Track: Palmerston North
Date: 25 October 2008
Event: Superstock Series
Pictures by & reporting Mike Pollard

Palmerston North
Superstock Series
5 October 2009
Pictures & reporting by Mike Pollard

Superstocks

Since the begininng of time; whenever Stock Cars share facilities with a Rugby Club, it's always Rugby who take preference despite drawing smaller numbers.

And so it was that the Manawatu Turbos took the Saturday slot, leaving the Stock Cars with the Sunday evening, albeit with a public holiday on the Monday.

In the end it mattered not, as a mammoth crowd, lured by the draw of the Superstocks, turned out to witness a plethora of cars (about 160) race in 5 x car divisions, and thats not including the bikes.

Heat 1.
#13p Clint hicker was 1st up, but was soon overtaken by #9p Brett Hyslop. a couple of red lights followed, the first for #22b Paul Demanser, with the second being required for #43p Darryl Hammond. #9p Hyslop took to the grass soon after, leaving #7p Shane Penn up at the front ahead of #10p Peter Rees and #32p Graeme Barr. #64p Kev Smith was back in his own car and requiring the reds after having "a bit of a crash" with #24p Russell Harrop. The lead cars remained unchanged, with #7p Penn taking the chequered ahead of #10p Rees and #32p Barr.

Heat 2.
#54p Bevan Humphrey edged past #22b Paul Demanser on the green, and these two bolted off into the distance. #22b Demanser retired at halfway leaving #54p Humphrey out front, who was struggling to keep #1nz Malcolm Ngatai, #7p Penn and #10p Rees behind, who in turn was fighting off a charging #77p Wayne Norris.

#1nz Ngatai reigned in #54p Humphrey at the front, and a terrific scrap took place, which eventually only served in letting #7p Penn through, with #1nz Ngatai dropping a couple of spots with a flat tyre. At the line #7p Penn finished way ahead of #54p Humphries, with #77p Norris up to 3rd.

Heat 3.
Going into the last, #7p Penn had a 5pt lead over #77p Norriss, 6pts over #54p Humphrey and 8pts advantage over #1nz Ngatai, these being the only four in contention.

On the green #57p Dave Tarrant and #31p Andy McCabe took to the front, but the Tarrant lead was short lived as he was sent spinning through the air in spectacular fashion. #57p Tarrant had been half spun by #42p Robin Devonport, but with the car starting to turn right, going into a left hand bend, the immense amount of inside weight was now on the outside and culminated in the inevitable scary ride for Mr Tarrant. #1nz Ngatai was away and gone at the front ahead of #31p McCabe and #7b Mellsop. #7p Penn was circulating mid-pack and seemingly in no hurry.... needing just to finish within 5 x places of #77p Norris to take the overall win. However, for once #7p Penn mis-calulated, and despite a desperate couple of final laps, finished down in 8th place, one spot away from what was required, as #77p Norris finished 2nd to #1nz Ngatai and ahead of third place #31p McCabe.

Overall
1. #77p Wayne Norris 2.#7p Shane Penn 3.#1nz Malcolm Ngatai