Myers Thrills And Spills At Riverside

Andrew Andrew

• RACE REPORTS

Myers Thrills And Spills At Riverside

Riverside Speedway

Photography by Vanessa Adcock

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.)

It was a testing afternoons action for everyone involved, track crew had to deal with overnight rain, drivers had to deal with a testing track and fans had to deal with delays in the program, but Aotea Electric Riverside Speedway certainly produced some fantastic entertainment at the recent Hydraulink War Of The Wings Sprintcar meeting, sponsored by BMac Sheetmetal.

The track was nailed with sixty millimeters of rain on Tuesday then again saturated on Friday night with showers not surpassing until hours before the racing was set to get underway. The track crew and drivers did well to wheel pack the track, making it a delayed start and a gamble as to what the track surface would do.

The talk going into the event was the battle between series leader Jacob McIntyre of Invercargill who is the local lad, battling it out with Joel Myers Jnr, the sixteen year old from California, this was worth the price of admission alone, and the big crowd in attendance certainly got their monies worth.

The early time trials went the way of Christchurch driver Oscar Harcourt who was first on track, making the most of the tacky track conditions to bank the top time.

Heat one was extremely fast with no cautions at all, up front Christchurch driver Dave Kerr would power to the front in his Ford powered machine, breaking the Riverside Speedway lap record for Sprintcars previously held by "Slammin" Sam O'Callaghan of Nelson back in 2019. Kerr would have to withstand some pressure from Cromwell's Adam Evans who threw everything he had at Kerr towards the end of the race, but Kerr would take the heat win with Evans second and Daniel Anderson of Cromwell third.

Heat two would see the introduction of Myers Jnr, the moment a number of fans had been waiting for. A couple of early cautions were called when Cromwell's Finn Cleveland and Steve "The Gasman" Duff of Christchurch would have a coming together on turn two, then Harcourt would also come to a stop on track with mechanical issues.

Up front though it was Cromwell driver Shanarrah Stronach who took off from pole to lead early, by this stage the track was starting to cut up in turns one and two, but a number of drivers seemed to be negotiating it well. Myers Jnr would be up in second place, Stronach was doing a might job of holding off the young American lap upon lap not able to find a gap to sneak past for the race lead. Myers Jnr would power down into turn one mid race, hitting a groove that would send him end on end and up into the catch fence putting what would seem to be an end to his day.

At this point the race was called giving Stronach her first ever War Of The Wings race win, second went the way of Josh "Young Buck" Buchanan of Cromwell with McIntyre third.

The crowd expected this would be the last they would see of Myers Jnr, but with his car unrepairable he jumped into Daniel Anderson of Cromwell's car to continue the meeting, a move that some questioned but he was given the go ahead to race.

The third heat saw the cars on a completely different surface to what they had previously been running on after the track crew decided to grade the track after Myers Jnr's heat two incident.

This heat would see O'Callaghan in the sort of form we have come to expect from the Nelson driver, dominating the field to take a race win, well deserved after what has been a very testing season for the team, this however would remain short lived with O'Callaghan lasting just a few laps in the feature.

Second in heat three would be Myers Jnr with Duff claiming third.

The dash would come next, where the top six points scorers would battle it out over six laps to determine the first three rows for the thirty lap feature, O'Callaghan had scored the most points from the heats but drew marble six so would start from the rear, where Duff was the sixth highest on points, he drew position one for the dash.

Buchanan would move up the starting order a couple of spots to win the six lap dash with Duff second, McIntyre third, behind him the order was Kerr, O'Callaghan and Evans.

It was now time for the thirty lap feature final, up front Duff would race off to a commanding lead but behind him Myers Jnr was passing cars like they were standing still, impressing the fans with some calculated passing, which within a handful of laps he found himself in touch of the front runners. Myers Jnr would eventually get to Kerr and McIntyre passing them both with relative ease to be into second spot, but a full straight length from the leader Duff who had gapped the field.

The race looked like it would go the distance with no cautions which is what Myers Jnr fans would have been hoping for, but would not be needed as within the next five laps Myers Jnr would get to Duff and pass him for the race lead.

At this point McIntyre was starting to become a factor putting pressure on Duff who had driven so well up until this point, McIntyre tried a move on the outside of Duff on the back straight, the pair contacting and McIntyre's car hitting the wall, tearing off a wheel and putting the series leader onto his side in turn three, Duff would also park up with damage putting both drivers out of the running for what would have been a guaranteed podium for them both.

From the restart Myers Jnr would power off once more, cruising home to a well driven win ahead of Kerr in second and Josh Buchanan in third, Buchanan had to work hard for the last spot with Evans looking fast towards the end of the race, the pair making contact with one lap to run, putting Evans to the infield and dropping him down the order.

Myers Jnr would bring the crowd to their feet, thrilling them with a clinical display of driving in the feature race coming from eleventh on the grid to win comfortably.

This result now see's McIntyre and Myers Jnr tied on points at the top of the War Of The Wings table with two rounds remaining.

The club also had a round of the South Island Modified Sprint Series and local fans had plenty to cheer about with Jayden Fraser of Riverside continuing his strong form, coming off winning all three races at the recent Brett Cooper Memorial.

The early leader in heat one was Courtney Jones of Christchurch, Jones would race out to the lead before a caution was called when a congested pack of cars got together on the back straight on the opening lap, causing Brendon Hopkins of Christchurch to roll, unfortunately two of his clubmates Harry McIntyre and Brent Booth would both retire from the race at this point also. [yith_wc_productslider id=11338]

At the restart Jones would again take off to lead only to face another caution when Riverside's Vernon Helms and Dunedin's Euan Stewart would spin in turn two.

Take three for Jones and this time she would have clear air and get a good run on the field, Jones looked in full control but behind her it was Fraser who was racing through the pack at haste putting pressure on the leader in the closing laps.

Jones looked as if she had done enough but Fraser backed himself with a pas on the very last lap which would give him the race win, Jones settling for second ahead of Liam Astle of Christchurch in third place.

Heat two and almost a carbon copy of race one, this time though a massive roll over by Shane Cornelius of Christchurch on the opening lap bringing the race to a halt. Up front Craig Cox of Christchurch got off to a flying start and like Jones in the first race looked to have this race in the bag, but once again Fraser would make a move on the very last lap to snatch the race win, Cox claiming second with Booth third.

Heat three would see Astle spin early in the race bringing out the only caution of what was a quick race on the new surface. This would also be the race that would put an end to Fraser's unbeaten run on Riverside with the local driver still managing a well driven fourth place, giving him pole position for the feature.

McIntyre was the winner of this heat with Jones a distant second ahead of Cox in third place.

The feature final was the first Modified Sprint race to go the distance without a caution, Fraser got a great jump from pole and battled early with Cox and McIntyre but would soon break the shackles and race off to a commanding victory in front of his home fans, claiming the feature win by a massive seven seconds, McIntyre drove a solid race to claim second with Cox home in third place.

Six Shooters held the third running of the Scott Gordon Memorial, a title that is fast becoming the "Big Event" on the Six Shooter calendar, honoring the man that got the Six Shooter grade off the ground at Riverside Speedway.

Past winners are Jacob McIntyre and Adam Evans who were both racing Sprintcars in the War Of The Wings event so a new memorial winner would be crowned.

Heat one was clean and fast, starting from the front row of the grid Christchurch driver Kane Jemmett would power off to claim an early race win, behind Jemmett was Brain Ellison of Cromwell in second and clubmate Sophie Wills in third spot.

Heat two and again a good clean race with no cautions, a real credit to a sizeable field of cars who put on some of the best wheel to wheel action all meeting. This race would see Mason Whelan of Riverside who is only competing in his first handful of events in Six Shooters get to the front early, Whelan was doing double duties over the event also driving in the South Island Modified Sprint Series.

Whelan looked at home up front, shaking off any challenges from cars behind to claim his first ever Six Shooter win, a great display ahead of Blair Smith of Cromwell in second and Ellison again Mr Consistent in third place.

Race three and a fitting race for the Scott Gordon Memorial, like races one and two there were no dramas, but the driver out front dominating this heat was Scott Gordons daughter Emma Gordon of Cromwell. Gordon has been in strong form heading into this event winning the recent Six Shooter Mini Series contested over three rounds, Gordon tore up the track to break the lap record at Riverside for Six Shooters, claiming a popular heat three win ahead of Cromwell's Luke Shearing and Harrison Brown of Invercargill in third place.

The Scott Gordon Memorial feature was a twenty-one lap feature, honoring the race number Gordon run during his Sprintcar days where he represented his club Riverside.

If all the other Six Shooter races were clean and fast, this race would fall apart at the seams early, Riverside's Hayden Graves would make solid contact with the wall coming out of turn two looking like he may bring out a caution, but he managed to continue on. The following lap it was Brown who would cause the race to stop, his right rear wheel coming off causing him to spin in turn three and Gordon, Jemmett and Riverside's Duane Cracknell having nowhere to go but directly into each other Gordons car rolling in the process.

This put Brown, Jemmett and Gordon out early and left a slightly depleted field to continue on in the feature. As the race restarted it was Shearing who would lead early followed by Ellison and Wills, Shearing was determined not to be the bridesmaid for a second year running, missing out on the trophy last season.

The top three cars looked cemented in place until late in the race where Wills who was sitting in third would come to a grinding halt on the main straight.

At the restart Ellison threw everything at Shearing, at one stage looking as if he had created a gap to move through, but Shearing was patient and defended his place up front, shaking off the challenge of Ellison to go on and win the Scott Gordon Memorial, Ellison drive well all night and was well rewarded with a solid second place while Riverside driver Danny Livingstone claimed third place showing some great car speed throughout this meeting, a great result for this driver in his first season.

Six Shooters also had some driver awards handed out on the night, Wills claimed Most Consistent driver, Whelan was Driver Of The Night, Riverside's Daniel McIntosh won the Hard Charger award making the most passes in the feature race, Cracknell won the Crowd Pleaser award with Brown the Hard Luck award.

Youth Saloons and Saloons were on hand in support of these titles and only got to run two races each due to the time delays due to the track resurfacing.

In youth Saloons Riverside's Joshua McIntyre would take out race one ahead of clubmates Zoe Menpes in second and Cayden Race in third, while heat two went the way of Dunedin driver Max Kemp, Riverside's Joshua Richardson second with Race again third.

In Saloons Riverside's Darcy Hewitt looked as if he would bag his first Saloon race win, only to be pipped on the last lap by Beachland's Jason Gold who would take the win, Hewitt took second ahead of Graham Williamson of Riverside in thrid.

Race two Williamson would fight off Gold to take the race win, Gold second with Mark Dobson of Riverside third place.

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