Brian Shaw will be looking forward to the Street parade in Westport to celebrate his win at the South Island Streetstock title, a 2 point win over the 1nz of Paul Leslie, the icing on the cake for a successful return to racing, the Nelson registered driver needing a few club mates to keep him safe and slow the visiting drivers down, a loud cheer as he strode up to receive his trophy at prize giving, plenty of broken cars scattered the infield as a few might be retired to being scrap metal as the season came to an end. Steve Soper was tied with Shaw going into the final heat but a DNF ruining his chances of Island glory. There was too much carnage to remember it all, but all the drivers were enjoying a beer after racing, the relaxed banter after a busy month of racing. 

South Island 1st Brian Shaw, 2nd Paul Leslie, 3rdJordan Gillespie 

Stirrer Ryan Musgrove, Best Presented Jordan Gillespie, Hard Luck Simon Bland 

Easter title 1st Brian Shaw, 2nd Paul Leslie, 3rd Steven Soper. 

The Youth Ministocks went down to a run-off, Conley Webley pipping Luke Higgins for the Easter title, Andre Musgrove claiming 3rd overall, a healthy field of cars while a few have outgrown the grade, there have been more enter which has boosted the numbers overall, they should stay solid over the next few years, the pecking order ever changing with drivers coming and going over the season. the drivers have a couple of big titles still to contend at non-SNZ tracks, Ashburton hosts the CTRA NZ youth title in early May with the Oxford Youth title a week later. 

1st Conley Webley, 2nd Luke Higgins, 3rd Andre Musgrove 

Conley Webley continued his winning ways in the Quarter Midget grade, the two Martin Boys picking up the heat wins, Taylor with his first of the season before Locky took out heat 2, but Webley was too quick in the feature race, a busy season often doing double-duty plus a couple of trips to race in Auckland, a busy year for all the drivers with multiple trips South and West with the Mike Greer Homes ¼ Midget Series. 

1st Conley Webley, 2nd Locky Martin, 3rd Darcy “Nemo” Rasmussen 

The newly crowned King of the Coast Vaughan Cornelius continued racking up trophies, the Easter champs going his way as well, a small field with a couple of drivers away, they had just the one visiting driver, the class just ticks the laps away enjoying themselves, all the cars safely back on their trailers at the end of the night, noting many cars in their distinctive colours, a purple one, a green one, a yellow one, anyone might think the Teletubbies are behind the wheel.. 

1st Vaughan Cornelius, 2nd Dave Leitch, 3rd Geoff Watson 

Stock cars have been the highlight of the last half of the season, a few drivers have come of age, a few new drivers have stepped up and the rivalry has never been better, chuck in a few visitors and its fireworks every race. Matt Inwood with a freshened engine continuing to hound the “C” drivers, a couple of old ring-in drivers getting in amongst it, Andre Evans putting the 32n cars bumper to use, John Everett had a squirt in the Riley Eathorne machine, he ended 3rd overall after a run-off with Dylan Clarke, Jack Rarity enjoying having a “N” on his car, the Easter champs going his way, there are a few numbers on dashboards that might not be painted over in the off-season rebuilds, it will be interesting if a few start where they left off this year. 

1st Jack Rarity 2nd Dylan Clarke 3rd John “Man of Steel” Everett 

The T.Q.’s ran their 3rd round of the club champs and a bonus feature for their Easter title, Tyler Warnock returning for his 3rd trip from Christchurch as he aimed to keep the points lead after the first 2 rounds, it was a rewarding trip, picking up both feature wins to take home all the titles on the night. Morgan Frost was leading the Easter feature before something went askew, the stoppage putting at the rear of the field, but he made his way back up to second in the dying laps, a huge roll over from Jonty Austin when a shock let go, spoiling his evening. They have their NZ championship here next year; it promises to be a huge meeting with a heap of new drivers around the country boosting numbers in the grade. 

Club Champs 1st Tyler Warnock, 2nd Dylan Bensemann,3rd Alicia Hill 

Easter Champs 1st Tyler Warnock, 2nd Morgan Frost, 3rd Alicia Hill 

The Super Stocks were light on numbers as the season is pretty much done, it came down to a run-off between Shane Harwood and Alex Hill to decide the winner, a gentleman’s game of chess on the cards rather than brute force, a deft tap from Harwood enough to offset Hill and take the win, a few of the cars suffered broken gear throughout the night, but with the title criteria done and dusted for the season, it was a matter of getting laps in for a few of the newer drivers. 

1st Shane Harwood, 2nd Alex Hill, 3rd Ian Clayworth 

The Side cars were light on numbers with a few bikes already in the workshop, Rob and Harley Martin undefeated on the night, the racing had a few hairy moments, a swinger left sprawling down the back straight at one stage, a bit of rubbing racing throughout the night making for a few gasps from the crowd. 

1st Rob/Harley Martin, 2nd Kieran Satherley/Jono Kilburn, 3rd Clinton Hannah/Jason Bowen 

It was a busy but slick night of racing to end a busy second half of the season, delayed by weather, the final meeting was a fortnight later than the club usually runs, the keen turned up to race and watch, but many already happy to get back into the workshop for next year. The track staff did an outstanding job after heavy rain until early morning, we were lucky compared to a lot of North Island tracks whose year has been compounded by rainout after rainout, 3 North Island tracks raining out again that night. The club enjoyed growth in some key grades, Youth, Stock car and especially the Super Stock class were up in numbers, a couple of other grades will be looking for a few new drivers, with some key titles planned in the next few years the committee are keen to keep growing the numbers, some major infrastructure work is on the cards over the off season after the Consent process and Covid have taken the funds and attention away over the past few years. 

until October, in the famous words of Porky Pig, That’s all Folks…

Written by Jody Scott

Photography by BM Photography 

Article added: Monday 24 April 2023