home track.

Heat two and Beachland's Billy Greer was the early race leader and looked to be in full control, a stoppage would occur for Peter Knight of Riverside who was parked up in between turns three and four, the race leader was also involved in this putting Greer to the infield also after what looked like a promising start.

As the lights went green it was Riverside's "Slim Reaper" Luke Molloy who couldn't get his car off the line on the main straight who caused an instant stoppage again, at this point Liam Squire of Beachland's was in front due to Greer's retirement.

Behind Squire was heat one winner McEwan while Tuhura had faced some early attention in this race to be well down the order. Tuhura's older brother Zane was looking quick in this heat also working his way through the field, Zane Tuhura would do enough to claim a solid third placing with McEwan banking some more valuable points to take a solid haul into heat three, Squire taking a popular heat win.

Heat three would decide the Southland Champion and while McEwan was in the box seat he also had a target on his back. McEwan got to the lead early and had two of his Central Motor Speedway club mates either side of him in the form of father and son Shane and Brodie McDonald, this gave McEwan some protection, not that McEwan usually needs it, he is fast becoming known for dishing out as good as he gets.

Brodie McDonald came under fire from Riverside's Phil Johnston on the main straight, Johnston measuring McDonald to perfection, sending him into the wall on the main straight and guiding him up and over on the entry to turn one. McDonald walked away unscathed but this took McDonald out of the title fight and left him an early spectator.

The race restarted only for Nico Tuhura to grind to a halt in turn two, the defending champ gone but not before both him and brother Zane inflicted a couple of major shots on Riverside's Adam Naber, who was hit by both brothers on separate occasions, very hard.

McEwan was still in control at this stage and it looked as if Shane McDonald was going to sit and protect, Squire was working his way through the pack and at this point was up to third. Mid race McDonald made a big move on McEwan the race leader, grabbing the race lead and cruising off.

Squire was edging closer to McEwan but the laps were ticking down, up front McDonald was managing to avoid some of the back marker chaos that was unfolding around him, McDonald managed to dance around the mine field to grab a race win, while McEwan had enough in the tank to claim second and Squire put in another consistent drive to seal third place.

McEwan had secures the Southland Stockcar Championship for 2022/23, Squire second with Shane McDonald third overall.

Youth Ministocks were an invited grade to Riverside, the club has put up a Southland Championship for the visiting grade the last four seasons, and it has proved popular with both drivers and spectators alike.

All drivers entered were from Central Motor Speedway and it was a vacant title as defending champion Brodie McDonald had made the move up to Stockcars.

Heat one and Ashdyn Gable was the early pace setter getting off to a flying start but was soon chased down by Clay Dawson. Dawson has been the benchmark so far this season but while on a recent stand down the likes of Zak Phillips, Gable, Trent Ainsley and Dylan Jones had all bagged some big results and were driving with confidence.

This didn't seem to matter in heat one, Dawson did have to work a lot harder to grab the race win than usual, showing the gap was closing to his rivals, Gable pushed until the end to claim second while Ainsley grabbed third only to be relegated for alleged contact.

Dawson would start from the very back of the pack for heat two, this was the best chance for his fellow competitors to upstage the heat one winner. Phillips pulled away to a handy lead early, but Dawson again worked his way through the field and looked to have the after burners on down the back straight, scorching away from Gable to put the challenge to Phillips out front.

Within a matter of a few laps Dawson would get to Phillips and pass with ease, racing off to his second heat win of the championship, Phillips grabbed a well driven second, while Gable grabbed some more vital points with a third place finish.

Heat three and Dawson already had one hand on the championship, this time around Ainsley would put up the biggest fight, battling hard lap upon lap with Dawson but to no avail, Dawson would make it three wins from as many starts to claim a well driven Southland Championship victory, second in heat three would go to Ainsley with Gable third.

Overall results went the way of Dawson, second Gable and Phillips grabbing the last spot of the podium in third.

Harvey Tanks Youth Saloons were contesting round one of the Pits Media Trophy, ten Riverside cars and ten Beachland's cars were entered.

Heat one saw an early race lead for Beachland's Ashley Bennett who got away to a flying start only to be caught by clubmate Madi Stewart and Riverside's Joshua Richardson. Bennett would soon bring out the first caution of the race when a left rear wheel came off sending her to the infield after showing promising speed early on.

From there it was a brilliant battle between Stewart and Richardson, the pair racing door handle to door handle, contesting lapped traffic, Richardson though getting a break that would see him claim heat one, Stewart second with Max Kemp of Beachland's up in third.

Heat two and the faster cars from heat one would have their work cut out for them, both Richardson and Stewart starting well down the back.

The race would restart early after Beachland's Deikin Borthwick spun up Riverside's Bayton Benfell in lap one, there would be a full grid restart but Benfell was out of the race. Out front it was a great display of driving by Kemp who got off to a flying start, Kemp had to battle hard with clubmate Jayden Cron who challenged for the lead on multiple occasions before the yellow flag came out for Beachland's Max Fleet who was parked up on the exit of turn four.

Kemp raced off at the restart and banked a race win, Cron drove well to second with Riverside's Cayden Race getting quicker each meeting, bagging third in a very competitive field.

Heat three for Youth Saloons and it was fast and clean, a great race that saw Richardson dominate again. He battled for a couple of laps with Borthwick but was just too fast grabbing his second win for the day, Borthwick claiming second with Stewart again driving well in third place.

Overall after one round of the series Richardson leads while three cars are bottlenecked for second, Stewart, Borthwick and Kemp are all equal on points for that spot.

Creativity Plus Production Saloons were racing for Best Pairs, a blind pairs format which always proves popular. Drivers were entered from Central Motor Speedway, Beachland's and Riverside and certainly put on some great racing across all three heats.

Heat one and Riverside's Blake Murdoch got off to a flying start and built up a handy lead in the early stages, a gap that would prove valuable as the race went its duration. Behind Murdoch his clubmates Tony Jones and Alex Crosbie were coming through the field at haste and Murdoch's lead looked under threat, but Murdoch kept his cool, drove a nice defensive line and claimed a solid race win, Crosbie would take home second with Jones third.

Murdoch's fine form from heat one soon all came undone in heat two when he was clipped in traffic on the back straight causing him to hit the wall and damage his steering. Murdoch did his best to limp around the track but the officials bought out a caution making Murdoch retire to the infield.

Out front Jones had a big lead but this stoppage allowed Crosbie to attack, and attack he did, hounding Jones in what was a great battle, Crosbie well down on horse power used his pure skills to out drive Jones and make a pass to take the race win, Jones had to settle for second with Gavin Hurring of Central Motor Speedway third.

The final race to decide best pairs saw Crosbie work his way to the front pretty smartly and take control of the race, this race had some great battles throughout the field and the only stoppage came when Riverside's Blake Hamilton lost power and came to a stand still bringing out the caution. Little did Crosbie know that Hamilton was his best pairs partner and this could be what may cost them the championship.

Behind Crosbie was the combination who were sitting second, Hurring and Riverside's Dave McKenzie who could steal the title with both cars grabbing a top spot.

Crosbie would win the race, Hurring came home second with Brad Fitzgerald of Riverside third.

The overall points however went to Crosbie and Hamilton, Hurring and McKenzie having to settle for second with Fitzgerald and Laura Heads of Riverside third.

Modified Sprints ran in support to the championships, and in heat Beachland's Glenn Johnston carried on where he left off at Riverside just over a week ago, showing blistering pace to demolish the opposition, taking the heat one win over Vernon Helms of Riverside in second and Ewan Stewart out of Beachland's third.

Heat two and you would almost swear someone spiked the drinking water as a number of drivers were starting to come unstuck, first up was Helms on turn four of lap one, this spin was lucky not to cause a major crash with a fair bit of dust coming up, Riverside's Mason Whelan also spun, he may have made slight contact with Helms, it was hard to tell with the amount of dust but Whelan would park up infield while Helms rejoined the field.

Next to come unstuck was Johnston the heat one winner, Daryl Scott of Riverside took abrasive action managing to miss Johnston, both cars managed to rejoin for a restart.

At the restart the drivers settled and it was Scott who cleared off and drove a tidy race to claim a win ahead of Stewart in second and Johnston got up to third.

Heat three was a lot cleaner, Whelan back from a race two retirement took off from the front row and drove like his life depended on it, Whelan gapped the field who were fighting hard behind him, allowing some good breathing space.

Whelan took what I believe is his first ever win, in second was Stewart who had a steady day out with Scott third.

The final grade in support was Six Shooters, and race one which kicked off the days action went the distance with no cautions or stoppages the entire race.

Riverside's Nigel Marshall smashed the pack in heat one, clearing off for an easy race win, second was Hayden Graves also of Riverside with Sophie Wills of Central Motor Speedway in third. Honorable mention must be made of Cromwell's Samantha Sandford who got home fourth but drove a solid race, just missing the podium.

Heat two an just the one caution when Wills looped her car in turn two causing a restart. Riverside driver Gavin Read took handy lead prior to this caution and would again set sail to pull a gap on the pack once more, Read would go on to take the win, second was Jason Jenner of Riverside who looked solid in second and their Riverside clubmate Duane Cracknell in third.

The third heat saw Wills make amends for her spin in heat two, getting out front early, Cracknell pressuring where he could but couldn't get himself into a position to challenge for the lead.

Wills would take a well deserved victory, Cracknell settling for second with Marshall home in third place.

ARE YOU READY TO MAKE A MOVE?

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