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Drama at North Island Modified Championship

There was drama before the green flag dropped for the North Island Modified Championship at Stratford Speedway on Saturday March 18th.  Grid two starter Richard Pierce blew his diff after a false start in the first race of the championship which caused the cars following to concertina and resulted in a large incident that saw current New Zealand number two Farron Lowry barrel rolling down the grand stand straight.  Along with Lowry, several other cars were disabled with damage after the incident including New Zealand number three, Jamie Fox from Auckland, Jason Kalin and Wellington racer Peter Holmes.  As the race hadn’t started, Speedway New Zealand officials made a decision to send the cars back to the pits for repairs and also to repair the track that was badly cutting up at the same time.  While some drivers were happy with this, some were not but the call had been made and apart from Pierce who was out for the night, all competitors made it back onto the track for the second attempt at running the first race.

Wellington competitor Jonas England made the most of a grid one start to grab an early lead in the first race but he was soon overtaken by Shaun Bloeman who drove around the outside through turn one.  England however snatched the lead back just one lap later and settled into a groove on the outside of the tricky track to streak away for the win.  Utilising his skill and determination, England went on to win race two after an excellent drive from a grid eight start, again using the outside line that provided the smoothest part of the track.  Heading into the final race as the clear leader England really only needed to finish in the front half of the field to win the championship.  After another solid drive he came home in fourth place from grid twelve and won the championship with a point’s total of thirty six.  Auckland driver Luke Brown was second overall, two points behind England while another Wellington driver, Brian McPhee was third.

England was happy with the championship victory which was his first podium finish at a national title. “I’ve come ever so close three times before, having finished fourth at the North Islands twice and fourth at the Grand Prix once”.  Utilising the outside line and running against the wall was key to his victory and on this he said “I was happy with our setup and where we were on the track.  It was very satisfying to pass cars and especially Jamie Fox around the outside.  I’m a budget racer and I am conscious of how much it will cost me if I touch the wall but sometimes you have to take a risk.  The track was rough, but full credit to the guys at Stratford for trying to get the track right.  To be able to make passes around the outside is not a common occurrence there”.

Fourteen Superstock competitors raced for the City of New Plymouth Classic on the same night.  After three races Hamish Booker came out on top of the points table and won the event by just one point from Clint Hill who is getting quicker as the season progresses.  Gary Johnson filled the podium in third place.

The Minisprint class competed for their King of the Mountain Champs.  Karl Uhlenberg recorded two race wins and a second to win the event.  Kurt Phillips was second and Auckland driver Donald Kuriger third.

In the support class racing Dale Michielsen was trying to roll anyone he could in the second Stockcar race, first slamming Kerry Morrell up the wall, then Mike Zilwood and then Jayden Meyer but it was Zilwood who had the last laugh when he nailed Michielsen with a perfect shot and tipped him over.  Race wins went to Rowan Urlich, Andrew Dodunski and Joshua Trott.

Adult Ministock races were won by Ella Sharpe, Ryan Nolly and Bradley Korff.