The Trinders Engineering South Island Stock Car title was supposed to build towards a climatic final heat, but things got crazy from the Get-go, defending champion Brayden Lennon was a target all night, his title hopes ended in the opening lap with a right-front flat tyre after being taken to from the drop of the green flag, Robbie Edgeworth another that copped a huge shot, a bent wheel gate ending his night with a heap of damage, flat tyres ruined Melissa Gifford, Roydon Winstanley and Matt Inwood’s chances as the ridiculous rule continues to kill racing all around the country.
 

Jack Rarity continued his form under the N banner, claiming the opening heat win, followed by the speedsters of Wade Sweeting, Harley Robb and Dylan Clarke all gaining good places to aid their chances, Blenheim’s Troy Cleveland racing under the Wanganui banner slipped through the field to finish inside the top 5. The second heat was a bit quieter, Lennon again under attack, only a few failed to finish the race, Sweeting was spun ending his chances of a top finish, his task would switch to assisting the C cars in heat 3, it set up the pit talk leading into the final heat. Cleveland and Rarity sharing the lead with Robb, Clarke and Greymouth’s Robert Gaskill all within striking distance if the leaders fell over.

The final heat was just crazy, Lennon gaining further attention as the Nelson blockers were on guard to protect Clarke from any Christchurch car that was in hunt mode, it was chaos everywhere, Sweeting and Rondel ran blockers for Robb while Cleveland was trying to run away from trouble, it all turned to custard for Rondel as he was caught wide when Winstanley took to Clarke to the wall but it squeezed Rondel high up the fence, snapping a post clean off, the result saw all three done for the race, Sweeting was trying to gun Cleveland but also riding shot-gun for Robb, Eathorne latched onto Cleveland sending him into the wall and barrel rolling him over, the car landed back on its wheels but was unable to carry on, a feud that had been brewing for several seasons. 

Robb was untouched to win the last heat and with Rarity being slowed early in the race, made it back to 7^th  place, but it wasn’t enough to peg back Robb winning the South Island title by 2 points, Tyler McPherson was running and blocking, his 2^nd place in the final heat enough to make the podium in third, 29 cars started the last heat, only 14 finished, it was a crazy, crazy race and one of the best South Island titles seen in years. It was good to see Trazarn Annabell make his way up from Dunedin after a short turnaround from Huntly, Peter and Shannon Knight made the huge journey from Invercargill, they had a good opening race but were among the many not to finish heat 3.
 

The 30 cars on the track just lifted the action on the track, it was hard work trying to keep up with all the hits in an extremely busy championship, Robb adding another trophy to the cabinet and happy to return in a fortnights time for the Stampede. 

The Hydralink “War of the Wings” had a heavy entry list, sadly only the die-hards turned up as the series began its second half of rounds, the points opening up after Joel Myers Jnr headed back to the States, the local contingent were looking to get their campaigns back on track after a series of unfortunate results. Jayden Dodge ran the fastest lap in the time trials, Jacob McIntyre took out heat 1, Connor Rangi heat 2 and Matt Anderson the 3^rd, the dash went the way of 3nz Matt Leversedge with Rangi joining him off the front for the feature.

The Connor Rangi show was underway from the from the drop of the green flag in the feature, it was dialled in as he lead the first few laps, a huge collision on lap 4 saw the retirement of Alicia hill, Cory McQuillan and Dave Kerr, a couple ending off their wheels, the restart saw Rangi drive off once again, he was untouchable as the race went on, Caleb Baughan and Stephen Taylor finding speed on the high-line. The Nelson Voodoo came back again, leading the feature race on the final lap not the best place to be in recent years, it happened again, Dodge went high and cooked it in the turn 3 wall, as Rangi came round on the white flag, the yellows didn’t come on quick enough and Rangi found Dodge parked up in his line, the evasive action not enough to stop him ending broken parked next to Dodge with only a corner to go. The restart put Leversedge off the front and held on from Taylor and McIntyre for the win, a dejected Rangi walking into the pits with plenty of damage and his chances of defending the series even more dented than the car.

The Quarter Midgets gathered their biggest field to date, spilt into two groups it was the final round of the Mike Greer Homes (Nelson) series. Jack Brownlees and Conley Webley were quick to find the lead picking up a win each before ending the feature as they have done in recent meetings, Jack pipping Conley in the feature race, but both had missed a round of the series so it was a battle of the minor place getters that were leading the series, Locky Martin finishing 3^rd in the feature to win the series (a broken car last year in the final round ruined his podium chances), his consistency over the year earning him the title, Bailey Bensemann ended the series as runner-up with Darcy Rasmussen the series improver finished 3^rd overall. The feature was cut short after Brooke Clark had a huge roll around turn 3, the action corner of the night.

The Modified Sprints travelled up from Christchurch for their King of the Ring meeting, it was a small field that still some good racing, Brett Booth won the heat 1 battle, Craig Cox took out heat 2 and then ran away with the feature race, they added to the open-wheeled flavour of the meeting, enjoying a perfect racetrack and 3 incident free races, all happy to return again.

The Production Saloons have been relatively small field-wise, but their combined ages would suggest double the number of cars on the track, the Dad’s army brigade taking two of the three heats, Geoff Watson winning heat 1 and sporting a bit of damage from a wayward Tom Wolf, Eddie Frans the other oldie winning the final heat with Baby Bopper Vaughan Cornelius taking the middle heat, numbers have been a bit low but the regulars keep turning up week after week, their enthusiasm always there on race night.

The T.Q’s were boosted by the new 1nz of Aaron Humble, it took him the first race to get to grips with the track but once dialled in he was battling for the lead, Alicia Hill held off Morgan Frost by.09 of a second in the opening race, then Frost took heat 2 win from Humble by a couple of seconds before Humble held on for the feature win by .25 of a second over Frost. It was close racing all night, Dylan Bensemann in amongst the podium results with a couple 3^rds in the second and feature races.

It was a huge night of racing, plenty of thrills and spills, a continuation of action from last week’s South Island Super Stock title, with the S.I. Streetstock title due in a months’ time, the battle between Nelson and Christchurch is set to continue. Throw in the PTS Stampede in fortnight with full fields of Super Stocks, Stock cars and Youth Ministocks along with Classic Stock cars, the crazy is set to carry on, the racing has been off the charts lately, the track has been in perfect condition with fast-paced races making it some of the best racing in years.  

Jody Scott

BM Photography 

Article added: Sunday 05 March 2023