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Walsh dominates racing to win Stockcar Classic

Stratford racer Josh Walsh dominated the racing in the Stockcar class at Stratford Speedway on Saturday night to win the City of New Plymouth Classic seemingly with ease in front of a packed house.  Walsh was the dominant driver at the opening meeting of the season the week prior but due to rain the Classic wasn’t completed.  There was no rain this time around and Walsh picked up a solid third place in heat one from a grid fifteen start before winning both heats two and three to comfortably win the event five points clear of his nearest rival, Kylee Symes.  Bevan Phillips placed third after crossing the line first in a four lap run off with Rowan Urlich after the pair were tied on points.  Urlich showed Phillips the wall on two occasions and looked to have the upper hand however Phillips rode the wall and gained enough of a gap to beat Urlich to the flag.  The increased roll over money that was on offer this week was taken by Nigel Perrett.  Perret rolled Kerry Morrell in turnin the closing stages of the first race.  Tyler Walker would likely have been cursing his clutch system when his car failed to move off the line at the race restart after the roll over.  He had been leading the race for nine laps.  Newcomer to the class Russell Gorrie received a big hit into the wall.  Gorrie had given Bevan Phillips a tickle up a couple of times before Phillips drove to the pole line and turned right on Gorrie who was racing by the wall, slamming his car sideways into the concrete and momentarily sending it airborne.

Shaun Dickie was again super quick and won the Minisprint City of New Plymouth Classic.  Karl Uhlenberg won heat one after making a late race pass on initial leader Kurt Phillips but Dickie was the most impressive in the race, flying through the field to come home second from a grid nine start.  Dickie went on to win the next two races and the Classic with a point’s haul of thirty two.  Karl Uhlenberg claimed the second spot on the podium with twenty eight points while Whanganui contracted driver Cameron Hurley was third, a further three points behind Uhlenberg.

Ten Streetstock competitors raced for their City of New Plymouth Classic.  Steve Reed won the event in his car that he only finished building on the day.  The first heat was a close affair with Reed and Matt Blinkhorne battling for position at the front of the pack, the lead changing several times.  Reed eventually got the better of Blinkhorne to win.  He placed second in both heats two and three behind the experienced John Young to win the event with a points tally just two points shy of the possible maximum.  Reed’s daughter Cheyanne drove well to finish second on the podium while Blinkhorne was third.  Young’s failed finish in the first heat cost him a spot in the top three.

Bradley Korff, who has moved up to the Adult Ministock grade this season from the Youth class showed skill and maturity to drive well all night, using all the lines on the  track to win the City of New Plymouth Classic for the class.  Korff placed second in the first heat behind Ryan Nolly before winning heat two and then again placing second in heat three behind Nathan Nolly to collect a solid fifty eight points.  The Nolly brothers both raced well all night with Ryan finishing second overall and Nathan third while Malissa Alexander could be a threat at future events, the young female racer picking up a solid third place in heat three.

Saloons and Superstocks rounded out the race program.  Craig Korff, Thomas Korff and Richard Dreaver were the winners in some very close races in the Saloon class.  Phil Ogle won the first two races in the Superstock class ahead of Carl Shearer before Shearer spun him in the third heat.  This started off some cat and mouse play and the fans were treated to some excellent bumper work by Shearer, Ogle, Blair Johnson and Clint Hill which continued throughout this race and also the extra fourth race which was won by Andrew Lewis.

The night concluded with an excellent Fireworks display by Michael Keats from TLL Events.