Eastland Group Raceway
Meeting 04, Roseland tavern Stockcar Classic.

Fifteen years in the making and finally Gisborne can lay claim to a winner of the Roseland Tavern Stockcar Classic. Brett Lloyd will long remember the 12th of November 2009 as he becomes the first local to lay his hands on the coveted and most sort after trophy.

Race 1 of the Roseland Tavern Stockcar Classic.

31 cars fronted for this seasons event with the 16 locals joined by 9 cars from Hawkes Bay, 2 from Huntly, 3 from Wanganui and 1 from Wellington.  Defending title holder Tony Palmer (74b) led the Hawkes Bay charge with 2007/08 winner Gerry Linklater (97v) leading the Wanganui challenge. It was Linklater that got out to an early lead in the opening heat from Hawkes Bay contracted local Ricky Kuru (37b). Local big hitter Sam Hughes (18g) was out early after only 1 lap as was Keith Hingston (7b). The big hits were coming from everywhere and the infield started to resemble a wrecking yard with 7 cars parked up within 6 laps. The big talking point of the race came in the 7th lap when Jamie Harding (71g) was taken to wall coming out of turn 4. He came down on his side only to be hit by his cousin Jason Harding (86g) at full noise. Jason had nowhere to go but into the on facing roll cage, destroying the rear of the car, rupturing the fuel tank and pushing the driver’s seat forward and around. It was a sickening blow with Jason’s car coming to rest on top of the 71 car. Fortunately for everyone both Jason and Jamie were able to walk away from the wreck, Jamie a bit battered and bruised but with no major injuries.  Linklater headed for the infield on the restart handing the lead over to Kuru and he held out the chasing pack for the remainder of the race to take the chequered flag from Lloyd, Regan O’Brien (52b), Jason Jones (81g) last season’s runner up Mike McLachlan (84b), Andrew Powell (78b), Toby Pickering (27g), Aaron Iremonger (17b), Alan Levien (46v) and Kent Harper (10g) rounding out the top 10.

Heat two of the Classic had Powell take an early lead but Pickering was hard on his tail with the impressive Tank of Josh Kahui (4v) showing plenty of speed picking his way through the field. Palmer who had found the going tough in the opening heat was also enjoying a better run in this race while Lloyd, Iremonger and Kuru all had to battle their way forward, Lloyd suffering a spin early in the race.  O’Brien and McLachlan rounded out the top 10 while Jason Harding recovered from his first heat crash to come home next followed by Jones keeping him in contention. Going into the final heat Lloyd and Powell both had 59 points just 1 ahead of Kuru who was 1 ahead of Pickering and McLachlan. O’Brien on 54 points, Iremonger (52), Jones (50) and Palmer (48) were all still in the hunt. Ian Barron (88g) showed his intentions in this race by taking to a number of the visiting cars while team mates Bruce Harding (8g), Evan Mooney (7g), Shane Walker (21g) and Shane Malcolm (77g) were doing their bit to help the local cars that were still in contention.

The final heat was another action packed race with the locals working to bring the title home to Gisborne for the first time. Barron set about halting the charge of Keith Hingston early knowing he would be the danger man to any Gisborne cars making the podium, McLachlan was held up on the start and from there went into attack mode with Lloyd his prime target. Kuru’s hopes of the title went up in smoke as his motor expired on lap 3 while both Wellington driver Mark McIntyre and Wanganui driver Alan Levien were attacking anything with a G on its side. Jones took an early race lead with Lloyd in behind, Powell and Pickering at this stage looked like the only other cars that would have a chance at the spoils. O’Brien and Iremonger ran into trouble from Bruce Harding and Mooney doing great block work. Kahui looked like he was going to have another top finish until Barron put paid to that with some great driving. Late in the race Levien had a big shot at Lloyd putting him into the Pit turn wall hard, but Lloyd was able to battle on and avoid one last attempt by McLachlan to halt him. Cleaver driving by Lloyd once again got him out of trouble and he was able to recover enough to follow Jones across the line in second place. Powell who like Lloyd had to avoid all the carnage around him survived numerous attempts to put him out and followed Lloyd home just ahead of Pickering and a very game Jemma Palmer (14b) who was in her first big meeting in this class. The young lady from the Bay able to give as good as she got during the night from the more experienced drivers around her. Once the dust had settled and points tallied Lloyd became the first Gisborne driver to put his name on the trophy, Powell finished runner up just 1 point behind with Pickering picking up a deserved 3rd place, his best ever result in this class. Jones earned enough points with his last race win to move into 4th place overall just ahead of O’Brien.

Great racing over the 3 heats by this class giving the good sized crowd plenty to cheer about during the nights racing. Top cap a good night for Lloyd he also recorded the fastest time of the night in this class with a time of 17.494 which he set in the final heat. Ian Barron was named Stirrer of the night and there was no doubt his blocking and hits were a big reason Gisborne cars finally made the breakthrough win in this event.

A full support programme of Ministocks, Streetstocks, Production Saloons, Sidecars, Saloons and Solos provided top entertainment with Sidecar Pair Deane and Rob Miller (9g) a standout in their class with 3 wins from 3. Ryan Bailey/Albie Cookson (69g) also went well with a couple of 2nd placings while the current 2nz pairing of Russell Stuart / Andrew Parker and the Stu Priest / Mike Bond (59g) pairs also featured in the placings.

David Moorcroft (8g) continued on his winning way in the Saloon class with two wins the other going to Napier driver Troy Devery (23b). Roger Corrin (24g) in his debut in this class got better with each race and picked up his first placing in this class with a very good 3rd in the feature race. Expect more from Roger over coming meetings as he comes to grips with his new car.

A huge field of over 30 Ministocks produced some great racing with three different winners on the night. The very impressive Alice Bayley (96b) won the opening race and also picked up 2nd in the next race, William McClune (61g) was a deserved winner of the 2nd race after holding out the fast finishing Bayley and Andrew Patterson (12g) who showed he has got more than just a little of his father’s driving talents. Napier driver Quinn Ryan (46b) drove a superb final race to take out the feature race from Daniel Corrin (24g) and Jarrod Allen (19g)  and he also recorded the fastest lap of the night in the opening heat of 18.177 when he followed home Bayley and Ben McArthur (71g). Once again this class really impressed with three very fast clean races with only metres separating the cars on the finish line in all three races.

Production Saloon driver Jed Miller (85g) was the standout in this class with two very good wins.  Miller has a new car this season and has come to grips with it very quickly and is now starting to produce some consistent drives. Crystal Gooch (10g) and Lloyd Stuart (34g) followed him home in the opening race while it was Fraser Wright (44g) and Mike Hall (88g) who had to settle for 2nd and 3rd behind him in the Feature race. Mike Hall took out the other race in this class from his brother Wayne (99g) and Wright. Wright in only his second meeting in the x Daniel Cook car has already shown he will be a real threat in the upcoming Production Saloon Championship to be held at the Clubs next meeting on December 28th. Fastest lap of the night in this class went to Wayne Hall in the second round of races with a time of 17.173.

A very good field of 16 Streetstocks turned on three very entertaining races with 6 visiting Hawkes Bay cars joining the 10 locals. Regular visitor Wayne Melling (27b) took out the opening race from Ben Donaldson (4g) and Brendon Gooch (3nz) while Donaldson withstood plenty of attention in the second race to record the win from Gooch and Frank Hartley (71g). Hartley won the final race from Gooch and Donaldson, the hard driving taking its toll on the fields with only 7 cars finishing the final race. Cody Gooch (6g), Travis Gooch (7g), Dave Hampton (88b), James Churchwood (7b), Darren Melling (72b), Daniel Melling (24b) and Dave Brand (65b) all drove well and helped provide plenty of action throughout the night.

Another top night of Speedway Entertainment at the Gisborne Speedway club with the club now taking a break over the Christmas period, its next meeting will be held on the 28th Dec .

Richard Jones

Preview Meeting #4,
The Roseland Tavern Stockcar Classic.

09/12/09
Richard Jones.

This Weekend  we have what is fast becoming one of the must see meetings of the season with the running of the Roseland Tavern Stockcar Classic. With over 30 cars set to take to the track over 3 heats of what I am sure will be action packed racing.

The field includes some of the countries top drivers with Hawkes Bay’s Tony Palmer (74b) returning to defend the title he won last season. Tony has won this event twice and has both the driving talent and the machinery to win back to back titles. Standing in his way will be a number of drivers who have also done well in this event including former 1nz and 2007/08 Classic winner Gerry Linklater (98v) from Wanganui. Linklater is one of the most popular drivers in the country in this class and forms part of a very strong contingent of cars coming from the Ocean View Speedway which includes the hard hitting Malcolm Barron (8v) and Alan Levien (46v).  Palmer will also have plenty of back up from his club mates including his daughter Jemma (14b) who last season was driving in the Ministock class. Jemma will be driving the car that Tony won his title with last season. Also forming part of the 8 strong Meanee attack will be last seasons runner up Mike McLachlan (84b) who lost out to Palmer in a run off for the title, Marty Cooke (86b), Aaron Iremonger (17b), Regan O’Brien (52b), Andrew Powell (78b) and Ricky Kuru (37b) who are all part of the strong Bay challenge. Neville Hazelton (55h) from the Huntly track is a regular visitor for this event as is Rotorua drivers Jason Brown (109r) and Chris Brown (291r). Mark McIntyre (64w) makes the long haul up from Wellington for this meeting and will be looking to take the title back to the Te Marua track for the first time while Palmerston North contracted local Brett Lloyd (92p) must rate a big chance having already picked up a number of wins this season.

 The local drivers will have their work cut out to bring the title home for the first ever time in the events history but the club now has a number of drivers who have the machinery capable of winning this event. Jason Jones (81g), Sam Hughes (18g), Lance Sutherland (79g), Toby Pickering (27g), Jason Harding (86g) and Ian Barron (88b) all have cars that can foot it with the best in the country and represent the clubs best chance, but they will require the help of all their club mates if 1 of them is to be successful in bringing home the spoils.

Once again we have to thank Andy Martin from the Roseland Tavern for sponsoring this event and also for his continued support of the driver of the night prizes that are given away each race night in the clubrooms. The Roseland Tavern has been the main sponsor of this event for a number of years now and their continued support is greatly appreciated by the Gisborne Speedway Club.

This is the final meeting before Christmas and the club would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone involved in the club a very merry Christmas and we look forward to seeing you all back here on the 28th Dec for our next meeting.

Sit back and enjoy what is sure to be a great night of Speedway entertainment.
Richard Jones.