Track: Wanganui
Date: 27 February 2011
Event: West Coast Stox

Reporting by Roger Morrison & pictures by Mike Pollard
You can obtain copies of pictures by Mike Pollard at race meetings and by CLICKING HERE

Waganui - 27 February 2011
West Coast Stox
Reporting  by Roger Morrison and pictures by Mike Pollard

Wanganui drivers managed to use their numerical superiority (just) to claim the top podium at the West Coast Stockcar Champs at Oceanview Speedway on Sunday afternoon. Alan Levien had to survive a torrid third heat and then a run-off to pick up a hard-earned title. Despite limping across the line in the third heat, Levien had enough time to repair the damage and out-point his Vulcans team-mate Hilton Parker in the run-off to collect the first place ribbon. West Coast Stockcar Champs

With the 27 cars in the pits it was a mouth-watering prospect as to how the afternoon would pan out in front of the small crowd. Given the meager line-up of Superstockswho turned up, Peter Rees would have cursed his luck and regretted not putting the Stockcar in the bus. 15 Wanganui cars pitted against 12 visitors (Palmerston North - 9, Stratford - 2, Wellington - 1) and we had natural battle lines drawn. A couple of locals were making their first appearance at Oceanview with Sam Doyle in the ex-Shonn Black car and 74V Don Mailman making his home debut.

Heat One

There were some early casualties with both 89V Blair Lockett and 21V Dylan Brockway coasting to a standstill. Wanganui cars were however prominent with 15V Kyle Heibner showing good pace to wear down 34P Rob Mason. Following Heibner across the finish line eventually were 46V Alan Levien (who had made up a lot of ground) and 321V Hilton Parker. 97P Graham Ward made up a ton of ground in recording the fastest lap time at 17.8991 sec ahead of Levien and Heibner (the only three cars to record a sub-18sec lap).

Heat Two

Blair Lockett made up for the disappointment in the first heat by recording the easiest of wins. However behind him the battle lines were being drawn as 52V Francis Potaka and 63V Shane Joseph started paying attention to the progress of the Palmerston North cars - particularly Ward and 258P Neville Harrod. Heibner again impressed as he made up valuable places to finish ahead of 99P Ron Tye and Levien.

The recipe was therefore set for the final push with the Wanganui trio of Heibner, Levien and Parker on top with Ward, Tye & Mason still within shouting distance. But the simple equation was that the Palmerston North contingent would have to eliminate the Wanganui threat to change the position at the top of the table.

Heat Three

Levien was the best placed on the final grid 4 rows back with Heibner in behind him while Parker was off the back. The first corner had cars spearing in all directions with Heibner coming in for plenty of attention - the young tyro still in trouble four laps later and losing ground. As the laps progressed it was hard to know where to look with the likes of 33P Brad Powell and 669P Brendon Tye taking on the Wanganui front-runners whenever they could. Now normally 99P Ron Tye would be the go to man to create havoc but he found himself in the unusual position of racing for the title as the green car negotiated the mayhem. Ward was also pushing hard and with 2 laps to go he pounded Levien heavily in to the wall in turn one leaving the front right of the 46V worse for wear. But half a lap later Ward tried to pass 229S Kylee Symes who seized the chance to launch the 97P car in to orbit in turn 3. This slowed the Palmerston North flyer. Levien in the meantime was having trouble getting to the finish while Heibner's title tilt ended as he was held in turn one by Powell. The chequered flag fell on Tye as he negotiated a blockade of cars at the finish to scrape in ahead of 24V Wayne Wright. Only two other cars finished all 10 laps - Mason and Parker (who had managed to avoid terminal interference). With Levien limping across the line, it earned him enough points to draw level with Parker ahead of Tye who was in the rare heady heights of gaining a 3rd placed podium in a championship.

Levien was able to complete the repairs to make the run-off with Parker. Drawing the inside marble Levien got the drop with Parker in pursuit. Parker missed the chance to nail Levien at the end of the first lap then spun in the 2nd. He waited for the Levien in the 3rd lap but the 46V pilot nudged him aside and carried on for the toughest of victories.

Superstocks

Wellington Top 10 Holiday Park put up $1,000.00 for the last race in the Superstocks with $50.00 per lap in front (10 laps) and another $500.00 to the winner. One would have thought this would have attracted a few more takers from the leftovers from the North Island Superstocks in Palmerston North but obviously this wasn't the case as only 4 cars fronted - 3NZ Peter Rees, 45S Stephen Guilford, 23V Scott Duncan and 6V Dion Mooney (in the borrowed 6K Ryan Johnson car). As you would expect, Rees dominated although Mooney slowed him enough to see him out of the winners circle in the 2nd race. But in the final, it was one way traffic for Rees although Guilford did have a crack at the maestro before drifting infield with gremlins under the hood.

Race One: 1. 3NZ Peter Rees. 2. 45S Stephen Guilford. 3. 6V Dion Mooney. 4. 23V Scott Duncan. Fastest lap 3NZ 17.2393 sec.

Race Two: 1. 45S. 2. 23V. 3. 3NZ. Fastest lap 3NZ 17.0882 sec.

Shootout: 1. 3NZ. 2. 6V. 3. 23V. Fastest lap 3NZ 17.8586 sec