By Daniel Neville

The first Friday club meeting for the season at TWS Paradise Valley Speedway took place on November 10th under sunny skies, much better than last week’s attempt! The meeting was sponsored by S J Hampton Engineering and there were 6 classes on show for the fans to enjoy. Two groups of Youth Ministocks, TQ Midgets, Six Shooters, Production Saloons, Stockcars and Superstocks made up the programme with some great races from each class.

The orange group for Youth Ministocks was first out and the red lights were on almost immediately on lap one of race one when 81r Sophie Orr-Franklyn took a heavy shunt after being left stranded following a tangle. A good battle at the front saw 971r George Crawford and 98r Reeve Transom close the whole way with Transom getting to the flag first. Race 2 was over very quickly with 23r Flynn Ashton the winner from the visiting drivers of 98h Jake Hancock and 74p Kase Williams making up the top three. Race 3 had a dramatic start with 66b Cullen Smith getting crossed up and rolled spectacularly by the following pack with 64r Riley McKeown also getting some air time but landing safely. It was a bit tidier after that incident with George Crawford running down the 93r of Blake Fraser for the win. 

The yellow Youth Ministock group was next and after a tidy race one it was 57r Ryan Miller-Frost who took the win. Race 2 was won by 41r Blake Hose with 92r Kelly Anne Pinder getting awarded the win in race 3 after the first 2 across the line were disqualified for excessive contact. 

Six of the best TQ Midgets came out for a squirt on the dirt and race on was well controlled by current 3nz Terence Dorrell who sprinted away from the from row and won by a good margin and set a new lap record at the samw time. Second was 15a Ryan Parker with 17g Dylan McGregor third. Race 2 had a familiar look about it with Dorrell, Parkerand McGregor filling the top 3 and Dorrell breaking his own lap record from the previous race which now stands at 14.708 seconds. Race 3 saw Dorrell off the back and carved his way through the field but was unlucky to touch wheels and spin so had to start off the back again. Just as that happened 89g Steven Jackson also made contact while passing but went for a tumble and was out of the race. The second restart saw McGregor pull to the infield with Dorrell inheriting the lead briefly until Parker slipped by and took the win denying Dorrell the hat trick for the night.
 

It was into the contact classes next with Stockcars lining up and 27 starters for race one. A superb drive from 735r Keegan Orr who drove through lap traffic for numerous laps to get the win. Another 2 who drove just as well were 144r Steven Pattle and 5k Dion Henderson who both came from near the back of the grid to finish third and fourth respectively. Race 2 was on from the start with a number of spin ups and crashes in the opening laps. Another good drive by Henderson who battled well with second place 98r Jonny Morely with race one winner Keegan Orr home third. Race 3 was more of a drag race with the deceptively quick 5k of Henderson winning again from Keegan Orr who also had a great night behind the wheel of 735r with 86b Brad Singer home third.

The Production Saloons made their first appearance for the season with 8 cars in attendance. You could pretty much throw a blanket over most of the field in race one with 48h Dave Pilkington ahead when in mattered most getting the win from 6h Vaughan Gliddon with 95r Craig Jone home third. Race 2 saw an all the way win for Jones who was quarter of a lap ahead of 63r Peter Cradock at the finish. Race 3 saw Cradock repeat the dose taking again with Gliddon second again.
 

The exciting rumble of Superstocks was next with a good amount of visiting drivers making it a 21 car field. Race one saw 81r Damian Orr sprint away before resorting to a blocking role and having some fun. Out front 10r Alan McRobbie led the charge but came to grief hitting a stopped car with 14r AJ Axtens taking over at the front and went on to win from 335r Ken Hunter. Race 2 saw early leader 98b Quintin Butcher cop a big punt in the wall from 7h Thomas Slater with 68r Jeremy Fleming also getting up close and personal with the concrete. There were a few more clashes including Butcher paying Slater back as Ken Hunter went one better than race one taking the win from Damian Orr with 96m Dylan Towler third. Race 3 produced more action with 33h Joel Nicolson-Mabey and Axtens exchanging hits and many others retiring to the grass as Damian Orr won from 58r Mike King with 7r Michael Rumney in third.

The Six Shooters also came out for their first tastes of the dirt this season. Ironically there were 6 cars and after 10 laps 87r Paul Smith took the win from 28a Laurie Peterson. Race 2 was a Westbury benefit with 17r Luke Westbury winning from 71r Boyd Westbury. The third race and final on the night saw roles swapped with Boyd Westbury winning from Luke Westbury. 

The next meeting at TWS Paradise Valley Speedway is on November 25th and it’s triples all around featuring the Hawker Trucks Superstock Triples, the McRobbie Contracting Stockcar Triples and the Driftkartz Streetstock Triples taking top billing with racing from 7pm.

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