By Daniel Neville

Another big night of Stockcar teams racing took place at TWS Paradise Valley Speedway with the finals of the Makita New Zealand Stockcar Teams Championship after a hectic night of qualifying. 

The top 8 teams from the first night would go into battle for the over championship win. They were the defending champions the Rotorua Rascals, Whanganui Vulcans, Statford Stormers, Waikato Raiders, Kihikhi Kings, Palmerston North Pumas, Canterbury Crushers and the Wellington Young Guns. 

The first quarter final was the Vulcans taking on the Raiders. A huge battle erupted with 26v Kaelin Mooney leading early but was stopped mid race by 17h Dave Moore with 361h Clinton Cheetham also doing damage to 99v Cody Lockett and 82v Dennis Black. 13h Jamie Symons put in some great block work too. As the laps ticked by 45h Matthew Shaw had the lead and drove on to the win with no Vulcan cars mobile as he grabbed the flag, propelling the Raiders to the semi finals.

The Crushers were next out against the Stormers. The Crushers had the lead early through 74c Tyler Houghton but it was short lived with 55s Caleb Coxhead and 28s Philip Garagan doing brilliant block job to protect 33s Tyler Walker all the way to the win and a place in the semi final.

The Young Guns faced the Pumas next with an epic fight for the next semi final spot. 172p Daniel Burmeister was smashed on the first corner by 21w Tim Parker who retired soon after with a blown radiator. It was 669p Brendan Tye who led but was blocked by 7w Harrison Hocking. There was damage in all directions especially to the Young Guns with 62w Darren Gray and Hocking both out of the contest leaving race leader 10w Benjamin Ellis mobile for their team. The former NZ champ had to negotiate 4 Pumas cars for the remaining laps and did it brilliantly, bouncing off the wall and his opponents to get the win and book the Wellington squad a place in the semi finals.

The last quarter final was the Rascals against the Kings for the last semi final position. The Kings led early with 92k Karl Garnett leading until he lost a wheel. It was 735r Keegan Orr who now led until 46k Josh Humble slowed him and 513r Callum Flavell took over. 96r Courtney Young along with 5r Dion Henderson did a superb job looking after Flavell with Orr also sacrificing his car to get his leader across the line first and the Rascals into the semi finals. 

Semi final 1 was between the Stormers against the Raiders which was an absolute smash fest. 992s Taylor Lampp and 99h William Whyte had spells in the lead but when 84s Haydin Barker got to the front it was hard to stop him with his Stormer team mates of Walker and Coxhead doing the work. Cheetham and 16h James Marshall tried to stop Barker but couldn’t with the Stormers off to the final.

The second semi final was the Rascals up against the Young Guns for the other final position. Another brutal encounter with Henderson leading from the get go as the rest beat each other up. Orr did another amazing block job with Young and Flavell all chiming in. Hocking and Ellis tied to stop Henderson but couldn’t with 21w Tim Parker putting a big shot on Henderson on the last lap but the 5r bounced off the wall and drove on to the flag and the place in the final.

The 7th and 8th race was between the Crushers and the Kings and it delivered with the Crushers dominating with 521c Michael Arras driving an intelligent race for the win with McPherson putting in some superb block work as 88c Troy Cleveland shadowed Arras home. The Kihikihi cars copped damage early but battled on with 7k Hamish Whyte the best on track for the Kings as Crushers took 7th place.

The 5th and 6th battle was doozy between the Vulcans and the Pumas. Unfortunately the Vulcans could only manage 3 cars to take on 4 Pumas. Rowe got the lead first and was untroubled on his way to the win. Black in the smokey tank got put to the sword while Mooney spent the race hitting and running and eventually come home second. Mcleod and Hall looked after Rowe as the Pumas finished fifth overall.

The 3rd and 4th battle was the Young Guns vs the Raiders. It was short lived challenge from the Young Guns with Hocking and Gray off early and Ellis dealt a crushing blow by Shaw which stopped the 10w dead. Sam Parker battled on bravely against the 4 Raiders but to no avail as Whyte took the win and 3rd place for the Raiders.

There was much anticipation for the final between the defending champion Rascals against the Stormers. From the green flag Orr hit the front for the Rascals with Lampp going for the big shot on the leader but only succeeded in damaging his own car. From then on the Flavell, Henderson and Young set about protecting their front runner and did so with much success with Walker, Gargan and Barker all having their hands full dealing with the Rascals onslaught. Lampp copped more damaged as did the rest of the Stratford cars. Orr as challenged a few times on his way to the win but kept a cool head under pressure, getting the win and back to back titles for the Rascals team.

There was a lot of post race celebrations with nose to the wall burn outs, driver standing on the roofs of their cars fist pumping and Henderson climbing the fence as the local crowd cheered on their champions. The Rotorua Stockcar Club can now start plans to defend the championship once again at TWS Paradise Valley Speedway in 2026 where the Rascals will be hungry for the 3 peat.

The all in tier 2 championship was contested between the Central Coyotes, Meeanee Maulers, Baypark Bulldogs, Gisborne Gladiators and Auckland Alleycats and it was an awesome concept with 5 teams on track all at once. It was a busy heat 1 with 77t Kurtis Tinetti on the grass early after breaking his suspension and few others not finishing either. It was a 1-2 finish for the Gladiators with 96g Brad McGhee winning from 48g Josh Mulcahy with 33t Trazarn Ryland-Annabell third. Heat 2 was absolute mayhem with 16t Casey Mckewan riding high over the front of a couple of car and 655t Steven Thompson served up by 94a Sam Wright. It was 13g Lucas Hey who took the win from 8a Logan Peat. Heat 3 saw a depleted field but it didn’t stop the action with 99t Adan Naber rolling over after entering into multi car collision just out of turn 4. Peat in the 8a took the win from 86b Brad Singer. Overall in then tier 2 it was Peat in the top spot from Singer with Lonergan third.

TWS Tier 2  Team Consolation Points
 
The Stockcar consolation race wins went to 91r Tony Coxhead, 1nz Caleb Ireland and 192r Josh Fraser.

The Toolshed Consolation Championship Points

The next meeting at TWS Paradise Valley Speedway is on March 14th and will be the Totalspan Rotorua and Taupo Club Night featuring Superstocks, Stockcars, Ministocks, Streetstocks, Production Saloons and Six Shooters with racing underway from 7pm.

The Makita Tools Raffle was drawn on Saturday Night Just before the final, Winning ticket was #152 Stan Hickey.

All Tickets were purchased online were Issued tickets before the draw.

Meeting Results

Photos On: www.speedwaynz.com