By Daniel Neville

Friday December 1st saw the second club meeting of the season at TWS Paradise Valley Speedway. The Brandt Tractors sponsored meeting took place on a nice, warmer than the previous meeting evening, in the valley and featured Stockcars, Production Saloons, Six Shooters, Ministocks and for the first time ever F2 Midgets made an appearance to sling some dirt. 

The eight car Production Saloon field started things off on a slightly greasy track which made the first half of the race a challenge. It was even more of a challenge for 27r James Cunningham with his Honda sounding sick and eventually expiring in a cloud of smoke. A couple more cars dropped out with a popular win going to 63r Peter Cradock. Heat 2 saw just 6 starters and another win for Cradock with the 63r holding off a hard charging 48r Dave Pilkington to make it 2 from 2. Race 3  saw Cradock off the back with some work to do if he wanted the clean sweep and he made a good go of it but was third overall as Pilkington claimed the race victory with 95r Craig Jones splitting the pair in second to end the night for the class. 

Production Saloon Points

The Ministock orange senior group lined up next with a 18 starters and after 10 tidy laps it was the very colourful 152r of Campbell Hayes who took the win. Hayes was kept honest all race though by 23r Flynn Ashton with third place 88r Cohen Wright also in the mix with the fastest lap of the race. Race 2 saw Wright go 2 places better than earlier with win followed by 189r Jayden James with the 2 Crawfords next Jimmy in 972r and George in 971r third and fourth respectively. Race 3 saw the performance of the night as Wright drove from the rear of the grid to take the lead by lap 5 and the win at the end ahead of George Crawford with Flynn Ashton back in top 3 in third.

Ministock Best Pairs Points

The Ministock yellow junior group were on track next and from the start of race 1 it was 57r Ryan Millar-Frost who darted away and held off all others for a great win. Race 2 saw 47r Dylan Heard grab the flag from 13r Benjamin Ramage with 61r Kellie Yorke earning herself a fine third place. The third and final race for this group was eventful for race 2 winner Dylan Heard who came in contact with the wall and failed to finish while Kellie Yorke in 61r and 92r  Kelly-Anne Pinder had a coming together but both recovered well. At the end 41r Blake Hose took the win from 51r Kase Lochhead with Ryan Millar-Frost backing up his race 1 win getting third this time.

The F2 Midgets were a welcome addition to the programme. They raced in respective groups with points counting towards grids for the feature race at the end of the night. Heat 1 went to 69a Corbin Anderson who slid past early leader 47a Brynn Jackson and then pulled away from the rest with Jackson holding onto second from 96m Tylar Browne. Heat 2 saw the 8 car field reduced to 6 with 78m CJ Wilson pulling off and 82m Madison Jones not starting leavimg 22m James Earl to get the win with Jackson second again from 17A Bruce James. Heat 3 was a straight out dash for the flag with Browne, Earl and Anderson filling the top 3 spots. The 20 lap feature had Anderson on pole alongside Earl with Anderson getting the lead and Earl the chaser in second. A yellow light stoppage closed the field up mid race and the battle continued with a 2 wide restart. Anderson read it well getting the jump asserting his dominance putting some distance between him and second with the win coming 5 laps later and a victory lap to boot. Earl had ti settle for second with Browne driving well for third. It was a great showing by the F2 Midgets and their debut in the valley and hopefully they can return for another go sometime soon.

F2 Midget Points

Another round of Six Shooter races was out the gate next with race 1 taken out by 71m Josh McClymont who in the process set a new lap record of 15.510 which was previously held by second place getter 79r Billy Griffiths. Race 2 saw an epic battle erupt between race 1 winner McClymont and 7m Roydon White for the lead but it came unstuck for McClymont as he nudged the back of his opponent and lost a place eventually finishing third with Griffiths second as White claimed the win. Race 3 closed out the night for Six Shooters and a win for Grffiths to cap off a great night behind the wheel with McClymont second and 87a Paul Smith third.

Six Shooter Points

A full field of Stockcars were next for their first of 3 races with a couple of Auckland drivers 94a Sam Wright and 82a Azaria Simpson making the trip down to mix it with the locals. Also there was 52p Alex Maule who hung around after completing in last weekend’ triples event as well as Kihikihi regular 5k Dion Henderson. Race 1 was won by 144r Steven Pattle who run down initial leader 92r Karl Garnett who eventually come home third with 94a Wright slotting into second place. Race 2 was foot to the floor with Wright getting the win from Garnett and Pattle third to make it the same top 3 as race 1 but in a different order. Henderson was heading for a good finish but 45r Sean Wepa showed the 5k the wall confining him to sixth when the checkered flag fell. Come race 3 there were some gaps on the grid. Not a lot of contact in this one with Maule picking up the win from 189r Milla Theobald with the fastest lap winner of that race Henderson third to close out the contact class for the night. 

The next meeting at TWS Paradise Valley Speedway is the third attempt at the Valvoline Charity Superstock Invitational meeting on December 15th and 16th and it will feature drivers from other forms of motorsport having a crack at Superstock racing as well as a selection of the best drivers from across the country. Also on the programme will be Stockcars joined by Ministocks on the second night. All proceeds from this meeting will be donated to Starship Hospital and Ronald McDonald House. The night will end with the Rotorua Trust Fireworks display. Racing starts at 7pm on the Friday with an earlier start time of 6pm on the Saturday.

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