A fantastic finish to end the opening night at Milestone Homes Top of the South Speedway, Alicia Hill took out the T.Q. feature race amongst a star studded field as they dial in towards their NZ title in early December, three North Island cars made the trip across to get valuable track-time before the big event, current NZ Champion Aaron Humble, 2nz Kayden Barker and Kihikihi’s Shaun Cooke are basing themselves in Nelson over the next 6 weeks. Four-time NZ Champion Jeremy Webb returned to where he won his first title to begin his campaign to reclaim the title, but it was the home cars that dominated the final race after accumulated points over 3 heats, put Hill and Morgan Frost, an all Nelson front row, behind them, current and ex NZ champions Humble and Webb who were ready to pounce, but it was Frost that took off, opening up a handy lead with Hill in pursuit, the rest were just chasing as the field began to spread out, Webb slipped into third and was able to make a break on Humble as the North Islanders struggled to keep pace with their southern counterparts. Mini battles developed over the course of the race but as the laps kept ticking down, Hill slowly closed the gap as they started to pass the backmarkers, Webb closed in as well, but the rest were just running for pride as the battle intensified in the dying laps, Hill started to pressure Frost and made a slick inside pass to take the lead, Webb closed on Frost and managed to slip in to second on the final couple of laps to finish behind a jubilant Hill, a rapturous crowd witnessed an intense non-stop 25 laps of pure racing, it sent everyone home happy, what a cracker of a start to the season.

The Trackman trophies were up for grabs in all grades, huge fields in Youth Ministocks and T.Q.’s while visiting drivers boosted numbers in other grades to add to the competition, the contact grades were a little light on numbers as cars are still getting readied waiting for final a few parts to arrive. 

The Quarter Midgets started the season off, Conley Webley starting the home town wins, but it was Canterbury’s Jack Brownlees that took out the overall win, the third in 3 weeks, as Greymouth’s Kohen Thompson finished 2^nd also his third in 3 weeks with Conley Webley making the podium in 3^rd, the highlight was a blinding drive from Taylor Martin who led heat 2 for a while but finished ahead of his older brother Locky, which will likely be mentioned at breakfast over the coming days. 

The Sidecars were boosted by a couple of Christchurch visitors, mechanical issues affected a few of the bikes, but it was Rob and Harley Martin making it a perfect start to the season, Southerners Tyler Fisher and Graham Partridge enjoyed the track conditions to finish runner up to with fellow club racers Paul Anderson and Ella Hurst Whitworth in 3^rd spot.

The regulars all fronted for the Production saloon class, race wins were shared between them, Vaughan Cornelious started the wins off in heat 1, with Invercargill’s Steven Nicholas picking up the heat 2 win and Eddis Frans claiming the final heat, it was those 3 that shared the podium with Vaughan 1^st, Eddy 2^nd and Steven 3^rd, the new race engine in the Leitch car went well while all the doors remained shut in the Kandu team, the best of the lady racers was Abby Carter in 5^th.

The Super Stocks were short on cars, which are still being rebuilt, but it was the freshened 693n of Shane Harwood that dominated the night, even with a couple of places deducted for a pole infringement it was unstoppable, a deft touch to Alex Hill in the final heat made sure of the result, as Hill ended his night 2^nd overall and veteran Ian Clayworth in 3^rd, the debut of Callum Russ ended early with a broken pulley belt, Classic driver Fatty Peterson did the round in the 96 machine, which showed good pace to keep up with its modern counterparts.

It was a case of getting across the finish line in the Streetstock grade, Ryan Musgrove finishing all three races to pip Canterbury’s Dave McSherry by a single point, behind them, a scrap between a couple of cars with 2 good runs compared to a car that struggled over 3, Richard Bateman leading after two heats was unable to complete heat 3 but did enough to finish 3^rd overall, Jordan Gillespie had a good knock to the wall early on, a half spin saw him aided unintentionally to the wall, which he decided to attack with his car for the rest of the meeting, the wall still came out on top and it didn’t quite get him the Stirrers prize which went to Cody McCarrison who’s did enough wayward damage in heat 3 to change the outcome of the results.

The Stockcars were close on points, plenty of visiting drivers boosting local numbers, the outcome was a polite spin on Greymouth based Riley Eathorne by Jack Rarity early in heat 3 when both were tied on points, it was enough to keep ahead and claim the trophy, a run-off was needed to find 3^rd overall, but it was short lived as Max Baker was pinged for not relenting when pushed over the pole-line, the referee’s putting him on the infield for Braden Lawton to complete the race to finished in third place.

The Youth Ministock numbers are bursting at the seams, the pecking order was having its first sort out for the season, claiming the top spot was Luke Higgins who returned to his magic race number of 79 to head the field from Jack Burson, with Andre Musgrove showing good speed finish the night in 3^rd.  Higgins took the first heat win off pole and two 3rds made for a consistent night, a new car for Leilah Jefcoate paid dividends with a heat 2 win, the many hours over the last couple of months’ worth the effort for the well-travelled driver,  Deegan Broker sorted his engine issues from the previous week to win the final heat in a good battle with Burson threading through the lap cars, it promises to be a huge season ahead with big fields and plenty of drivers that can win.

The T.Q.’s were the focal point of the night, the NZ title is here on December 8^th and 9^th , the last practice was almost run in race conditions and the open meetings level of competitiveness was through the roof from the first lap, the off season training paying dividends for Alicia Hill who picked up the opening heat win in a solid battle with Greymouth’s Cameron McKenzie, Kayden Barker the best of the Northern lads in 3^rd, it was a rough start from Webb, caught early he struggled with the car, Ben Morgan’s night ended early with front damage. The second heat went the way of Frost with James Thompson showing he can’t be discounted as he starts his semi-retirement, but it was competitive with a track full of cars doing battle everywhere, it was a good chance to dial in set-ups on perfect track conditions and it showed just how close the title will be in six weeks’ time.

The track staff did an outstanding job with the race surface, its going to be a good season if that’s just the start of what’s to come….  Fireworks next meeting, more on the track and some bright ones above it …..

Article added: Friday 20 October 2023