By Daniel Neville

Friday March the 8th saw TWS Paradise Valley Speedway run their final club meeting for the 2024/24 season under brilliant sunny skies which was a nice from the cooler weather that happened earlier in the week. The meeting was sponsored by LD McKenzie Transport Ltd and featured just the five classes on the programme for the night with 2 divisions of Ministocks joined by Six Shooters, Stockcars, Superstocks and Streetstocks. 

There was much excitement in the Stockcar class too with the Rotorua Rascals team all smiles after returning from Auckland’s Waikaraka Park Speedway last weekend with a nice piece of silverware. Of course I’m talking about the New Zealand Stockcar Teams Champs trophy which they secured after sweeping all before them in the qualifying rounds then won their semifinal before beating a strong Whanganui Vulcans squad in the final to take the title and also earn the right to host the event at TWS Paradise Valley Speedway next season. 

It was also very nice to see a good amount of Stockcar drivers sporting yellow wheel guards with the number 89r painted in the middle for their memorial meeting with multiple others wearing yellow ribbons on their cars. This was in honour of  the late Ray Channing who sadly passed away 12 years ago after an on track accident at Huntly Speedway.

The night opened with Ministocks Orange group who are the more experienced drivers and after a tight battle with 189r Jayden James it was 98r Reeve Transom who took the win with James second from 15r Ben Cooper. Race 2 went well for 64r Riley Mckeown until about mid race when his car met the wall and it was all over for him being towed off. This handed 972r Jimmy Crawford the lead and the win from Bay Park visitor 18m Robert Sidwell. Race 3 saw another win for Crawford with 98h Josh Hancock doing well for second. 

Then it was the Ministock Yellow group out on track who are the lesser experienced ones who are gaining confidence with every race. The race 1 win went to 114r Anna Robinson who went to the front mid race and held the rest off to claim the flag. Race 2 was another female benefit with 92r Kelly-Anne Pinder getting the win in her Crash Bandicoot livery car. Race 3 saw the boys bite back after the girls had dominated earlier with 47r Dylan Heard getting the flag to close out the Ministock racing for the night. 

As mentioned above, the Stockcars were competing in their memorial meeting with a great field of cars. Heat 1 saw an exceptional drive by 189r Milla Theobald who came from mid pack to get the win from 735r Keegan Orr with 92r Karl Garnett going well for third. It was a race to forget for veteran 68r Keith Spanhake who needed medical assistance following a hefty shunt into the wall. Heat 2 had a familiar look about it with Theobald leading early on but this time but sadly she couldn’t go the distance, getting pushed wide into the wall while passing and unable to refire the 189r. From the restart 144r Steven Pattle led and got the win with Orr second again from 98r Jonny Morley. Heat 3 was a crash and bash affair and a very close finish with Pattle the winner from 96r Jeff Munro with Morley again third with a heat to go. Heat 4 saw an abundance of gaps on the starting grid which made things interesting. Orr jumped from grid 16 to second place fairly quickly and hung in there until the end to earn first place overall. Munro’s chances of a podium slipped away as he went off with 2 flat front tyres as 91r Tony Coxhead took the race win with Orr completing his string of second placings and securing first overall with Pattle second just 2 points behind with Morley a further 3 back in third overall.

Stockcar Memorial Points

The open wheel Six Shooters came out with 8 cars on the grid to begin their memorial night. The heat 1 win went to the ever present 17r of Luke Westbury  from 28a Laurie Peterson with 5m Luke McClymont third. Heat 2 saw an all McClymont front row with 5m Luke and 71m Josh leading them off the start. At the end though there was only one who could take it out with Luke gapping it to win by half a lap and set a new lap record in the process. Josh could only make second place with 87a Paul Smith third. Heat 3 saw Peterson get the win from Smith and with Luke McClymont getting third it was enough for him to win the memorial night win overall from Peterson with Josh McClymont and Smith running off for third and Smith slipping past McClymont on the final corner to take the last podium spot.

BOP Six Shooter Points

The Streetstocks had 11 cars for their 3 races on the night. From the start 858r Shane Bracken got off to a flyer and never let up going all the way for a great win. There were some awesome battles further back notably between 11a Corey TeRito and 12r Daniel Curran along with 67r Blake Castleton. Race 2 saw another win for Bracken who edged past Blake Castleton as TeRito was at again with Curran in another entertaining race. Race 3 saw the fun continue with TeRito immediately taken to the grass with TeRito recovering putting in some blocks of his own. They all left each other alone after that with Curran getting the last Streetstock win of the night. 

The final class was Superstocks with another brilliant field and a notable entry was 19m Kerry Remnant who is now behind the wheel of the ex 52w Paul Fairbrother Silver Bullet II. Remnant went well on the night finishing inside the top 10 in each outing. Race 1 saw 93r Gary Hunter get a good start with 335r Ken Hunter close behind and getting past mid race for the win with Gary good for second from 81r Damian Orr. Race 2 was a full on and fast with 77m Luke Alderdice winning after running down early leader 10r Alan McRobbie who eventually finished third with Dale Stewart driving the 16r tri rail splitting the pair in second. The third and final race saw a big moment for race 2 winner Alderdice as he rode high over the side of 193r Dan Hunter but come down on all fours and was able to continue. A fight for the lead erupted with Stewart and Ken Hunter swapping positions a number of times with Hunter in front when it mattered most getting the win from Stewart with Damian Orr making a late charge for third.
 
The next meeting at TWS Paradise Valley Speedway is on March 22nd and 23rd and the the last major meeting of the season, the Hamilton Asphalts North Island Superstock Championship and with 90 plus cars on the entry list, it’ll be a doozy. Racing will start at 6pm on the Friday and 5:30pm on finals night.

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