Warton 7th March 2010
Firstly I would like to thank Paul Naylor (Mr Starter) for letting me do the starting on the rostrum for three Ministox races. I really enjoyed it!
The Unlimited Banger drivers turned out in some interesting cars to battle it out for Metal Mania 2010. Big hits and action galore, but the man who came out on top to win Metal Mania 2010 was 141 Dan Steel. Well done Dan.
The formulas racing were the Warton Stock Cars, Ministox, Junior Bombers and the Unlimited Bangers.
Overall what a super meeting! Can't wait for the Formula 1's to hit the track on 21st March.
NZ Champs - Kihikihi 27/28 February 2010
The rain delayed NZ Championships finally got underway this weekend with qualifying on Saturday night and the finals run over 3 heats on Sunday night. There were no British drivers in attendance and adoptd Kiwi Kev Smih also failed to appear due to engine damaged.
Congratulations go to Brendan Higgins, last years 3NZ picking up 1NZ for the coming year and keeping the title on the South Island for the second year running. Second was Bevan Humphrey 54P and third was Murray Long 96B.
A full meeting report can be found on the McDonald Kihikihi web site by clicking here
Palmerston North Speedway Channel
Pete from New Zealand has been in touch to tell me about his YouTube site showing NZ Stock Car Racing. There is some great racing footage from the recent Teams meeting at Palmerston North and last weekends NZ Stock Car Championships held at Wanganui which was won by Peter Rees. Take a look by clicking here.
NZ Teams TV Documentary
Click here to see a recent TV3 Documentary aired in NZ covering the NZ Teams Championships at Palmerston North.
Wimbeldon 14th February 2010
I was in London with Mum & Dad for a weekend break last week so decided to give Wimbledon a go.
Even though it was only a domestic meeting featuring Bangers - London Championship, Rookie Rods and 1300cc Saloons it was really good.
The Rookie Rods were a good formula to watch as there was plenty of passing and close racing. The Bangers as usual were manic, cars were all over the place. It was meant to be non contact for the first 3 laps but there was more contact in the first three laps than the other 12. Lastly the 1300cc saloons were quit interesting as there was some really good spin outs on the damp track.
There was a good crowd at the meeting, we sat inside and the atmosphere was imence as there were plenty of ooos and rrrrrrrs when the the bangers raced and lots of shouting for your favorite driver in the other two formulas.
Its not long now until the start on the BriSCA F1 season and after last weekends action I can't wait to get going once again.
NZ Superstocks Teams Finals Night 6th February 2010
Congratulations to the Nelson Tigers for winning the NZ Superstock Team Championships at Palmerston North and bringing to an end 4 consecutive wins by the Palmerston North Panthers.
The British Lions had a fantastic night beating the Waikato Wanderers in the semi to go into the final with Nelson Tigers. The Tigers were favourites to win and in the final were just too strong for the Lions.
To come second is a fantastic achievement in only the second year of entering the competition and is one step higher than their finish in 2009. Who knows what might be in 2011?
The final positions are as follows:
1st Nelson Tigers
2nd British Lions
3rd Manawatu Mustangs
4th Waikato Wanderers
5th Palmerston North Panthers
6th Hawkes Bay Hawkeyes
Congratulations to Tom Harris of the British Lions for winning the Entertainer of the Year Trophy and to Speedbox.tv for fantastic coverage of both nights racing.
A full report of Friday's qualifying can be found here
and a report of the finals night on Saturday can be found here
NZ Superstocks Teams Qualifying 5 February 2010
The British Lions roared to two convincing wins against Auckland and the Mustangs to come out the second highest points scorers (315 points) on the night behind the Nelson Tigers (345 points) at Palmerston North International Speedway, New Zealand on Friday night (Friday morning UK time).
This takes them onto tomorrow's semi final against the Waikato Wanderers. The other semi is Nelson Tigers versus Palmerston Panthers who have been the team champs for the last 4 years.
Come on you Poms - bring the title back to the UK
NZ Superstocks Teams Championship 5th & 6th February 2010
The draw for ENZED Superstock Team Championships have just taken place live on Radio Live Sport and are as follows:
Team 4 Stratford Scrappers vs Team 5 Rotorua Rebels
Team 6 Christchurch Glen Eagles vs Team 2 Nelson Tigers
Team 7 Kings vs Team 8 Mustangs
Team 3 The British Lions vs Team 9 Auckland Allstars
Team 10 Waikato vs Team 1 Palmerston Panthers
Team 11 Hawkeyes vs Team 4 Stratford Scrappers
Team 2 Nelson Tigers vs Team 5 Rebels
Team 6 Chch Eagles vs Team 7 Kihikihi Kings
Team 8 Mustangs vs Team 3 The British Lions
Team 1 Palmerston Panthers vs Team 9 Auckland Allstars
Team 10 Waikato vs Team 11 Hawkeyes
NZ Superstock Championship - 31st January 2010
Due to heavy rain the finald have been postponed until 27th February 2010 at 5.00pm NZ time.
NZ Superstock Championships - 30th January 2010
One of the few championships not to have been won by Frankie Wainman will elude him for another year following his failure to qualify for tomorrow's NZ Champs at Kihikihi on the North Island of New Zealand.
Using a borrowed Dale Ewers car following engine damage the week before at Palmerston North, FWJ failed to finish his first qualifying race due to gearbox problems. Worst luck was to follow in heat 2 when he was put out into the wall on the back straight finishing his racing for the night and any chance of making the 26 car gris for tomorrow's 3 races to decide who takes the coveted NZ1, 2 & 3
The 2 other UK drivers in attendance, Stuart Smith and Dan Johnson did not fair much better and both joined Frankie as spectators as far as the championship is concerned.
For the record Stuart got a 12th in his first race, did not finish the second and did not race the third whilst Dan got a 13th in heat 1, a DNF for heat 2 and 10th in heat 3.
Adopted Kiwi Kev Smith had a good night until the last few laps of heat 3 when his engine expired in a cloud of smoke. The race is now on for him to find a replacement so that he can take his place on Sunday's grid.
A full list of qualifiers for the NZ Championships can be found here
248's Global Challenge
Another rain delayed meeting, this time at Palmerston North but another big meeting win for Scott Joblin (52p). Congratulations to Craig Finnikin for coming home a creditable second. Unfortunately the other British drivers did not fair too well with reports that Frankie Wainman and Tom Harris had engine problems and Stuart Smith failed to start the meeting.
Vets Dinner and Dance
I would like to start off by congratulating Paul and Joan Jenkins on planning and producing a super night.
To start with the food was lovely. After the food we watched the BBC trailers and outtakes. It looked amazing, I can't wait for it to come on the t.v.
Then it was the raffle and we won the first prize, 4 tickets to the BriSCA F1 World Final at Coventry!!!!!!!
It was then time for the dancing which was great fun. I was there until the last dance.
Finally thanks to Joan and Paul, not forgetting the rest of the committee and people who helped organise the night. It was awesome!!!!!!!!
World 240's Meeting Report
Thanks to Lyn and Ian Raisbeck from Christchurch NZ for the following meeting report and for the great photos I've uploaded to my photos page.
Friday night was practice night for the Brits except Dan Johnson who was racing to try and qualify for the 240s. Quite a few of the top drivers did not qualify and had to go in the Reprocharge, including Scotty Miers. Kev Smith and Dan Johnson had a coming together and Dan went right over Kevs bonnet and broke Kev's power steering mount. That was Kev's weekend over. Ngatai's clutch went so he also didn't qualify and couldn't do anything to win his run-off.
Saturday night the heavens opened and down came the rain so racing was cancelled for the night. Phoebe was racing in the mini-stox and did extremely well, we were very impressed, she definitely has the Wainman blood. Ngatai came back on the Sunday and won the Repro-charge. The Brits placings for the 3 heats were as follows:-
55R Frankie Wainman - 2 15 24
559 Finnikin - 4 17 20
212 Daniel Wainman - 24 11 5
8 Mick Harris - 11 24 6
84 Tom Harris - 1 14 26
390 Stu Smith - 12 25 4
Sunday afternoon saw Frankie Wainman Snr driving the tractor around the track, busy preparing the track for the racing.
So first heat we had 3 Brits on the front of the grid. Race started and poor Craig got a hammering and rolled. Wainman didn't have much luck either and after being hit he broke his gear stick and was using his finger to change gears. He came 13th place. The star of the first heat was Tom Harris who was going like a rocket and ended up on top points after 2 heats. With Stan Hickey 1 point behind him. The Master Blaster was not going to let Hickey get anywhere in the 3rd heat. Also Sean Penn 72P and 58P Peter Bengston went all out to stop Tom Harris getting anywhere in the last heat. 85H Jarrod Wade was attacking all drivers especially Penn & Wainman and got excluded from the 3rd heat.
Heat 1 Results 135R, 58P, 4B, 72P, 84GB, 85H, 515R, 1NZ, 390GB, 23H Wainman 13th place
Heat 2 Results 52P, 591P, 2NZ, 10P, 889R, 515R, 84GB, 55R, 4B, 559GB
Heat 3 Results 52P, 23H, 55R, 96R, 135R, 89R, 2NZ, 390GB, 16R, 52R Tom Harris 16th place.
Winner of 240s was Scott Jopling 52P. After run-off for 2nd and 3rd places - 4B Joe Farham, 89R Dale Robertson. 55R Wainman came a close 4th, just 1 point behind, an excellent recovery.
Autosport Show 2010
I would like to start by saying thank you to Dave Carter and Steve Rees for arranging for me to help on the BriSCA F1 stand at the weekend, both Saturday and Sunday. Also a big thank you to the people who looked after me whilst I was working. I really enjoyed handing out the bags and fixture lists.
I also enjoyed the Live Action Arena it was great to see some racing again and some faces that I have not seen since last season. After this weekend I am raring to get back into it.
You can see the pictures from this weekend on my photos page.
The footage of the upcoming "Gears and Tears" programme looks fantastic, I can't wait for the full series.
World 240's - Rotorua NZ - 17 January 2010
A rain delayed day 2 of the World Invitation Superstock Championship finally got underway on Sunday 17th January 2010. Three heats contested by 6 UK and 20 NZ drivers would decide the champion with New Zealand's Scott Joblin racing out of Palmerston North picking up the win with a 19th place in heat 1 and 2 wins in heats 2 & 3. Comimg home second after a race off was Joe Faram and third was Dale Roberstson.
Defending Champion Frankie Wainman Junior came a credibale 4th scoring only 3 points less than champion Joblin. FWJ finished13th in his first race (from grid position 2) followed by an 8th in heat 2 despite some attention from his old sparring partner Jared Wade (85H) and 3rd in heat 3 from the back of the grid.
Wade's tactics in heat 2 saw him excluded from the reminder of the meeting for racing off the infield!
The star of the Show from the UK was Tom Harris who went into heat 3 in second position but this made him a marked man so congratulations for still picking up a fantastic 6th position.
Other UK drivers did not fair as well with Stuart Smith finishing 13th, Craig Finnikin 15th (despite rolling in heat 1), Mick Harris 22nd and Daniel Wainman failing to finish any of his races.
A full report of the meeting and points scored can be found by visiting the Rotorua Stock Car Club web site.
Next port of call is Palmerston North next weekend for the Global Challenge.
BriSCA F1 Fixtures Released
BriSCA's Formula 1 fixture list was launched at the NEC on Thursday 14th January. A copy can be found on the fixtures page. A press release to accompany the launch giving details of championship qualification including the race for the silver roof can be found here.
New Zealand 2010
The New Zealand Superstock season gets into top gear over the next few weeks and first off is the 240 World Invitation Superstock Championships at Rotorua's Paradise Valley Speedway on 15th & 16th January.
Around 70 drivers are scheduled to race including 6 drivers from the UK. Heading the Pom entry is current 240's Champion Frankie Wainman Junior bidding for his 4th title down under. Joining FWJ is Stuart Smith, Tom & Mick Harris, Daniel Wainman and Craig Fininikin.
The UK entries and last year's second tier winner, Peter Rees are seeded into the 26 car grid leaving the remainder to fight over the last 19 positions. Qualifying is on Friday night with the 3 World races scheduled for Saturday night or early Saturday morning in the UK.
For those not lucky enough to attend, the races can be viewed via a live streaming on Speedbox.tv starting at 5.45am on Saturday 16th January UK time.
For further information on the build up to the event visit the Rotorua Stock Car Club web site by clicking here
NEC 2010
Oval racing features once more at Autosport International at the NEC in Birmingham on 16th and 17th January 2010. There is an oval racing show featuring F1 Stock Cars on both days with static displays in the exhibition halls.
I will be working on the BriSCA F1 Stock Car stand so pop by, pick up your fixture lists and say hello.
Further information including the latest press release issued by the BriSCA F1 Management Board can be viewed here