CLUB AFTERNOON MEETING BRINGS SEASON TO A CLOSE
By Daniel Neville
It’s been a funny old season for many and TWS Paradise Valley Speedway was no different. Saturday April 30th saw the stop-start race calendar finally draw to a close with a low key club afternoon featuring 6 classes and some entertaining racing by all.
The meeting began with all drivers in attendance gathering on the infield for 1 minute silence in honour of 59p Stephen Penn who sadly passed away at the Palmerston North Superstock Teams Champs on the previous Sunday while racing in the Manawatu Mustangs.
The Vintage Stockcars made a rare appearance and opened the meeting with great race that was won by 13g Reece Lister. Race 2 was won by 15h and race 3 going the way of 2p Barry Hanright.
The Youth Ministocks were divided into their respective age groups with the younger of the 2 on track first. Race one saw 25r Cameron Pattison lead away from pole but his race ended prematurely after making solid contact with the wall. He was okay but the cars unfortunately wasn’t with the race win going to 62r Jarod Breen. Race 2 was won by 64r Riley McKeown with Pattison recovering from his race 1 incident to collect the race 3 win.
The older more experienced Youth Ministock group had 20 cars out and a win for 34r Devon Hunter who took over when 93r Flynn Fraser retired near the end with a sick sounding car. Race 2 was a bit rougher with race 1 winner Hunter finishing up parked on the wall after a tangle. After a couple more crashes it was 42r Tasman Bryson who took the race win. Race 3 saw a few more find the wall a bit too tough to contend with while Bryson made his final meeting in the class a memorable one by winning the last race too.
A small 11 car Superstock field came out for some laps with 335r Ken Hunter taking the flag in race 1 while the 118r was driven reasonably well by Youth Ministock regular Joel Steiner who kicked dad Bryce out of the seat for afternoon. Race 2 saw a couple missing and a few others not complete the race but having better fortune was 74r Jared Gray who took what I believe is his first win in the the class. Just the 6 cars came out for the third and final race with 81r Damian Orr leading them home.
The Streetstocks had 3 tidy races with wins for 58r Mike King 858r Shane Bracken cleaning up the second and third races to finish off the season.
Three Quarter Midgets made a welcome return with 9 cars on the grid for race 1 which went went the way of 8a Dylan Cooke. 18a Shaun Cooke won race 2 which took it’s toll on a few though with 84r Dion Halse burying his car in the wall which was closely followed by 21a Dayna Lowry who clipped the wall and rolled. Race 3 was much cleaner with 22r Terence Dorrell clearing out from the rest for the win.
The modern day Stockcars came out for their final hit out with 19r Sam Pearson bullying his way to the front for the race 1 win. Race 2 saw a bit more contact and a win for 27r Douglas Stanaway off the front row grid. Race 3 was also a Stanaway benefit which bought the meeting and season to an end.