BY Daniel Neville

Night one of Nelson’s Top of the South Easter champs was scheduled for 21 races last night, it ended up being 24 by the time the track lights were switched off, race cars were loaded onto their trailers and what was left of the crowd has shuffled their way to the exits. Three run off’s and some delays getting cars back into race order after stoppages contributed to the conclusion of the meeting. It wasn’t all bad however as there was some great racing across all seven classes which will be followed up tonight with more championships and open races as the season draws to a close.

The Production Saloons opened the meeting and closed their season with the chase for their Easter championship. Pam Nixon signalling the start of a busy night when she kissed the concrete hard in heat won which was won by Trevor Wilkinson. Subsequent victories went to Steve Russ and Scott James but with James also claiming two second placings, the Easter title was his by four points from the evergreen Dave Leitch while a tie for third was sorted when Peter Cradock made the trip from Rotorua worthwhile, beating Nelson’s Steve Watson in the run off to complete the podium.

A top Three Quarter Midget field was punctuated once again by the dominance of Christchurch competitors with the Cantabrian’s filling seven of the top ten placings after three heats. Rachel Melrose kept her foot down for maximum points first up with other wins going to Tom Lumsden and Kyle Glover with the pair making the top six in each heat and finishing in a deadlock for first with 65 points a piece. Glover got the jump at the start of the run off and disappeared into the distance to take the title leaving Lumsden as runner up. Paul Russ restored some local pride with a fine third placing at the end with other local drivers Richard Cuthbert and Jason finishing ninth and tenth respectively.

Ian Burson was the master of the clay in the Super Saloons, guiding his Chev race car through three dusty heats to scoop the Nelson Club title by three points. Blenheim’s Paddy North took the second spot with John Lovelady of Christchurch beating Shane Carey in the run off for third. Carey had a good chance to take out the four lapper but overcooked it while trying to pass the 17C car of Lovelady late in the piece. Another local driver who didn’t have the best of luck was Ron Taylor who after a long career is calling it quits after this weekend. Taylor tripped over the Blenheim car of Mark Pengelly and speared into the wall in heat one then started from the rear in the other two and in heat two was swiped by Trevor Elliot whilst recovering from a spin. Heat wins went to Burson, Elliot and Carey.

Another driver who is hanging up the helmet is Streetstock stalwart Richard Cotton. Nicknamed ‘The Sheriff’ Cotton has notched up 28 years of racing and along with his daughter Sharlene will be missing from the ranks come next season. Sharlene finished her racing with a fifth overall in the Easter Champs with father Richard winding up eighth. Former national champion Simon Bland won the first two heats to be the provisional leader but was hammered in the third and was pipped by heat three winner Steve Kitto by a point with Nelson’s Nathan Thomas surviving some carnage to take third. Among the hit and runners were Gordon Ingham, Stewart Trevathan, Tania Shadbolt and Jason Fox whose night ended prematurely after he went to take a shot at Ingham in heat one, missed his target badly, mothered the wall and rearranged his front end.

The Superstock Easter Champs should have stayed in Nelson with a good contingent of local cars but a certain Waikato driver had other ideas. Jared Wade, the 2003 National Champ, guided his 85H tank to a win in heat three which was backed up by a second and a third earlier to steal the crown by seven points. Three times 1NZ Craig Boote was Wade’s closest competition finishing second overall, a tangle with Brett Nicholls late in heat one costing Boote dearly. Nicholls came home third in at the end with Shane Harwood, Daryl Hammond (Palmerston North) and Warrick Ansty (Huntly) all tied for fourth. There was not a lot of contact among the heavyweights although Blair Cunningham mixed it up with Wanganui’s Antony Cooper in the last heat then fired Ian Clayworth up the wall in a shower of sparks. Those not so fortunate were Carey Harwood and Jared Gray who are both making comebacks to racing but had their woes with Harwood blowing his engine to bits whilst Gray’s car went up in a cloud of steam early and wasn’t sighted again.

The Midgets were competing in the final round of their Barry Butterworth series and with a tight points tally it was always going to a wide open championship. The Nelson pairing of Nevil Basalaj and Nick Marquet were tied at the top heading into the finale with Scott Millar, Phillipa Melrose and Gavin Wilkie all still in with a shot. Melrose had a top night with two solid wins while Barry Low took the other victory. Basalaj had a shocker of a night spinning up twice in heat one and was passed late in heat two by a speedy Marquet. It was great to see 3NZ Michael Brunt in the field and although he wasn’t in contention for the Butterworth series, still finished tied on points for the night with Melrose. Overall Marquet took out the series with Basalaj second from Melrose. Wilkie and Millar completed the top five.

The final class on the card were the Sidecars who were competing for their Easter championships with three heats completed and another three to come tonight to decide the winner. The local pairing of Dallas Kelman and Adie Drake sent out a warning shot to the rest with wins in all their heats although the first win was gifted when the Wanganui bike of John Pitt and Jason Wallis was relegated, presumably for jumping the start. Nevil Curran and Wolfe McGill were also on song with two wins and are lying second heading into tonight’s heats. Kelman and Drake lead the charge with Pitt and Wallis running third.

The final meeting of the Nelson season gets underway from the earlier time of 5pm this evening with championships for all classes except Youth Ministocks and Three Quarter Midgets.