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Hickman wins Taranaki Champs for Third Time.

Jarrod MacBeth

Duane Hickman has proven himself as Taranaki’s most consistent Midget driver when he won his third consecutive Taranaki Champs at Stratford Speedway on Saturday night, January 14th.  He now has a total of six Taranaki titles in his impressive collection.  Hickman, who was back in the driver’s seat for the first time since a roll over that severely damaged his car at Baypark Speedway in Tauranga two weeks ago made his intentions known when he drove through the field from a rear grid start to finish in second place behind Greg Jones in race one.  He then went on to win race two from a front row start and headed into the final race a couple of points ahead of Jones.  Jones however, was starting near the front of the field in grid four while Hickman was back in grid nine which meant he had a lot of work to do in the ten lap race to finish on top.  An excellent start, where he went wide immediately and passed several competitors in the opening lap of the race helped him immensely.  He then chased down Jimmy Greenough and Jones who had run away at the front of the field and passed them both in the closing stages of the race to secure the victory.  Jones finished second in the champs, his first, fourth and second placings putting him just three points behind Hickman while Jamie Goodlass was third, a further three points behind Jones.

The Stratford Stormers Stockcar team beat the Kihikihi Crusaders in the first Stockcar teams race to be held in Taranaki this season.  Tyler Walker, who was running for the Stormers was protected well by Andrew Dodunski and Haydin Barker who were blocking the opposition to give Walker a clear run.  Walker lead for almost the entire duration of the race, only losing the lead for one lap near the end of the race but regained the position and was the first to cross under the checkered flag, scoring the win for the Stormers.

The Stratford Scrappers Superstock team raced a Taranaki Invitation team and despite the best efforts of Phil Ogle who was racing for the Taranaki team, Mitch Vickery won the race for the Scrappers.  Ogle had several shots at Vickery throughout the race and at one stage even had him bailed up against the pit gate but Vickery was just too slippery and escaped from Ogles grasp each time.  The race gave competitors valuable experience and has provided the team selectors with more information to be better able to select the team to compete at the Teams Champs in Palmerston North on Waitangi weekend.

Thirty four cars competed for the Stockcar Heritage Shield.  Tyler Walker continued his good form from the team’s race and won the first heat before placing second in heat two and then third in heat three to comfortably win the shield with a points total of one hundred and four.  Sporadic racer Wilson Gargan, who was racing for only the second time this season came home in second place, ten points behind Walker while Rowan Urlich was third overall after finishing just one point behind Gargan.

The Streetstocks, Superstocks, Adult and Youth Ministocks raced on the night also.  Richard Kettle made it onto the track for the first time with his new Streetstock only to blow the transmission three laps into the first race.  Race wins went to Matt Blinkhorne, Steve Reed and Gordon Fowler.  Wins in the Superstock class were collected by Mitch Vickery, Regan Gernhoefer and Blair Uhlenberg while Ministock race wins went the way of  Ella Sharpe, Bradley Korff and Nathan Nolly in the Adult class and Hamish Edgecombe and Flynn Johnson in  the Youth class.