Track: Palmerston North
Date: 17 March 2007
Event: Manawatu Saloon & Sidecar Champs
Pictures & reporting by Mike Pollard 

Palmerston North - 17 March 2007
Manawatu Saloon & Sidecar Champs
Pictures  and reporting by Mike Pollard

It was a toss up between Palmerston and Stratford, but the glorious weather of the past month or so finally broke with Stratford being rained out early.
It was under a dark sky, and with some trepidation that I set off for Palmy, especially as nearly all the cars coming from that direction had their headlights on. The good news was that none of the headlights were towing racecars!

Manawatu Saloon Champs

Heat 1
The gloomy weather had an effect on the grid; with half of those programmed failing to show. It was left to #84w Steve Murphy to lead them away, ahead of #91w Mark McIntyre. #91w McIntyre was soon ahead and fending of the challenge of #28w Owen Larsen and #42w Alan Jacob, with all three running close. #91w Mark McIntyre was eventually dropped as #28w Larsen and #42w Jacob fought side by side for many laps ahead of #69b Barry Maunder. #42w Jacob failed to get past when the leader was slowed lapping #8b Nepia Anaru who was running on a flat.

1.#28w Owen Larsen 2.#42w Alan Jacob 3.#69b Barry Maunder 4.#17m Tony heuval 5.#9p Mike Hermansen 6.#88p Robin Feck

Heat 2
#17m Tony Heuval and #68b Alex Brown started on the front row, and at the end of lap 1 it was #17m Heuval already some way ahead of #9p Mike Hermansen and #29b Graham Martin who were close for second. #4b Darryl Hill spun mid-pack causing problems behind and bringing out the yellows, with #4b Hill relegated to the back. Light rain was falling as #84w Steve Murphy retired with what sounded like binding brakes. #17m Heuval was still out front from #9p Hermansen and #29b Martin until #9p Hermansen pulled off, and #28w Owen Larsen and #42w Alan Jacob charged through the pack to challenge. The yellows came out again late on, so that #17w could be ordered off, with #17m Heuval winning the bunched start to the flag.

1.#17m 2.#42w 3.#28w 4.#88p 5.#8b Nepia Anaru 6.#91w Mark McIntyre

Overall
=1.#28w Owen Larsen 24pts =1.#42w Alan Jacob 24pts 3.#17m Tony Heuval 23pts

Superstocks (All in)

With nine x of Palmerstons' really big boys down in Christchurch and appearing LIVE on Sky TV, it was left to those who failed to qualify to do battle with the local Stockcars, with the Superstocks starting in front.

Heat 1
#94p Roydon Collingwood and #24p Russell Harrop were first to show until #98p Craig Humphries moved up into second ahead of #24p Harrop. With the Superstocks starting out in front, they were soon into traffic, with leader #94p coming slightly unstuck and slamming the wall, but managing to recover without losing a place. Toward the back #54p Bevan Humphrey was getting a piece of the Superstock of #88p Dean Watts, with #78p Thomas Hurunui also trying to get in on the act. Meanwhile, back at the front #94p Collingwood and #98p Humphries were having a terrific race, with #98p Humphries pushing #94p Collingwood into the wall late on.

1.#98p Craig Humphries 2.#96b Murray Long 3.#9p Brett Hyslop 4.#71p Kim Lace 5.#24p Russell Harrop 6.#5p Bruce Ward

Heat 2
#9p Brett Hyslop led from #5p Bruce Ward, until #5p Ward was tagged by #96b Murray Long, putting #96b Long in second ahead of #98p Craig Humphries. Further back #49p Justin Cunningham was running wild; slamming hard into #28p Matthew Trim before sticking #57p Calvin Honore to the wall. As the rain started to fall #9p Hyslop edged the win ahead of #96b Long.

1.#9p 2.#96b 3.#98p 4.#94p Roydon Collingwood 5.#42p Robin Grant 6.#44p Peter Locke

At this point the heavens opened albeit for a short while, but long enough for the track to become stuffed, at which point the meeting was abandoned at 2/3rds run. the good news is that the friendly promoter has announced that retained ticket stubs will allow entry to any of the seasons remaining fixtures!

Cars racing

3/4 Midgets 23
Sidecars 22
Saloons 13
Superstocks 13
Stockcars 13
SprintCars 9
Solos 4