Fraser's Hot Run Of Form Continues
[Photography by Vanessa Adcock](https://www.facebook.com/vanessaadcockphotography)
Andrew Andrew
- RACE REPORTS
Fraser's Hot Run Of Form Continues
Riverside Speedway
Shuttleworth Motorsport Media
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.) Some would say that Riverside's Jayden Fraser is lucky to have a father who is a builder, as he will have the hammer and nails out this week building his son a bigger trophy cabinet after what has been a stellar run of form for the Modified Sprint driver in the last few weeks. Fraser took a clean sweep recently, winning every race on offer to claim the Brett Cooper Memorial, he then beat the best drivers in the South Island a little over a week ago to win the final round of the South Island Modified Sprint Series, which also gave him the overall series championship and he would go into last weekends Southland Modified Sprint Championship at Aotea Electric Riverside Speedway as the red hot favorite. Fraser was sent an early warning shot in heat one where he was upstaged on a greasy track by Glenn Johnston and Shae McKenzie both of Dunedin who took the top two placing with Fraser coming from the rear of the field to secure third. Fraser would start from the front row in heat two and drive away with ease, the track really starting to show some life and Fraser took full advantage of this taking a simple race win, McKenzie second and Johnston third meaning the three drivers were all equal first going into the winner takes all final race to decide the Southland Champion. Fraser having set the fastest lap time had the pick of the grids and decided to take position two, giving him the high line into the first corner. As the green flag dropped Fraser got off to a flying start holding off a challenge by Johnston into turn one, Fraser stuck to his line and powered away down the back straight to clear the field and remained unchallenged. The best battle of the race was for third where McKenzie would have to fight with Riverside's Vernon Helms who was running his best race of the day, Helms was holding McKenzie out of a podium spot right up until the very last lap where McKenzie would make the move to get on the podium, up front though it was Fraser who would take the spoils of victory to be the newly crowned Southland Modified Sprint Champion, Johnston second with McKenzie third. The annual Demolition Derby Teams was entertaining for the fans, just three teams entered but certainly didn't disappoint. Each team would face each other once in heat races with the top two teams meeting in the final. Kahu Moxham would win both of his heat races to see his team The Naughts and Crosses advance to the final, while the Otepuni Obliviators would grab a heat win over the Wolfpack to grab their spot in the final. The two teams that made the final decided to welcome the Wolfpack into the final making it a three team battle, and the destruction begun, a number of cars were beaten from pillar to post, Moxham who had already won two races was flipped upside down only to remain going, and in the lead of the race. His team mate Aaron Rawcliffe wasn't as lucky after his roll over spending the rest of the race parked up. [yith_wc_productslider id=11338] Moxham would grab the flag and win the race for the Naughts And Crosses team in what was certainly a highlight of the event. The victorious Naughts And Crosses team was made up of Moxham, Rawcliffe, Ben Bissett, Shane Carson, Aaron Reed and Shaun Hughes. Stockcars were back on track after a stand down at the last meeting and put on an entertaining show for the punters. In race one Shanan Knight of Riverside made easy work of the opposition racing home to a big win, second was Karl Thomson of Riverside with clubmate Kahu Moxham home in third place. Race two was much the same but this time around Knight had to sacrifice taking the lead from his father Peter Knight to get the lead, Shanan would spin Peter up in turn one with Peter unable to get restarted and being pushed infield, Shanan would go on to win his second race while Jenna Tree of Riverside would be third ahead of Moxham. Race three started with plenty of action when Riley Henderson of Riverside would decide to hold Shanan Knight up on the line, Knight didn't take too well to the rookie driver holding him up and would deliver a couple of big blows to Henderson that would take him out of the race within a lap. Up front it was Knight Senior who was charging off to bank a win, Moxham second in what was a great day out for him and Shanan Knight got up to third after a great battle with Tree. Luke Shearing of Central Motor Speedway was on fire, taking a clean sweep across all three Six Shooter races. In heat one Shearing led home Riverside duo Duane Cracknell who was second and Daniel McIntosh in third place. Race two Shearing got to the lead of the race before spinning, as the green flag dropped on the restart Shearing was deemed to be going too fast, catching the field from his spin so would need to start again, this time all at the same pace. This didn't matter as Shearing jumped his competition early but had to fight harder in this race to take his second win of the day, second was McIntosh with Cracknell third. Race three and pretty much a full gone conclusion by the time the cars hit turn one, Shearing had bolted once again but to the credit of both Cracknell and McIntosh they stayed within striking distance, enough to make the race interesting had Shearing slipped up, unfortunately for them both he didn't and bank three from three for the day, McIntosh second with Cracknell third. Production Saloons again delivered some great races across the afternoon, all three races relatively clean and fast. Riverside Life Member Tony Jones was certainly showing no signs of slowing down at all with a commanding win in heat one over Alistair Green of Riverside who was back in action after a couple of months off and Gavin Hurring from Central Motor Speedway in third. Jones got caught up at the rear of the pack in race two which kept him trapped at the back, up front though an epic battle between Riverside's Blake Murdoch, Green and Hurring was heating up, Hurring looked most likely to catch leader Murdoch but Green made a stunning pass through lapped traffic to steal Hurrings spot in second. Murdoch would take the win over Green despite a late lunge, Green would settle for second with Hurring third, this would also spell the end of the day for Green whos love affair with the wall on the back straight stung him again, making contact at the conclusion of the race. Race three was also a great contest, Riverside's Aaron Reed led for the majority of this race, he was hounded by Hurring lap upon lap but Hurring could not find a way through, not until late in the race where Hurring would get a good run out of turn two and slip past Reed to take the race win, Reed came home in second and Jones got up to third. A big field of Youth Saloons lined up for the event and the only real issue cam in race one when Beachland's Imogen Knox came undone on a greasy track, spinning up causing a restart. Riverside newcomer Kadin Cracknell was all class in heat one fighting off many challenges lap after lap, Cracknell looked as if he may bank his first win on four wheels as he is already a very good junior rider winning plenty of races at Oreti Park Speedway. Cracknell however was held up by lapped traffic and Riverside's Joshua McIntyre took advantage of this sweeping past Cracknell to take over the lead of the race. Cracknell unfortunately made contact with the wall putting him out of the race and heat two, Max Kemp of Beachlands Speedway got through to claim second behind McIntyre with Cayden Race of Riverside third. Race two and a carbon copy in the results, McIntyre winning ahead of Kemp with Race third, Race starting to become a common sight in the top end of the results table. Race three would see Kemp start up front and McIntyre at the rear, Kemp set off to a flying start and within a lap McIntyre was up to fourth place but still well away from Kemp the race leader. As the race rolled on McIntyre made his way through traffic, accounting for Cracknell who was back after a mammoth repair job by his team, and Race to be sitting up in second and chasing down the race leader Kemp. Laps would run out for McIntyre and he would have to settle for second place with Kemp celebrating a solid race win, Race again Mr Consistent coming home well in third place. Riverside will now take a couple of weeks off before returning for one last meeting on April 22nd.
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