Striking Gold At Riverside
[Photography by Vanessa Adcock](https://www.facebook.com/vanessaadcockphotography)
Andrew Andrew
- RACE REPORTS
Striking Gold At Riverside
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.) Another speedway season has come and gone, with Aotea Electric Riverside Speedway hosting their final meeting of the season in front of a huge crowd of patient race fans. Some serious rain fell just hours prior to the meeting starting, soaking the track and delaying the start time by well over an hour and a half, but the fans stayed loyal and got to take in some great race action. There were a number of titles to be decided prior to the season being finished, memorials across Saloons, Stockcars and Streetstocks as well as Best Pairs for Saloons and Southland Championship for Sprintcars. Despite only being eight Saloons entered for the two titles they were running for, it was eight class entries with drivers coming from Beachlands and Central Motor Speedway to contest the Rod McLaren Memorial. Heat one for Saloons saw Riverside's Dan Black get off to a flying start, pulling a gap to the field before a caution was called when Darren McLeod of Riverside went into the back end of clubmate Darcy Hewitt, then backed off causing Mark Dobson also of Riverside to run into the back end of McLeod putting both cars out of action, Hewitt managing to remain going. Black would again pull away from the pack early at the restart and build a lead that he would hold to take the race win ahead of Dunedin duo Ryan Bennett in second and Jason Gold in third. Heat two saw Central Motor Speedway driver Phil Burgess get off to a solid start with Gold in hot pursuit and Riverside's Graham Williamson stalking in third. Both Gold and Williamson would manage to make a move on Burgess and then go wheel to wheel for a number of laps. Gold looked to have this race won, coming out of turn four of the very last lap but Williamson charged alongside Gold snatching the race win on the line by a margin of 0.069 in what was a thrilling exchange, Burgess remained solid in third place. Heat three would decide the Rod McLaren Memorial and the Best Pairs Championship, this race was again a brilliant battle between both Williamson and Gold, Gold had the advantage getting to turn one first, the pair having to deal with Hewitt who definitely had his most impressive race of the season in his very last outing. Hewitt did not look out of place challenging the leaders in the early laps but would fade slightly as the race rolled on. Gold has had an outstanding season and a win here over Williamson would be the icing on the cake for the Dunedin driver, Gold sat his car beautifully mid track making Williamson have to either go high and force a pass based on speed or wait for a mistake and Gold wasn't making any of them in this race. Gold would hold Williamson off to with the race Williamson second with Hewitt third, this result gave Gold the Rod McLaren Memorial Trophy, Williamson second with Black in third place. Williamson would get a chance to stand on the top step of the podium with himself and Black taking out Best Pairs ahead of Gold and Bennett in second with Burgess and McLeod third. Seventeen Stockcars entered would ensure some great action for the Ronnie Tree Memorial, an event that rewards the top three placed cars but more important to many is winning the Stirrers trophy. Heat one was pretty tough to watch with the track conditions offering no grip at all, these cars were the first grade up and simply struggled to gather any form of momentum at all. Despite the wet track there was just three stoppages, all for Riverside cars with Zac Newsham, Kahu Moxham and Adam Naber all bringing out stoppages. Beachlands driver Trazarn Ryland-Annabell would continue the strong form he showed a week earlier on his home track to take a race win ahead of Central Motor Speedways Brian Taniwha and Riverside's Shaun Hughes third. When Stockcars returned for heat two the track was drying nicely and had plenty on offer for the drivers, out front Taniwha got off to a flying start while plenty of action was unfolding behind him, the crowd getting most excited when Naber measured Hughes on the main straight putting him well up the wall. Naber would continue on but Hughes race was done. Other stoppages came for Shannon Simon of Beachlands who parked up on the back straight, while Moxham would again pull up in turn four, and at that restart race one winner Ryland-Annabell would fail to get going bringing out another red light. Taniwha would remain drama free to take the race win ahead of Riverside's Luke Fallow in second and his clubmate Peter Knight third. There was plenty of confusion in heat three, Riverside's Shanan Knight would park up bringing out the red, only to go infield but return to the track to battle on, a number of drivers would have wished he had remained infield as when he returned he was amongst everything, putting on a performance that would see him awarded the Stirrers Trophy. Hughes also came under fire in this race while parked up on the back straight the race was allowed to continue, unfortunately for Hughes he was hit hard while parked up by Jenna Tree of Riverside and Casey McEwan of Central Motor Speedway who were in their own heated battle. Out front again was Taniwha who was doing it easy, remaining untouched to win heat three ahead of Ryland-Annabell in second and Newsham having his best day out in third place. This would give Taniwha the Ronnie Tree Memorial Trophy with Tree second and Shanan Knight third. Streetstocks were on hand to race for the Cecile Kergozou Memorial Trophy and early crowd favorite Chris Kergozou of Riverside would be out in heat one, his car dropping a cylinder meaning the family trophy would elude him once again. There was plenty of action in heat one with the track still holding a fair bit of moisture cars didn't need much of a hand to rotate them around. A mid race stoppage came when Riverside's Stu Reid would be sent from the track with a flat tyre, Lance Yeo also of Riverside would also be extracted at this point with bumper damage, while just a couple of laps later it would be Steve Dryden of Riverside sent infield. Beachlands drivers were just too good in race one with Ben Jenkins taking out the race ahead of Mitch Lavender with Troy Dryden the only local driver claiming third spot. The second race saw a solid hit on Lavender from Riverside's AJ Lapsley on the back straight which would ultimately end Lavenders event, Steve Dryden was also looking menacing in this race trying his best to unsettle the Dunedin drivers after he had nothing to lose with not finishing heat one. Dryden's attention would allow his son Troy Dryden to claim the race win with Allan Finch of Dunedin second and defending Champion Dillon MacHattie of Riverside third. The only stoppage in heat three came with debris on the track, this was an entertaining race with plenty of hits but not resulting in stoppages, Steve Dryden would continuously wait for the leaders but they were up to the task, avoiding any damage and staying clear of harms way. MacHattie was strong out front and would claim the race win, Finch placed second with Jenkins third, these results then resulted in a three way tie for first place between Troy Dryden, Finch and Jenkins. A four lap run off would be needed and Jenkins wasted no time getting to the front and charging off, Finch snuck through to second leaving Dryden at the rear, these positions would not change giving Jenkins the Cecile Kergozou Memorial trophy. The final Southland Championship of the season to be run was for Sprintcars and just a small field of cars were entered. Four cars from Central Motor Speedway and just the one Riverside entry would do battle with defending champion Nigel Colvin of Cromwell on hand to defend his title. Heat one saw Cromwell driver Shanarrah Stronach bolt out to a flying start, clear air certainly helping with building a lead that she would take to the finish line to claim the win, Colvin would need to settle for second with Riverside's Ross McKinnel third. McKinnel would dish up some dominance of his own in heat two, showing the opposition that he wasn't going to be a pushover for his own clubs championship, this heat would also see Colvin have a lively spin in turn two but managed to keep the car going and rejoin the field. McKinnel would take a popular race win in front of home fans while Stronach placed second ahead of Colvin who worked his way back to third. Points were tight with such a small field going into heat three, the championship was anyone's and the key would be to get the best start and be leading hitting turn one which Stronach who started on the outside managed to do. Stronach got the nose in front and cleared off early while McKinnel and Colvin went toe to toe for the first couple of laps. By the time Colvin had broken the shackles Stronach had around a half straight length lead that Colvin was starting to chew into. Laps were fading quickly and Colvins run had been left too late with Stronach snatching her second race win of the day, and her maiden Southland Championship, Colvin would place second in this race and overall while McKinnel would cap off a solid day, third in race three and third overall.
Production Saloons, Youth Saloons and Six Shooters were also on track for the final meeting of the season but all three grades only raced two races due to the delayed start and light fading quickly. In heat one of Production Saloons Tony Jones of Riverside came from well down the pack to claim a well driven race win over Dave McKenzie of Riverside who had led the majority of this race, McKenzie would place second with clubmate Brad Fitzgerald third. Race two was more of the same, easier this time for Jones with a front row start but the same result at the conclusion, a dominant couple of race wins for Jones, Fitzgerald claimed second and Liam Ballantyne of Central Motor Speedway continuing his strong form in third. Youth Saloons saw a big field and it looked like Cayden Race of Riverside was going to be the run away winner but a brilliant drive by Josh McIntyre also of Riverside would see him chase down the leader and pass him with a couple of laps to run to take the win, Race would secure second with Noah Kitto of Beachlands home in third spot. Race two saw a great battle in the early laps between McIntyre and Joshua Richardson of Riverside, the pair cleared off from the field and put on a great battle until McIntyre negotiated lapped traffic a little better and got a break on Richardson. From their McIntyre would go on to win his second race of the day, Richardson second with Kitto again in third spot. Six Shooters were the unsung hero's of the event with the grade doing a massive amount of wheel packing early in the day, followed by the Saloons trying to produce a raceable surface. Six Shooters featured Southern Sprintcar Series winner Adam Evans of Central Motor Speedway jumping back in his car to have a run. Evans would work away at the front of the pack and battle hard with Duane Cracknell of Riverside for the front spot, Evans would manage to build a lead as the race went on and take advantage of a track that was starting to take great shape under him, Evans would take the race win from Cracknell with Ruapuna driver Kirk Hawkins placing third. The final race for Six Shooters saw Riverside's Hayden Graves come unstuck in turn four Cracknell making contact with the spinning car but able to continue. Up front it was again Evans who was all class, this time heading off the challenge of Riverside's Harrison Brown and Daniel Livingstone also of Riverside, these placings are how the race would finish up giving Evans the perfect day out. The Demolition Derby was also run, with just fourteen cars, showing that for the last two seasons, people being able to source wrecked cars was becoming an issue with derby number dropping from high seventies for a number of years down to teens in the past couple of seasons, this puts a real question mark over the future of derbies and maybe more emphasis of Derby Team events. Josh Chirnside was the last car running in the derby to take the win.
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