Hail To King Myers - Cromwell Crowns A New King

Andrew Andrew

• RACE REPORTS

Hail To King Myers - Cromwell Crowns A New King

Central Motor Speedway

Photography by Hunter Burke

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.) Night two of Central Motor Speedway's Easter Champs took place Easter Sunday in front of a bumper crowd, on a beautiful Central Otago afternoon. This meeting would see the Central Coyotes Stockcar Team go up against the Southland Spartans in teams racing, The King Of Cromwell Sprintcars, Mark Nicholl Trophy for Stockcars, Ron Spriggs Memorial for Saloons, Central Otago Production Champs and for many grades the second night of action for the Easter Championship.

Two grades had run their Easter Champs on Good Friday, in Production Saloons Liam Gillies of Dunedin won the championship followed by Kaleb Marshall of Dunedin second and local driver Brad McTaggart third, while in Stockcars Riversides Shanan Knight won ahead of Cromwell duo Casey McEwan in second and Jack Honeybone third.

The event started with the Fastlane Spares Teams Trophy up for grabs for the first time ever, this would be contested between the Central Coyotes and the Southland Spartans, both teams sharing a win each this season over each other.

For the Coyotes the team was McEwan, Jacob Boulton, Marcus Scott, and Brodie McDonald on debut with Jayden Nicholl as the reserve driver, while the Spartans had father and son duo Peter and Shanan Knight, Jesse Hamilton, Kahu Moxham on debut and Harley Robb as the reserve driver.

As the race started it was Scott who raced away from the pack as both teams went to war, Scott would lead for a number of laps before Hamilton would wait and take him out of the race lead, from there McDonald took over the lead of the race and was well protected from McEwan and Boulton despite many attempted attacks from the Spartans.

Moxham and Hamilton got dealt to mid race leaving just the Knights to try and cause the upset but McDonald would be too fast taking the race win, and more importantly the teams win for the Coyotes, Scott coming home second and Peter Knight third.

Sprintcars were racing for the King Of Cromwell, a chance for someone to sit upon the giant throne at Central Motor Speedway and wear the Kings Crown, Christchurch driver Steve "The Gasman" Duff fired the early warning shot to his competitors with a faultless heat one win, Duff was fast and managed to hold off Cromwell's Daniel Anderson who was setting some fairly fast laps to catch the leader, Anderson would come home second ahead of Jason Scott of Cromwell third.

Heat two saw Cromwell's Shanarrah Stronach get away to a strong start, leading for a number of laps before Joel Myers Jnr of Ruapuna would start to apply the pressure.

As the two cars entered turn three Myers Jnr would slide up the inside of Stronach making contact which sent Stronach out to the wall, both cars continued to race hard but Stronach soon fell back a couple of spots. Myers Jnr raced off to take a strong win only to be relegated two spots to third for the contact, this gave Cromwell's Adam Evans the race win with Anderson second and Myers Jnr third.

Heat three would be a fast paced affair the only caution happening when John Sievwright lost a side of his wing bringing out a caution to retrieve the debris from the track. Out front in this heat was Evans who had really found some pace throughout the meeting, no one was going to catch him in clear air, and he would go on to win his second race of the event with Josh "Young Buck" Buchanan of Cromwell second and the Californian Kid, Myers Jnr third.

This would now lead to the twenty lap feature final to crown the King Of Cromwell, and for the second time this weekend it was an all "Ranch Bar And Grill" front row with Anderson and Myers Jnr backing up from Friday nights feature.

The feature would go green and it was one way traffic for Myers Jnr, he was three car lengths ahead into turn two and boosting away from the field. Behind Myers Jnr was a great battle between Evans, Anderson, Duff and Dave Kerr of Christchurch, while these cars were sorting themselves out Myers Jnr streaking ahead of the pack.

Buchanan powered into turn three on lap two and his car went airborne sending the impressive young driver upside down in a vicious roll, Buchanan would walk away but his car suffered considerable damage.

At the restart again Myers Jnr took off from the pack, Anderson tucked in behind him while Kerr and Duff battled for third, with just four laps to run Stronach would spin up in turn two causing a caution, then immediately after that Kerr would get tangled up with Tony Uhlenburg from Kihikihi at the restart, a move that could possibly been avoided if the drivers were all in race order, however Kerr would get to start from his original position of third.

With four laps remaining Myers Jnr sailed off when the race commenced putting on a stunning display of driving and being crowned King Of Cromwell, Anderson would secure second with Kerr holding off Duff for third.

Stockcars ran three interesting races, all with different starting procedures, heat one they all faced two deep against the wall on the back straight meaning they would need to back up and go when it went green. Christchurch's Murray Greig took off and maintained a healthy race lead despite stoppages for Jayden Nicholl of Christchurch, Brian Taniwha of Cromwell, Shanan Knight of Riverside and Jamie Boulton of Christchurch all bringing out the red light.

Greig would go on to win heat one ahead of Shannon Simon of Dunedin in second and Peter Knight of Riverside in third.

Heat two, half the field would start from the front straight and half from the back straight, Nicholl got taken care of early when Robb took to him in turn three bringing the race to a halt, then a big tangle up of cars in turn four featuring Peter Knight, Greig and Simon would cause the second stoppage. Craig Robb of Christchurch would lead for the majority of this race and take the race win over Cromwell's Jack Honeybone and and Jacob Boulton also of Cromwell third.

The final Stockcar race saw plenty of action as it was the last chance for drivers to stake their claim for the Mark Nicholl Memorial Trophy which was for the biggest stirrer of the night.

While there was plenty of action in this race there was minimal stoppages, the first of the race was to retrieve Simons car who parked up at pit gate, the second was a bit more dramatic when Harley Robb rolled Shanan Knight in turn three bringing the crowd to their feet.

Newcomer to the grade Carl Gable of Cromwell would lead this race early, again another different start with the cars starting the race five wide on the back straight.

Gable drove well up front and I must make mention of his big improvements over the weekend, as well as Brent Hayston of Riverside who was on debut in Stockcars after a number of seasons driving Modified Sprints, both new drivers making solid gains in a big field.

[yith_wc_productslider id=11338]

Gable would soon slip back a spot to second, Jacob Boulton snatching the race lead, there was actually that much hitting and spinning going on that Gable who was in second got spun, then went infield as the car was heating up, then returned to the track still holding second place.

Boulton would go on to take the race win, Gable second with Craig Robb third.

Overall the Mark Nicholl Memorial Trophy for biggest stirrer went the way of Harley Robb with McEwan second and Peter Knight third. Shanan Knight won the Roll Over award, while the points for the night went to Jacob Boulton ahead of Craig Robb in second and Honeybone third.

Production Saloons were running for the Central Otago Championship and it was a pretty wild event with plenty of thrills and spills. A big crash marred the start of heat one with a number of cars colliding on the main straight including Laura Heads of Riverside, Nik Fraser of Christchurch, Liam Gillies of Dunedin and Jack Taylor of Cromwell.

The race only started to take some shape when Gavin Hurring of Cromwell fired out of turn four straight towards the wall like something had broken in his steering, unfortunately for Dunedin's Kaleb Marshall he was between Hurring and the wall and both cars hit hard putting them both out of the event.

Heat one would be won by Dunedin driver Aaron Brookland who looked very fast early, second was Vaughan Fairburn of Christchurch with Gillies getting up to third.

Heat two had an ugly start also when Dunedin driver Tyler Kelk gave Cromwell's Rob Gjaja a helping hand up the wall on the back straight, Kelks car propping up Gjajas car both needing separated, both able to fortunately race on.

As the race got underway again Gilles got to the front and started to race away, Cromwell's Sam McKenzie would chase hard in a borrowed car but he couldn't match the pace of Gilles, the Dunedin driver taking the race win, McKenzie second ahead of Brookland in third. This race also had a dramatic stoppage when Riverside's Blake Murdoch's car burst into flames mid race putting on a spectacular light show for a lap or so.

Race three and the cleanest of the night despite a couple of cautions, the first to retrieve a bumper on lap six, the second when race leader Gillies almost came to a stand still on the main straight, the driver that had dominated all weekend had suffered mechanical failure with a few laps to run. Fairburn and Cromwell's James Woods did well to avoid the slowing car, both cars almost hitting Gillies while they were chasing him.

From here Woods threw everything he had at Fairburn but Fairburn was just too fast pulling away to take the race win and the Central Otago Championship, Brookland would then attack Woods late to slip past on the line to secure second with Woods third overall.

Youth Ministocks were racing for night two of the Easter Champs, a night dominated by Christchurch driver Jaxyn Houtos. Houtos was upstaged in race one of the day which was clean and run without any stoppages at all, Cromwell duo Ashdyn Gable and Dylan Jones battled hard up front but Gable would do enough to claim the win, a fitting finish to his last day as a junior driver, Jones was second with Houtos third.

Another clean fast race in heat two, this time Houtos wasn't going to sit in the pack and watch the Cromwell boys eat away at his points lead, racing off to a solid race win, Jones again was the best of the rest with another great drive to second while Cromwell's Clay Dawson placed third.

Heat three, and while there was a couple of spins and tangle ups the race ran caution free, again Houtos put in a dominant display of driving to take the race win ahead of Dawson in second and Jones who drove from the rear of the pack third.

This result gave Houtos the Easter Championship for Youth Ministocks with Gable second and Dylan Prattley of Cromwell consistent all weekend earing third overall.

This was also night two of Six Shooters Easter Championship, heat one was the first race of the night and Harrison Brown of Riverside continued where he left off on night one with a strong race win, second was Tony Creighton of Cromwell with Duane Cracknell of Riverside third.

Heat two wasn't so sweet for Brown who suffered solid damage after his Riverside clubmate Nigel Marshall got crossed up coming out of turn four, this speared Marshall wide and into Brown who scaled the wall on the main straight ripping the front end out of the car, Brown walked away and remarkably returned for heat three.

As the race resumed Cromwell's Blair Smith worked his way to the front and looked to be holding a commanding lead, behind him Emma Gordon of Cromwell was holding second but would have a rare spin late in the race giving her placing away, Smith would go on to win the heat from George Hedley and Brian Ellison both of Cromwell second and third.

The final Six Shooter race to decide the championship saw visiting driver Kirk Hawkins of Christchurch start from the front and race off to an early lead, Cromwell's Ben Smart would try to gather in the Ruapuna racer but had his own battles to remain in place with Ellison chasing hard, pressuring for the second spot. Hawkins would hold his nerve to claim the race win with Smart doing enough for second and Ellison third.

The Easter Champs would go the way of Smith with Ellison second and Hedley third.

Super Saloons were again great to watch on a big fast flowing circuit, no cautions across all three heats despite some close combat battles taking place. Heat one saw Christchurch driver Trevor Elliott hold off a fast charging Ian Burson of Nelson to take the win, Burson would have to settle for second with Cromwell's Euan Shearing third.

Race two was Greig Johnston of Cromwell's time to shine, just like the Friday nights event Johnston showed that he is a real threat amongst the grade in his first season behind the wheel of his new Hypermac, Johnston was dominant leading home Burson in second and Shearing in third to take the race win.

Johnston would repeat the dose in heat three this time having to reel in runaway leader Elliott who go off to a flying start. Johnston's car always looks fast later in the race and this proved to be the case here, getting to Elliott and making the pass to take his second win in a row, second was Elliott with Burson third.

Burson's placing would give him the Easter Championship ahead of Johnston in second with Elliott third.

The final heat to run would be Saloons who were running night two of the Easter Championship as well as the Ron Spriggs Memorial. The crowd were looking forward to seeing George Phillips of Cromwell in action but this would only be short lived with the 2NZ pulling infield early in race one not to be seen again.

Cromwell's Steve Robertson would get a chance to stretch his legs in his brand new homebuilt Mustang Saloon, Robertson was lightening fast taking out a fast paced heat one over Aaron Andrews of Dunedin in second with Billie Woodhouse of Christchurch third.

Heat two was action packed with more drama than Shortland Street. In the opening lap Mark Dobson of Riverside hit the brakes as a car in front of him checked up, this then caused Dave McCallion of Dunedin to hit the back of Dobson then fire off into Andrews, the pair making solid contact but able to remain running. Dobson was then instructed to start from the rear of the field, Dobson obviously unhappy with the penalty he didn't cause.

Next up was Phil Burgess of Cromwell who led early, Burgess looked to be in some sort of trouble coming out of turn two battling with Riverside's Graham Williamson, Burgess's car seemed to almost come to a halt, Williamson had nowhere to go but into Burgess who then shot towards the direction of the infield, behind them Jason Gold of Beachland's eyes lit up as he spotted a gap down the inside of the leaders and as he took it Burgess came across the pair hitting hard at speed putting them both out.

Williamson managed to rejoin and would lead from the restart to claim the heat win, Ivan Murdoch of Cromwell claimed his only top three spot of the weekend with a second placing ahead of Robertson in third.

The final race was an epic battle between Williamson and Willie Woodhouse of Christchurch. Woodhouse had a good early lead but Williamson would chase down the former 3NZ and pass him for what looked like the race win, but never discount Woodhouse, Williamson would lead four laps before Woodhouse in his Stealth would make the pass that would give him the race victory, Williamson would settle for second with Dobson claiming a well raced third place.

Easter Championship went the way of Woodhouse with Williamson second and Dobson third, while the Ron Spriggs Memorial was won by Robertson, Williamson second and Woodhouse third.

A small field of Derby cars entered the derby to bring the season to a close, it was a fitting finish that Craig Davies the flag starter at Central Motor Speedway would be the last car running at the conclusion taking out the last event for the 2022/23 race season.

ARE YOU READY TO MAKE A MOVE?

Your number one platform for dirt track racing. Purchase tickets, merchandise and watch your favourite videos right here, on Driven By Dirt.

Explore

Account

Support