War Of The Wings Crowns A New Champion

Andrew Andrew

• RACE REPORTS

War Of The Wings Crowns A New Champion

Central Motor Speedway

Shuttleworth Motorsport Media

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.) There really is something to be said about Easter racing at Central Motor Speedway in Cromwell, its Good Friday, nothings open so a big crowd always flocks trackside, its early autumn, temperatures are more bearable, and almost a Nordic breeze fills the arena, the cooler the air gets the more red hot the on track action gets, and that's exactly what transpired at the Central Otago track on Good Friday. Central Motor Speedway would play host to the final round of the Hydraulink War Of The Wings Sprintcar Series, a series that this year has been dominated by the teenage sensation Joel Myers Jnr from California, representing Ruapuna Speedway. Myers Jnr would roll into the final round with a fifty-five point buffer over Riverside Speedway's own teenage sensation Jacob McIntyre, who is the only other driver in the series to lead the championship throughout the year. McIntyre has had a break through season, and if you asked me at the start of the season where Jacob McIntyre would get in a field of drivers of this calibre, I would say top half of the top ten, never would I have thought he would still be in with a shot of winning coming into the very last round. Cromwells Mathew Anderson has been the quiet achiever in the series, just collecting points on a regular basis, Anderson was sitting in third place just twenty points adrift of McIntyre. The event would kick into life with time trials, and would also decide the OEM Quick Time Award for the series which Myers Jnr was leading coming into Cromwell. Dave Kerr from Ruapuna would be the only driver to tap into the thirteen second lap bracket late in the time trials to put him at the top of the table, Myers Jnr second ahead of Cromwell's Daniel Anderson in third, Mathew Anderson also of Cromwell was fourth with Connor Rangi of Nelson rounding up the top five. This result would see Myers Jnr win the overall OEM Quick Time Award from Jayden Dodge of Cromwell and Rangi. Heat number one saw an early restart when Cromwell's Whetu Taewa would come unstuck early meaning a full restart. Once the race started to take shape and find its rhythm a harmless spin between Cromwell's Nigel Colvin and Jason Scott would see Nelsons Sam O'Callaghan roll in turn two resulting in O'Callaghan heading off to a nearby medical facility, another major blow to what has already been a testing season for the team. Both O'Callaghan and Scott would retire from this heat. At the restart it was "The Gasman" Steve Duff of Ruapuna who would lead off and charge away to a popular race win, the second generation Sprintcar driver really starting to string together some strong results. Second would be Daniel Anderson with Kerr charging home in third place. Heat two saw both McIntyre and Myers Jnr facing off for the first time and it was McIntyre's time to shine racing off from the front of the grid to build a handy lead up until Kerr's car would come to a sudden standstill in turn two. The race would restart, again McIntyre was out of the blocks fast and starting to clear off with Josh "Young Buck" Buchanan of Cromwell in hot pursuit chasing the Southlander, Myers Jnr was also starting to come through the pack when a second caution would be called when Allan Chapman of Ruapuna and Tony Uhlenburg of Kihikihi would come together. Again McIntyre would need to be on his game to fight off Buchanan at the start, and that's exactly what he delivered, again fast out of the blocks and bagging a solid race win that would see him advance to the Top Six Dash, Buchanan drove well to grab second ahead of a hard charging Myers Jnr in third place. The third and final heat would go the distance with no stoppages, it would also showcase the speed and class of Rangi who was simply in a league of his own in the race. Rangi raced hard in the early stages of the race with Cromwell's Finn Cleveland who is also punching out some solid results late in the season, Cleveland would lead early but Rangi would chase Cleveland down and make a pass on the local driver and race off to a heat win, Cleveland would place second with Myers Jnr in third place. From here the top six cars would go through to "The Dash" and determine who would start from where in the front three rows of the grid for the thirty lap feature final. Kerr rolled out on track but would take no further part in the event, a disappointing end for Kerr who had impressed early. The other cars lining up for the dash were McIntyre, Myers Jnr, Rangi, Daniel Anderson and Duff. McIntyre got off to a solid start leading early but soon fell to the rear of the pack, his car looking like a real handful in the short sprint race, Anderson would upstage his younger team mate Myers Jnr to make it an all "Ranch Bar & Grill" front row, Anderson first, Myers Jnr second, Duff third, Rangi fourth and McIntyre fifth. The scene was now set for the thirty lap feature final of the Hydraulink War Of The Wings, the heats and dash had produced some stellar battles and an entertaining season had now come down to this race. Anderson raced off to a fast start only to be chased down and passed by Myers Jnr, Anderson was lucky to avoid what looked like a near certain disaster when he rocketed out of turn four, hitting the wall and riding it the entire way down the main straight, how he never came unstuck was more luck than talent in guessing, but he did well to gain his composure after a wild ride and fight back. McIntyre had fallen down a number of spots but was starting to make his charge through the pack when he caught the cushion in turn three throwing him into the fence in what was an ugly incident on lap eleven. This instantly bought out the red light and the race came to a full stoppage as McIntyre was helped out of his car and made his way infield, McIntyre was visibly upset as any chance he had of claiming the series was now done and dusted, and he was subject to having to watch the remainder of the race from the inside out. As the cars fired up again it was Myers Jnr who raced off to a solid start, but only for a brief moment when Rangi bought the crowd to its feet making his move on the American and racing away to a handy lead. Rangi looked unstoppable at this point and both he and Myers Jnr were well clear of the pack, where Duff had worked his way forward to third. [yith_wc_productslider id=11338] Rangi would also hold off the advances of Myers Jnr after another restart for stranded cars, The two young drivers again driving away from the field and in no time at all battling with the back makers. This is where Myers Jnr made his move, in traffic Rangi was a sitting duck, Rangi worked his way through a number of cars but the gap he had over Myers Jnr had gone, and this is where the American made his move, sliding past Rangi and unleashing his skill to drive away from the pack. The big crowd in attendance had just witnessed an epic battle between two young drivers, and Myers Jnr's move had just bought them to their feet, with the white flag out the round win and series win was within reach of Myers Jnr, who had won every single final that he competed in throughout the series, this win was the full stop on a remarkable series and the teenage sensation celebrated taking the checkered flag and the Hyraulink War Of The Wings title, second home was Rangi who threw everything he had at this event, while Duff took a well driven third spot. Mathew Anderson drove a strong race and managed to get himself up to fourth place to steal second place in the series overall, while McIntyre can still be extremely proud of his achievements in third place. The club was also hosting night one of the Easter Champs, and a strong field of cars were entered across all the grades. Saloons put on a fantastic show with some brilliant battles across all three heat races, in heat one Riverside's Mark Dobson and his clubmate Graham Williamson pulled away from the pack, Beachland's Jason Gold had applied early pressure but the two southern drivers managed to clear off. Williamson tried to make a couple of moves on Dobson who was fast but also nervous out front, Dobson has had a nasty run of luck so far this season, with a couple of big accidents knocking his confidence in his new Hypermac, a race win here would certainly restore his faith in himself and the car. Dobson would get the win he was looking for with Williamson second and Gold third. Race two and Dobson was again at the pointy end of the field, this time though he would again have to battle with Gold and Shane Greer of Beachland's for a good part of the race. While this battle was unfolding it was Christchurch driver Willie Woodhouse who would power off to a commanding lead. The field would come back to Woodhouse when Williamson was spun up in turn two bringing out a caution, this was followed by a caution one lap later when Darren McLeod of Riverside tagged the wall in turn two, bringing out another caution, then the third caution when Williamson came unstuck in turn three, his car stalling and needing assistance to rejoin the field. The stop / start race would eventually come to an end with Woodhouse taking the win ahead of Dobson in second and Gold up to third. The final heat of the night for Saloons went the distance with no dramas unfolding, up front Dunedin's Aaron Andrews put in a remarkable drive to pull away from the pack and take home a solid race win, Woodhouse chased hard but would have to settle for second ahead of Williamson in third place. A small but quality field of Super Saloons hit the track for the Easter Champs, the burning question amongst the grade was around Ian Burson of Nelson, and if his rotten run of luck would finally end here tonight. Burson has been hammered with mechanical woes since the New Zealand title in Dunedin and this would be another test to see if the team had the gremlins sorted. Burson answered that question in heat one, having an epic one on one battle with Cromwell's Ray Stewart at the front of the pack, the pair raced door to door, lap upon lap but Burson would get the edge and take the win, you could almost sense the relief in the team, Stewart was second with Greig Johnston of Cromwell third. Heat two and Johnston would get the jump on his rivals and hold off an attacking Burson and Stewart, Johnston really starting to bank some solid results in his new Hypermac which he is still just coming to grips with, Johnston would take the heat two win ahead of Burson and Stewart. The third and final heat saw Christchurch driver Trevor Elliott dominate out front, Elliott looked in full control until a late race spin in turn three would see him fall down the order, this mistake allowed Burson to snatch victory from Johnston in second and Cromwell's Ewan Shearing home in third spot. Six Shooters kicked the event off and again a huge field of cars were entered, making this one of the most entertaining grades now to watch. Cromwell's Blair Smith boosted off to a solid race start running away from the rest of the field looking as if he would win with ease. Cromwell driver Tony Creighton would spin in turn three late in the race allowing the rest of the field to get back to Smith. At the restart Sophie Wills of Cromwell would slip down the inside of Smith to take over the lead with only a lap to run, Wills would snatch victory, Smith having to settle for second with Cromwell's Emma Gordon third. The second Six Shooter race saw Creighton struggle with a spin in turn three once again, this is a new car for Creighton and a totally different beast to what he has been use to racing. Apart from Creighton's spin it was a clean race, Riverside Speedway's Harrison Brown would take a race win after not finishing heat one, Brian Ellison would place second with his Cromwell clubmate George Hedley home in third. The final Six Shooter race was also a good fast, clean affair and it would be Hedley who would fight off his rivals to bag his second win of the season, in second was Nigel Marshall of Riverside and Brown in third spot. A number of drivers in Youth Ministocks would be having their final weekend in the youth grade before going off into the senior ranks, its been pleasing to see a number of these drivers grown in confidence over the last couple of seasons, and even better to see plenty of new talent coming through to keep the grade solid for years to come. Race one saw Christchurch driver Jaxyn Houtos dominate, the young driver took apart his opposition with ease, getting to the front and driving off. The big talking point was the drive of Cromwell's Ashdyn "Smash" Gable who started this race at the very back of the pack, to get right through and settle for second behind Houtos who took the race win, Clay Dawson of Cromwell would place third. Race two and a nasty incident in lap one saw both Brooke Marshall of Cromwell and Toni Lee Best of Christchurch having a come together hard against the wall in turn two. The race would restart and again Houtos would drive away from his rivals to grab another race win, Dawson would chase hard for second ahead of Dylan Jones of Cromwell who drove well to secure third spot. Race three also started with a nasty crash on the main straight when Dawson and Cooper Whalon Frans of Nelson had a huge smash into the wall bringing the race to a halt while the safety crew dealt with the incident. This race would continue to be a very stop start affair with multiple cautions due to cars spinning as the track slicked off under lights. The race would be called early after Cromwell's Paige McNally and clubmate Mikayla Colvin would have a coming together in turn two, cutting the race a couple of laps early, giving Jones the win ahead of Houtos in second and Gable third. Stockcars again put on a good showing, of course a number of cars were taking it easy knowing there would be a teams race on Easter Sunday, so didn't need to pick up any unwanted damage. Cromwell driver Jack Honeybone put in a smooth clean race in heat one to take the top spot ahead of Riverside's Shanan Knight and Beachland's Paul Simon in third place. Heat two and again the odd tap and spin but all fairly quick paced action, this time around Cromwell teenager Brodie McDonald upstaged the competition by getting up front and pulling away, McDonald would take a solid race win, Simon placed second with Cromwell's Casey McEwan third. The final Stockcar race saw a couple of cautions for cars stopped on track but nothing too major as far as big incidents went, Craig Robb of Christchurch would this time upstage his opponents and manage to fight of Woodford Glen clubmate Shi Robb to take the race win, Shi Robb would place second with McEwan again third. The final grade to run was Production Saloons, the grade was over subscribed throughout the week and was split into three groups, but actual numbers on the day dropped and ended up being three heats with a full field in each. With big fields of Productions it was always going to be action packed, the first caution in heat one was when Nik Fraser of Christchurch stopped in turn one early, this was followed by Cromwell's James Woods coming to a grinding halt on the back straight. Apart from those two cars stopping it was a fairly clean race one, Liam Gillies of Dunedin took out the heat followed by Nelson driver Eddy Frans in second and Scott Ritchie of Greymouth third. These results apparently changed post race with Frans being disqualified putting Ritchie to second and Kaleb Marshall of Dunedin promoted to third. Heat two would see just the one caution with Cromwell's Des McTaggart stopping in turn three, this would be the heat that Vaughan Fairburn would show his class, the Cantabrian doing a number on the field to bank valuable points in the Easter Championship. Second would go the way of Gillies with Aaron Brookland of Beachland's working his way to third. Heat three, and again a stop, start affair with multiple cars spinning up causing restarts, the race really not flowing at any stage. Again Gillies would work his way to the front of the pack and bag his second race win of the event in what had been a fairly dominating performance in a quality field, Cromwell's Brad McTaggart would get second with Leo Bennett of Dunedin earning a well driven third placing.

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