Daryl Shuttleworth Race Reports
Photos KB Action Images

Central Otago is a petrolhead heaven over the Christmas / New Year period, it's where you can take in three big days of Speedway action at Powderworks Central Motor Speedway, which this year would feature the South Island Sprintcar Championship, attracting a number of New Zealand's top Sprintcar drivers as well as a couple of handy American drivers in the form of two time New Zealand Champion Jonathan Allard and reigning champ Joel Myers Jnr.

What was expected to be a one night even for this championship would end up spreading over two events as torrential rain kept interrupting proceedings, only allowing for two heats to be run, with the final heat and final race to be run the following day.

Now hats off to the Central Motor Speedway committee for doing everything they could to get this title run, even calling in not just one helicopter, but two helicopters to help dry the track, a massive expense to the club, but they were committed to putting on a show for the brave fans who were already sodden wet.

At this point I must also credit the track staff who did a remarkable job of turning this track around each and every time it rained.

Jamie Duff of Christchurch made his intentions known very early in the piece, securing the fastest lap time in the time trials, second was Allard with Max Guilford of Christchurch third.

Heat one saw groups A and B roll out onto the track to do battle, Nelson's Connor Rangi would get pinged for a jumped start resulting in the cars lining up once more to face the green flag, this time at the start Matt Honeywell of Christchurch would power off to a handy lead with Guilford tucked in behind him giving chase.

Guilford would eventually make a move on Honeywell on lap eight and set sail to a race win, Honeywell claiming second with Myers third.

The second heat would be groups A and C, Riverside's Jacob McIntyre would have the luxury of starting up front in this race, he had done a remarkable job of placing seventh in heat one after a rear of the grid start, this is where the "Silverback" would get a chance to capitalize on clear air out in front.

McIntyre dominated, but as the race wore on he would catch lapped traffic in the form of Rangi and Dylan Forsey of Christchurch who were very difficult to pass, lets face it, these guys would usually be challenging McIntyre up front, testament to the quality of drivers in this field.

McIntyre would hold on, but only just, Cromwell's Josh Buchanan would almost get to McIntyre on the line with Allard in tow for third, McIntyres win would book him a spot in row two for the final.

Heat three for the South Island Sprintcar Championship, of course run on day two was groups B and C, and the last chance to grab a decent starting spot for the twenty five lap final.

Myers would start from row two and would battle hard with Allard, Guilford and Forsey but eventually on lap eight the New Zealand Champ would skate through to the lead and would hold that position until the final flag dropped, this result would see Myers start on the front row of the grid for the feature race, alongside his team mate Guilford who placed third, with Forsey showing plenty of pace in second.

This now led to the feature race, time to crown a new South Island Sprintcar Champion, the race started at pace, Myers and Guilford delivering punches at the front like a heavyweight boxer, while McIntyre, Allard and co would try and keep in touch with the early leaders.

The race looked to be running nice and clean up until lap fourteen, Myers had just moved to the lead of the race when a pile up in turn two between Duff, Forsey and Tony Ulenberg of Kihikihi would see a caution, Duff was challenging McIntyre for fourth when this incident unfolded.

During this restart Allard would head infield with mechanical dramas putting one of the race favorites out, while just moments later the race leader Myers car would start to smoke, his engine giving up the ghost and the champ also having to head to the infield.

This now really opened things up, we had Guilford leading, McIntyre, Honeywell, Buchanan and Rangi all now in with a sniff of the South Island Title. As the race commenced Guildford pulled out to a handy lead, driving well having to contend with a number of lapped cars, making passes quickly to ensure the cars behind wouldn't close that gap. McIntyre started to edge closer to Guilford but he too would need to contend with back markers and a very fast Honeywell who was keen to move up a step on the podium.

Guilford would eventually get back to clear air and would stretch out to take the South Island Sprintcar Championship by five seconds, McIntyre can be stoked with his efforts placing second and Honeywell third overall.

Visiting Youth Saloons were in Cromwell for a round of The Pits Media Challenge but due to the rain only completed the one race, that race went the way of Riverside's Ryder Harris with Noah Kitto of Dunedin second and clubmate Max Kemp third.

The club were also running the Ron Spriggs Memorial across several grades, a trophy in honor of the man who built Central Motor Speedway, a track some describe as the best in the country.

Youth Ministocks first heat was on a very greasy track, Ryder Harris had just produced a solid win in the Youth Saloons and would be out on track again in Youth Ministocks, Harris would control race one nicely out of Group B's first heat taking a race win ahead of Christchurch driver Olly Stephen of Christchurch in second and Josh McIntyre of Cromwell third.

Group A Ministocks heat one was a good clean race also with no stoppages at all, Connor Turner of Christchurch would show his pace in this race, taking the win by almost three seconds over Nelson drivers Leilah Jeffcoate in second and Conley Webley in third place.

With rain falling the rest of the Ministock races would proceed on day two but just one group rather than the two. First heat of the day saw McIntyre spin down the back straight early in the race, once they got underway it was Lucee Scott of Cromwell that would do exactly the same the very next lap, then at that restart Josh Lovell of Nelson and Harris would collect each other making for a very messy start to the race. Eventually Turner would take the win over Stephen in second and Jeffcoate third.

Next race Harris's run of bad luck would continue with a visit to the turn two wall in lap one, the next caution coming when Cromwell's Taine Ballantyne would come to a standstill on the back straight, taking no further part in the event.

Out front it was a great race between Turner and Christchurch driver Jack Anderton, Turner taking his second win of the day, Anderton second and clubmate Clayton Hawke third.

Turner would keep the perfect record intact in the next race also, getting home in first comfortably from Hawke with McIntyre this time third.

The feature race for Youth Ministocks was next, and the big question, who could challenge Turner? Unfortunately Harris would spin early in this race producing a restart, up front there was an epic battle brewing between Stephen, McIntyre, Webley, Scott, Turner, Anderton and Jeffcoate, all of these drivers at some stage in with a shot of grabbing a feature win.

Stephen just happened to be just that little bit faster and would take the race win, McIntyre would scrap with Webley but would secure second, with Webley third, this would be the final placings for these three drivers for the Ron Spriggs Memorial, while The Pits Media Challenge went the way of Turner first, Stephen second, McIntyre third, and the Tri Series raced over three different tracks, Beachlands, Riverside and Central went the way of Jeffcoate first, Anderton second and Webley third.

Visiting 1/4 Midgets were also on hand to be part of the show in front of a big holiday crowd, these cars would not usually run in Cromwell so it was the first time many had seen them in action.

All cars came out of the Ruapuna club, heat one Ryan Gallagher took an early lead and never looked like being challenged he would win by a sizable margin with Ysabelle Harris second and Millar Johnson third.

Race two didn't go so well for Blair Kedzlie, the young driver hitting some thick mud on the outside of turn two and rolling over. This race was also dominated by Gallagher who took the win, second was Jackson Kedzlie with Harris third.

Gallagher would continue his unbeaten run in heat three also, ensuring he would take maximum points through to the feature, it was a better race for the minors with Jackson Kedzlie beating home Harris once more.

This now led to the feature and again rotten luck was on Blair Kedzlie's side when he once again went over in turn two, a carbon copy of his race two incident.

The feature would see Gallagher again take the win with ease, second went the way of Jackson Kedzlie with Johnson third.

A good field of Saloons were on track for this event, heat one resulted in a pile up in turn three due to the slippery track conditions, this incident took out Cromwell's George Phillips and Christchurch's Brendon Fisher while Cromwell's Barry Taylor managed to restart.

Once the race eventually got restarted Dunedin's Glenn Johnston took full advantage of clear air and pulled away from the rest of the pack, the rest of the field would however start to reel Johnson in but he would hold on to a well deserved race win ahead of Mike Verdoner and Ivan Murdoch both of Cromwell.

Due to the rain Saloons would return on day two, this race would see Jason Gold of Cromwell dominate early, racing off to a solid margin after starting on pole, behind Gold, Steve Robertson of Cromwell was having an epic battle with Murdoch who would eventually fade away from Robertson, Gold would take a well driven win, Robertson three second adrift in second with Murdoch third.

Heat three saw a caution mid race with debris in turn two, Verdoner was strong in this heat and really took control of the race to bag his first win of the weekend, Verdoner however would have to defend off Rodney McIndoe late in the race, with the man from Gisborne really giving chase but having to settle for second, while Stu Millar of Beachlands placed third.

This now led to the feature for Saloons, McIndoe looked racey early before suffering mechanical drams putting him out, Gold and Verdoner lapped out front, both swapping fastest laps and having some great exchanges.

This was a good fast race with no cautions at all, Verdoner was all class and would manage to hold off Gold with Robertson fast again coming home third.

This result gave Verdoner the Ron Spriggs Memorial, McIndoe second and Gold third, while the Saloons also had the New Years Day Champs up for grabs in the final, going Verdoners way over Gold and Robertson.

Production Saloons also ran two championships over the first two days also, The Ron Spriggs and the New Years Championship. Productions only managed one race on night one before the rain and it was dominated by Beachland's Ricki Pilley who fought off Vaughan Fairbairn in second and Even Erskine in third both of Cromwell.

Day two saw the Production Saloons roll out on track under threatening clouds, this is where James Westerman of Cromwell came to the fore, Westerman had his rear wheel drive Falcon sliding around the Cromwell track with ease early, but as the rain started to fall the front wheel drive machines started to reel Westerman back in, Fairbairn was all over Westerman at this point with just one lap remaining.

Westerman back himself and kept the foot flat around the big sweeping turns three and four, sideways to secure a very tough fought win, Fairbairn claimed second with Sam McKenzie of Cromwell third.

Erskine came out in heat three looking quick, he would be challenged by Fairbairn but just show too much raw pace, taking the win, Fairbairn would be second yet again with James Woods of Cromwell third.

This would now lead to the feature race for Production Saloons and I must give credit to the grade getting through these races with no cautions. Fairbairn had obviously had enough of playing the bridesmaid and would race off to a handy lead in the feature, it was a lead that look unassailable but Steven Nicholas of Cromwell started to make his way through the pack and with just a couple of laps to run was within striking distance of the race leader.

Fairbairn would have been praying for the race to run its course as he was in full defence mode, luckily for him he made it home first, just ahead of Nicholas who was second and Erskine third, that would also be the New Years Champs result while the Ron Spriggs for Productions would go the way of Fairbairn first, Erskine second and Pilley third.

The final grade to run was Six Shooters who managed two races on the opening night, they were first out on track for the event and a clean race one would result in Riverside's Luke Shearing demolishing the opposition by almost ten seconds first up, second went to Corey Duckmanton of Ruapuna with Harrison Brown of Riverside third.

The Six Shooters drove around the track for a fairly long period of time with the helicopters overhead trying to dry the track before starting their next heat.

Once they did get started it was fairly slippery, Riverside's Danny Livingstone making the most of the conditions to take the win, Blair Smith of Cromwell placed second with Josh Livingstone of Riverside third.

At the conclusion of these two races being run Brown would take the Ron Spriggs Memorial for Six Shooters, Shearing second and Danny Livingstone third, giving Riverside Speedway the trifecta.