MINISTOCKS IN PARADISE FINALS COMPLETED AND NEW CHAMPIONS CROWNED
By Daniel Neville
After a busy qualifying night on Friday at TWS Paradise Valley Speedway where 164 Ministock entries were whittled down to just 52, the finals of the 2022/23 Driftkartz Ministocks In Paradise on Saturday evening/night. The top 26 seniors and juniors raced in their respective division with the rest into the next tier competitions. The night will be remembered for some fast and competitive racing and also a lot of steel bending carnage as a lot of crashes made for a long meeting and kept the infield rescue team on their toes as well as the pit crews who were there to fix the damage.
The main event as mentioned above was sponsored by Driftkartz and it was the top 26 seniors lining up for the Tubby Norris Memorial and three ten laps races and accumulated points becoming the overall winner. Heat 1 saw local favorite 88r Cohen Wright get shoved into the wall in turn 2 and was unable to restart. The 42b of Seth Ireland suffered a similar fate but 98b Deegan Butcher had no such troubles taking the win from pole sitter 116a Zac Ingram.
Heat 2 saw all 26 cars back on track and into the action and it didn’t take long to start with 42b Ireland again in the wall along with 81n Callum Russ who both saw the race out from the infield. Things went smoothly from then on with 46s Regan Ogle taking the win and setting things up for a great third and final heat with 98b Butcher leading on points from 21b Tom Steel with 93r Flynn Fraser running third.
Heat 3 was a surprisingly tidy 10 laps with 47r Kam Castleton taking the win. Overall though it was 98b Butcher who was crowned the winner from 21b Steel with 7w Davis rounding out the podium in third.
The Stitch n Print tier 2 for the seniors was next for those that just missed out the previous night. Heat 1 was a cracker with 971r George Crawford tracking down and passing leader 227s Cory Symes to take the win and maximum points. Heat 2 was closely contested with several lead changes throughout but it was 89w Ella Robertson who was ahead at the end grabbing her first flag of the weekend. The third and final heat for this tier was won by 68s Bronson Pierce but overall it was 59g Coby Gooch who took the top spot from 24p Ashton Dorn with 98v Ethan Linklater completing the top three.
Stitch n Print 2nd Tier Points
The Sportsweb Photography tier 3 for seniors was on track next with a multitude of crashes happening before 22p Riki-Lee Kauri took the win. Heat 2 saw things go bad for heat 1 winner 22p Kauri who was spun and collected the wall heavily. Late in the race there was another collision involving 28w CJ Grahan Brown and 26c Oliver McCartney with both cars in the wall hard. Out front thought the 38n of Deegan Broker kept it clean for the race win. Heat 3 was much like heat 2 with more crashes and hits into the wall. The win was collected by 54p Jayden Williams and overall 71G Logan Bruce stood on the top step with 25S Toby Dymond runner up & 72S lukah Phillips completed the podium.
Sportsweb Photography 3rd Tier Points
The Wholesale Tyres Ministocks In Paradise for the junior qualifiers had 3 heats for their championship. Heat 1 on a slicker than average track went to the 972r of Jimmy Crawford. Heat 2 was a little more damaging for some with another series of accidents littering the infield with cars. After a long delay on the red lights it was 98k of Caleb Smith who took the win. Heading into the third and final heat it was 98k Smith leading from 972r Crawford with 52p Joblin a few points adrift in third. The heat 3 win went to Joblin in 52p and overall 98k Smith took the championship from 52p Joblin with 972r Crawford completing the podium in third.
Wholesale Tyres MIP Junior Top 26 Points
The next meeting at TWS Paradise Valley Speedway is on February 24th and will be the second club night of the season featuring the Morrow Builders Six Shooters also racing will be Ministocks, Streetstocks, Production Saloons and Stockcars with action underway from 7pm.
MIP Overall Prize Recipients
Meeting Photos - www.sportsweb.co.nz