By Daniel Neville

Finals nights of the TWS World Invitation Superstock Championship took place on Saturday night at Paradise Valley Speedway under hot sunny skies. Quite contrary to that was the untimely dumping of rain that happened just after heat 2 which saw a delay of over an hour to get the track back to race condition. The programme was jam packed with the main event, the tier 2 Superstocks in Paradise and the tier 3 competition. As if that wasn’t enough there were the final heats for the Sharky’s Engineering Aotearoa Ladies Stockcar Crown and two Stockcar teams races (only 1 of which was held) between he Rotorua Rascals and the Palmerston North Pumas.

There was one small matter of business to do first thought and that was the last chance repercharge to find the 27^th car to go into the finals field and with on the grid and only one progressing, it was bound to be an epic race. 166a Hayden Hart was on pole alongside 272m Seth McConchie for 12 laps of mayhem. Hart got the lead first and survived some late attention from 38v Zane Dykstra who was blocking for 56v Trent James, to get the win and join the others in the big dance.

The traditional park up on the pit strait and driver interviews is always a great moment and the call of “Gentleman, start your engines” before slow pace and gridding up for heat one of three for the championship.

On the from row were 99m Todd Hemingway and 46b Quinn Ryan and Hemingway led it from go to woe in a fast and mostly clean race. Ryan followed Hemingway home with 127g Ethan Rees third. Great results too for 99b Jacob Buckrell and 95n Alex Hill finishing 4^th and 6^th respectively and fastest lap recorder 1nz Asher Rees in 7^th place. Englishman Frankie Wainman Jnr did well too home in 8^th with 10g Peter Rees on his bumper. Heat 2 saw all the cars back and a massive pile up in turn 1 with everyone coming out okay. 5w Keegan Levien came out of the carnage first and controlled it to take the win. Frankie Wainman Jnr drove a great race going from grid 24 to 3^rd with 581p Jordan Dare making good ground to finish second.

Heading into the last heat the leader 127g Ethan Rees led on points from 515gb Wainman Jnr with 10g Peter Rees 46b Ryan and 5w Levien the next best three. Heat 3 rolled out the pit gate at 11pm after the rain delay and it was all on for young and old as the championship was decided. 88p Miers pulled off early then Wainman Jnr had big shots at 5g Prentice 87g Brodie James but the 515gb then got a puncture which slowed his progress. Down the other end of the track 1gb Charlie Sworder survived a huge wall ride followed by a big one in turn 3 that saw heat 1 winner Hemingway jammed up the wall. After the stoppage 10g Peter Rees led and soon after another red was on to get 971c Jayden Ward who was put up the concrete by Sworder. It was quiet for a few laps until Asher Rees teamed up with Wainman Jnr to park Sworder up the tun 2 wall with a big roar from the crowd ensuing. Just 13 cars remained for the last few laps and Peter Rees getting the win.

Overall it was close with points leader 127g Ethan Rees winning the World 240’s by a single point from his dad Peter with Wainman battling hard and earning the third podium spot.

TWS World 240s Final Points

The tier 3 competition only managed 1 heat and race 1 was a busy one and the win going to local driver 5r Logan Nicholson Mabey getting the win first up.

Onsite Auto Electrical Tier Three Points

The tier 2 Superstocks in Paradise was fiercely contested. Heat 1 saw 87b Thomas Stanaway sprint away for the win on a slick looking track. Heat 2 turned out to be the last one for this group due to the rain causing some programme reshuffling and it provided some entertainment too when 38v Zane Dykstra slid 16b Brett Loveridge up the wall and over just past the start finish line. The rest of the race went well with 66a Randal Tarrant taking the race win. Overall it was 56v Trent James who was best across the 2 races and gains automatic entry to the finals for the 2024 World 240’s event. Stanaway was 2 points adrift in second with 57v Dylan Marshall beating 76b Ben Milne in a run off for third.

Hubbard Contracting Ltd Superstocks in Paradise Points

Heat 4 the Aotearoa Ladies Stockcar Crown saw 4w Lexi Hendrixe on pole and after bumper crunching race the flag carrier had a familiar look about r her with 14b Jemma Holloway coming through for the win and extending her points lead. Heat 5 saw things get a little rough with 454k Jessie Henderson dealing to a few and 15a Alicia Gordon copping a huge hit from 915r Samantha Lane. At the end it was 28r Alex Jones who cruised home to win from pole position. The sixth and final heat was pretty full on with 17a Kristin Vermeulen coming through for the win but Holloway was clever enough to avoid the contact to successfully defend her title.

Sharky's Engineering Ltd Aotearoa Ladies Crown Points

Only 1 of the 2 scheduled Stockcar teams races between the Rascals and Pumas was run but it delivered on the action with the Palmerston North comprehensively pulling apart the local lads. The Pumas led early thru 79p Kyle Rowe and his team mates made sure he wasn’t touched all the way to the win with 135r Jayden Jarvis the only Rascals finisher in 4^th place.

The next meeting at TWS Paradise Valley Speedway is a little more subdued being the Hawker Trucks club meeting on Friday January 27^th featuring Stockcars, TQ’s, Production Saloons, Six Shooters, Saloons and Ministocks with racing from 7pm.

Media Results
Lap Data
Fastest Lap

Meeting Photos - www.sportsweb.co.nz