The Grim Racing Heart Kids and Coca-Cola fireworks night had the Milestone Homes Top of the South Speedway packed to the gunnels, the full house got to see fireworks on and above the track, the Streetstock Closed clubs champs providing a huge final race in which the bangs just got bigger and bigger until the referee’s decided that it got a little too much and sent cars infield, it was not the only grade where drivers got a little too carried away, a couple of Youth Ministocks parked for the night after a shortened second race got very messy, very quickly, a mix of new and older drivers making the varying speeds a hard job of shuffling through traffic.

The T.Q.’s kept building towards their NZ title in a months’ time, Alicia Hill continuing her form with a heat one win, 2nz Kayden Barker suffered the highs and lows of speedway, he took out heat 2 and was leading a fierce battle for the lead in the feature, only for his engine to seize up with just laps to go, the sudden loss of speed left Morgan Frost with no time to avoid the Barker car, hitting the rear, then slamming into the wall leaving him with major front suspension damage. Aaron Humble went on to win the feature after having to fend off Hill, who has mastered the yellow light restarts. Kihikihi’s Shaun Cooke earning a podium spot in the feature while the Barker machine will head back north to get a new engine.

Conley Webley enjoyed a small field of local Quarter midgets, taking the feature win as the others had good battles amongst themselves, Taylor Martin took out the heat 2 win and driver of the night award, Locky Martin starts his Ministock career next meeting doing double duty for the next few meetings.

The support grades weren’t running for trophies, shared wins in the Production saloons, Geoff Watson, Vaughan Cornelius, and Abby Carter grabbing wins, the Sidecars had a happy Christchurch pairing of Graham Partridge and Ben Morris winning all 3 heats, a couple of broken bikes ending a couple of teams racing early. Shane Harwood took out the first two Super stock heats before “Birthday Boy” Alex Hill was determined to end the night with a win, which he secured in the final heat, he heads north to Rotorua to defend his triples title at Paradise Valley Speedway.

Jack Burson grabbed the honours in the Youth Ministock grades, Blenheim’s Charlie Booth ending 2nd overall and Leilah Jefcoate having another good meeting in the new car to finish 3rd. The shortened heat 2 ending after 4 laps with it being more like bumper cars than non-contact, the referee’s giving out some stern talks as a few drivers visited the tower.

It was Deja’ Vu for Richard Bateman, leading into the final heat of a championship, being fast is good but having friends is better as Steve Soper did just enough in heat 3 to win the closed club champs by a point, Ryan Musgrove and Cody McCarrison taking to the Doug Corbett machine in the final heat, McCarrison earning a holiday for his efforts, Harry Moffatt-Schwass capitalising on the carnage to finish 3rd overall. They are the feature grade when they return for night 2 of the Tri-series being held at Greymouth and Blenheim tracks on the 17th 18th and 19th of November.

The mass of kids on bikes just keeps getting better as part of the Heart Kids fundraiser, the range of ages and bikes keeping the crowd amused as the big kids had more track to cover than the little ones. The Fireworks ended a great night at the track, plenty of hotdogs being consumed as queues of hungry patrons waited for their own saucy speedway delicacy, the event sure to be repeated again next year..

Jody Scott

BM Photography