Track: Wanganui
Date: 17 February 2007
Event: West Coast Sidecar Champs
Pictures  by Mike Pollard & reporting by Roger Morrison

Wanganui - 17 February 2007
West Coast Sidecar Champs
Pictures  by Mike Pollard & reporting by Roger Morrison Sidecars

Current New Zealand champions Toby Lardelli and Michael Bond showed why they have 1NZ on their bike when they completely dominated the West Coast Sidecar Champs at Brent Boddy Cars Ocean View Speedway on Saturday night. The Gisborne pairing were unbeaten through qualifying and the 3 heat finals, showing a clean pair of heels in all of those races. Good starts appeared to be the key for the pair as once in front they never looked troubled with the unit well set up for the Wanganui track. With the track surface in excellent condition, the sidecar racing was top quality, matched by the calibre of the entries. Qualifying had the Lardelli/Bond pairing up against some of the best combinations in the country including 2NZ Les Plummer & Kervin Demanser, 3NZ Derek Ramsay & Tony Hislop and top locals John Hannan & Jason Wallis and Craig Scott & Tony Hirini. The surprise qualifier was the 21B unit of Dave Black & Pete Steigenberger who kept it clean and tidy all night.

Non-qualifiers included 42P Steve King/Shaun Carter who encountered bike problems and 11P Mark Whyte/Gordon Campbell who have performed well here in Wanganui at times. Aucklanders Frank Anarich and Aron Anderson took a while to get the bike set up for the tight Wanganui track, but showed their capability with a good win in one of the consolation races.

Qualifying Heats (winners through to final 6)

Heat 1. 1. 1NZ Lardelli/Bond. 2. 3NZ Ramsay/Hislop. 3. 11P Whyte/Campbell. 4. 23B Troy Devery/Darin Edwards.

Heat 2. 1. 19V John Hannan/Jason Wallis. 2. 21B Dave Black/Pete Steigenberger 3. 8G Rob Miller/Steven Frame 4. 45P Phillip McNabb/Simon McNabb

Heat 3. 1. 62V Craig Scott/Tony Hirini. 2. 56G Clive Ireland/Brendan Weber. 3. 2NZ Les Plummer/Kerven Demanser. 4. 52W Stu Priest/?? 5. 39A Frank Anarich/Aron Anderson.

Heat 4. 1. 3NZ. 2. 23B. 3. 11P.

Heat 5. 1. 21B. 2. 45P. 3. 8G.

Heat 6. 1. 2NZ. 2. 52W. 3. 56G. 4. 39A.

With Lardelli/Bond dominant it became a race for the minor placings. Apart from the first final when both Scott/Hirini & Hannan/Wallis tried risky passing manoeuvres on the outside of the 1NZ bike in the back straight it was a case the rest of the field battling for the crumbs. Hannan/Wallis were clearly the 2nd best on the night with two 2nd’s and a 3rd over the 3 heats to claim 2nd overall ahead of Hawkes Bay’s Plummer/Demanser. A racing incident in the final heat cost Scott/Hirini a share of the placings as they lost enough points to drop them back to 3rd.

Finals.

Heat 1. 1. 1NZ. 2. 19V. 3. 62V. 4. 2NZ. 5. 3NZ. 6 21B.

Heat 2. 1. 1NZ. 2. 3NZ. 3. 19V. 4. 2NZ. 5. 62V. 6. 21B.

Heat 3. 1. 1NZ. 2. 19V. 3. 2NZ. 4. 62V. 5. 21B.

Points. 1. 1NZ – 18 Pts 2. 19V – 14 Pts. 3. 2NZ – 10 Pts. 4. 62V – 9 Pts. 5. 3NZ - 7 Pts. 6. 21B – 4 Pts.

Superstocks/Stockcars

Although new New Zealand Stockcar champion Gerry Linklater and clubmates Dion Mooney and Tony James were away in Auckland at the NZ Champs, the action back here in Wanganui was entertaining to say the least. The mainly local field of Superstocks and Stockcars were mixed together with mayhem ensuing most of the night. The 6 Superstocks were all locals with only Richard Watkins missing. The 10 Stockcars had 2 visitors with 245P Steve Thompson & 888S Chris Flett making the most of their own tracks not running. It was good to see 3 new registered locals making their first appearance with 88V Ian Barron and 41V Juanita Barron joined by Bulls based 42V Steve Read. That pushes the locally registered cars up to 13 with Alan Luoni searching for a motor for his new steed.

The 1st race of the night gave a hint of things to come when Ian Barron showed good pace only to be spun by 66V Karl Jurgens – Barron then taking exception by having a swipe at 14V Daryl Taylor. 43V Shane Beech was his typical stirring self with the sound of metal on metal starting to echo around the arena.

The 2nd race was a beauty with 31V Daniel Matthews in stirring mode spinning both Taylor and 21V Paul Brockway. With Beech in belligerent mode it was all action. 61V Richard Black looked like he had the race sewn up only to be slowed by an altercation with 22V Nigel Moody, which handed the win to 56V Kerry Podjursky.

The Feature race was frantic with hits going in all over the track as the likes of Beech, Ian Barron, Richard Black and Podjursky all trading blows. Beech put Richard Black up the wall and also got shots in against Taylor and 17V Steve Guilford. Through it all Stockcar driver Daniel Matthews emerged with the win ahead of Podjursky and Barron.

The Grand Slam finale was carnage with cars being dispatched with crowd pleasing regularity. Richard Black was on fire as he exacted revenge on Beech. Ian Barron gave Taylor a huge punt who in turn dealt to Matthews. Matthews himself gave Beech a serve only for Beech to show his wares by holding up 4/5 cars at times behind him in block mode. The lap scorers had their hands full as the race progressed but somehow Brockway avoided attention for a change to take the victory – great stuff. The action augurs well for the West Coast Stockcar Champs next weekend where Wanganui will proudly display it’s new national Stockcar champion.

Race 1. 1.14V Daryl Taylor. 2. 66V Karl Jurgens. 3. 61V Dion Mooney. 4. 23V Scott Duncan. 5. 21V Paul Brockway. 6. 17V Steve Guilford.

Race 2. 1. 56V Kerry Podjursky. 2. 61V Richard Black. 3. 65V Lisa Black. 4. 66V. 5. 17V. 6. 31V Daniel Matthews.

Feature. 1. 31V. 2. 56V. 3. 88V. 4. 14V. 5. 66V. 6. 23V.

Grand Slam. 1. 21V. 2. 56V. 3. 88V. 4. 43V Shane Beech. 5. 14V. 6. 888S Chris Flett.

Cars racing

Sidecars 15
Snr Ministocks 15
Jnr Ministocks 12
Stockcars 10
Superstocks 6
Saloons 4

For a full report on this meeting visit www.oceanviewspeedway.co.nz