Ron Spriggs Celebrated In Style
[Photography by Suzy Walker](https://www.facebook.com/SuzyWPhotography)
Andrew Andrew
- RACE REPORTS
Ron Spriggs Celebrated In Style
Central Motor Speedway
Shuttleworth Motorsport Media
Images supplied by: Christopher Scrimgour
Back in the seventies Ron Spriggs had a vision that would change the face of motorsport in Central Otago for ever, now more than forty years on and well after the founders passing, the Central Motor Speedway club continue to honor Ron Spriggs and the gift he has given the Speedway community. The club had put tremendous effort into this meeting, the souvenir program had great comparisons of what the race day officials line up was back in 1983 compared to todays current line up, even the driver profiles featured Phillip Game of Auckland back in 1983 with a current Youth Ministock driver Cooper Arkell of Wanaka, just to give a tip of the hat to what Ron Spriggs had built. Central Motor Speedway would not usually do a full Grand Parade, but they did it back in the eighties, so they rolled one out for this event. During the Grand Parade the infield officials wore a white waist length jacket, just like they would have back in the day, eighties music was blaring from the sound system and current track Commentator Daryl Shuttleworth interviewed the original Golden Central Speedway Commentator Peter Hosie, the pair chatted about the clubs humble beginnings for twenty minutes or so until the action was set to unfold on track, and each grade would compete for the Ron Spriggs Memorial Trophy.
With a number of rained out meetings happening around the country, neighboring track Beachlands Speedway in Dunedin were forced to cancel, adding two extra grades Stockcars and Production Saloons to the event program. It was not your typical blue sky day in Cromwell either with mild temperatures and low cloud cover producing a track that need very little attention all day, making racing exciting. Six Shooters once again produced some of the days best racing with some fantastic wheel to wheel battles happening right throughout the field. Race one was clean and fast, Cromwell's Luke Shearing was sick of playing the bridesmaid to clubmate Ben Smart, so far this season missing out on both the Southland and Central Otago Six Shooter Championship, Smart standing victorious in both. Shearing was determined to make the ideal start to the Ron Spriggs Memorial getting to the lead early in heat one and remaining unchallenged to bag an early race win. Sophie Wills of Cromwell is only in her fourth meeting and is proving to be very competitive, Wills bagged a career best second place ahead of Blair Smith also of Cromwell up in third. Unfortunately for Smith this solid third placing would be the highlight of his night as early in race two race leader Brian Ellison of Cromwell spun up in the tight turn one and two, Smart then made contact and Smith had nowhere to go, clipping Smart and rolling, putting him out of the rest of the event. As mentioned Ellison took a handy lead into race two but was soon threatened by Smart, Smith and Shearing. Ellison's incident saw him parked up for the rest of the heat as well as Smith, but it allowed Shearing to gain the race lead. Shearing had Cromwell's Emma Gordon to battle with as well as Smart. All three cars putting on a brilliant show, in particular Smart and Shearing who have already produced a decent sized highlights package this season. Shearing would just be too fast claiming yet another race win, Smart second with Gordon third. The third and final race would again only last a handful of laps before coming to a halt when Ellison was again involved in an incident spinning up with Riverside's Daniel McIntosh. Behind them Wills and Gordon had nowhere to go, making contact and bringing the race to a stand still. Wills and Gordon managed to join the grid for the restart, but up front it was Shearing and Smart once more who would be trading blows for the race win. Again this pairing put on a brilliant display, but tonight was going to be Shearing's night, taking the race win and the Ron Spriggs Memorial with three wins from three starts, Smart finished second in the heat ahead of Gordon in third place. Shearing as mentioned wo the Ron Spriggs Memorial for Six Shooters, Smart second with Gordon third overall. Cromwell's Clay Dawson would again be the man to beat in Youth Ministock, Dawson has been next level so far this season and bagged a number of wins, but could he fight off a pretty determined bunch of drivers for the Ron Spriggs Memorial. Dawson wasted no time at all declaring his intentions with a solid race win in heat one, he fought off the challenge of clubmate Dylan Jones who had to settle for second place, Jones putting up a pretty solid fight throughout the entire race. Cromwell driver Ashdyn Gable came home for a solid third placing.
Heat two saw Cromwell's Lachie Campbell bring out a caution after a spin in turn two, allowing the field to condense and Dawson once again pouncing to the race lead.Dawson would then control the race from up front to bag his second win of the event, behind him Trent Ainsley was solid taking second just ahead of a fast finishing Jones in third. Race three saw Gable start from the front of the pack and get off to a flying start. You would have placed money on Dawson chasing him down and taking three from three but Dawson had his own battles in the pack as a number of drivers in the grade find themselves improving and gaining more confidence as each race unfolds.Gable still led up front, Ainsley challenged him with four laps to run but Gable made a clean pass on a lapped car that Ainsley struggled to get passed at the same time, this was the breathing room Gable needed as the lad nicknamed "Smash" would race off to his first ever race win, Ainsley took a patient second with Jones again Mr Consistent in third. These results gave Dawson the Ron Spriggs Memorial for Youth Ministocks victory with Ainsley second and Jones third overall.Sprintcars were on track getting some valuable track time before the upcoming South Island Championship at Central Motor Speedway in December. Heat one was more a case of "who wanted to win?" with a bit of a curse hanging over whoever the race leader was at any given time of the race. Riverside's Jacob McIntyre looked dialed in with a half lap lead early in the first heat before coming to a sudden stop on the back straight, bringing out a restart and putting him back in the trailer for the night. Cromwell's Nigel Colvin would then take over the race lead but this would only last a few laps also as smoke started to appear from his car sending him infield and also out of the event. Riverside's Jack Brown would then inherit the race lead and drove off from the front to take a well driven race win ahead of Cromwell pairing Josh Buchanan second and Adam Evans third. Heat two was fast and clean, a smaller field meant more room on track and less incidents, this heat going through without any form of stoppage. Evans drove well up front and claimed his first win of the event, Cromwell's James Robinson filled the arena with smoke but managed to claim second with Buchanan third.Heat three again fast and clean, and dominated by Buchanan who was constantly in the points in heat one and two. Buchanan took advantage of clear air and dominated the final race taking the win well ahead of Brown with Cromwell's Finn Cleveland having his best race of the event getting up to third place. The Ron Spriggs Memorial for Sprintcars going the way of Buchanan, with Brown second and Evans in third place. A small field of Super Saloons were on hand, but despite the lower numbers they put on a good showing. Heat one looked won and done with Beachlands Ricky Boulton well out front for the majority of the race. Cromwell's "Racin" Ray Stewart looked a distant second but started to make ground on the leader with three laps to go. The two cars were side by side on the last corner of the race, Boulton still looked to have enough in the tanks to take the win but Stewart ducked down the inside and snatched victory by a whisker, heat one to Stewart followed by Boulton in second and Dunedin's Alister Lister third. Race two and it was Stewart again who was impressive, this time being challenged by Christchurch driver Trevor Elliott, the pair hustling it out for the race lead.They would get a breather mid race as Riverside's Grant Molloy was sucked into the wall on the entry to turn three, sustaining damage that would put him out of the event. Stewart would get the jump at the restart and bag his second race win of the night, Elliot impressive in second with Boulton settling for third.The third and final race was again a real battle up front between Stewart and Elliot who again went toe to toe lap after lap. The pair really had the lead of the race to themselves while further down the pack Lister, Boulton and Dunedin's Matt Greene battled for the minors. Again Stewart was too good taking at race three by the slenderest of margins over Elliot in second with Lister climbing through to third. Overall points for the Ron Spriggs Memorial for Super Saloons went the way of Stewart with Boulton second and Lister third. Youth Saloons from both Riverside and Beachlands were invited to race at the Ron Spriggs Memorial and they certainly relished the opportunity with a number of the young drivers having never turned a wheel at Central Motor Speedway before. New Zealand Formula Ford Champion Alex Crosbie of Riverside rose to the occasion impressing the crowd in attendance with some dominating driving.Crosbie smashed the opposition in heat one with Max Kemp of Dunedin a distant second and Joshua Richardson of Riverside third. Race two and Crosbie was starting up front, pretty much game over from the outset for his fellow competitors, again Crosbie cruising off into the distance to claim his second win of the event. Behind him Kemp was in an epic battle with Beachlands clubmate Maia Johnston for second and third, the pair looking fast while racing door to door. Johnston would cross the line for second ahead of Kemp who banked some more solid points in third. Race three saw Crosbie again weave his magic, getting to the front and pulling away early. A great battle again for second and third with Johnston and Kemp doing their best to chase down the runaway leader. Crosbie would again take the race win with Kmp this time claiming second and Johnston third.The Youth Saloons were the only grade to run a feature, and Crosbie decided to handicap himself by starting the length of the straight behind the pack. Kemp and Johnston got off to a flyer chasing down Riverside drivers Tyson Thomas, Cayden Race and Bayton Benfell who was the early race leader.Crosbie worked his way patiently through the pack and led right when Johnston put her car nose first into the wall at turn two. This put Johnston out of the race suffering significant front end damage. When the race went green once more Crosbie hit the loud pedal and drove off to his fourth straight race win, this one by the length of the straight, Kemp came home in second while Richardson got himself up to third. These results were also the final standings for the Ron Spriggs Memorial for Youth Saloons. The two grades added to the event as a result of the Beachlands rain out were Production Saloons and Stockcars.Heat one of production saloons was a dominant performance by Brad McTaggart of Cromwell on his first outing of the season. McTaggart was just too fast and negotiated the greasy surface at Central Motor Speedway the best to take an easy race one win, second was Cromwell's Steven Nicholas with James Woods third.Heat two and McTaggart had his work well and truly cut out for him as he battled hard with Woods and Gavin Hurring of Cromwell. The trio tested each other at every corner but McTaggart just had too much speed and would eventually pull away to take his second race win, Woods held off Hurring to snatch second place, Hurring third. Race three was controversial, Hurring held a slight lead over Woods with only a couple of laps to run, it looked as if Woods contacted Hurring sending both cars into a spin. As the Speedway New Zealand officials lined them back up for the restart Hurring was instructed to go to the rear of the field which he was clearly debating, while Woods was allowed to rejoin from the front of the pack. Hurring gave up the fight and parked up on the infield.Woods then took full advantage of the situation racing to claim the race win from McTaggart in second and Laura Heads of Riverside producing her best drive of the event in third. Overall placings for the Ron Spriggs Memorial for Productions Saloons saw McTaggart first, Woods second and Nicholas third.The final grade to run was Stockcars and a big field showed up on the day representing Cromwell, Riverside and Beachlands. Heat one saw Cromwell's Jack Honeybone put on a great display of being able to keep out of trouble while maintaining going fast. Honeybone would claim the race win over clubmate Brian Taniwha and Shanan Knight of Riverside home in third. Race two and the three place getters from race one again rose to the top despite being in a big field. Knight managed to make a gap on the field early and remained to keep his nose clean. Taniwha did come at Knight in the later stages of the contest but Knight was too good in this one taking the win with Taniwha settling for second ahead of Honeybone in third. These results left a real bottleneck in the overall points for the Ron Spriggs Memorial with Knight, Honeybone and Taniwha set for a hell of a battle.Race three got underway and all looked to be going well for Taniwha who was racing hard up trying to chase down Dunedin driver Trazarn Ryland - Annabell who was up front. Central Motor Speedway driver Casey McEwan who was out of the points looked to slow late in the race, his target was Knight as McEwan was determined to see a Central car win, and if he couldn't win it, he would have a say on who would. McEwan would find his man, Knight being hit hard and forced down towards the pole line before setting off on his way. By this stage it was too little too late for Knight whos race was done, he was now a lap down on the leaders and relishing down the pack. Taniwha made a late move of Ryland - Annabell to claim the race win, Ryland-Annabell second and Peter Knight of Riverside third. This win gave Taniwha the overall win for the Ron Spriggs Memorial for Stockcars, followed by Honeybone in second and Knight third. Central Motor Speedway return to track December 3rd with the Bermuda Pools South Island Sprintcar Championship.
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