Daryl Shuttleworth Race Reports
Photo Joe Johnson - Motorsport Files

Round three of the Hydraulink War Of The Wings rolled into Central Otago over the Christmas break, Joel Myers of Christchurch would be looking to extend his lead in the series that he has had a mortgage on for the past two seasons, but with this meeting backing on from the South Island Sprintcar Championship it would always be a tough task with a very talented field entered.

Due to rain the night prior to this meeting a heat race and the twenty-five lap feature for the South Island Sprintcar Championship would take place prior to the War Of The Wings, making for a massive day of action.

The time trials would be run under damp conditions making it very hard to lay down a decent time, American Jonathan Allard would be fastest followed by Connor Rangi of Nelson and newly crowned South Island Champion Max Guilford of Christchurch third.

Heat one of the evening rolled out on track, Christchurch driver Dylan Forsey started on the front row alongside rookie Jack Burson of Nelson, Forsey got the jump and kept Burson at bay, behind the leaders Guilford and Allard were charging through and these two battling each other for position meant Forsey could build a bit of a buffer between himself and the cars behind him. Forsey would remain up front and take the race win by just over a second with Guilford second and Allard third.

Next up in heat two Josh Buchanan of Cromwell gave the big crowd in attendance something to cheer about as the local driver got to the front early and started punching out quick laps, lap upon lap, Buchanan would make easy work of the opposition getting home comfortably ahead of clubmate Mathew Anderson in second and Rangi in third place. This race would also be the last we would see Allard as he retired with mechanical dramas.

The final heat of the evening was certainly one to watch, Myers and Jamie Duff of Christchurch would go toe to toe, lap upon lap thrilling all in attendance with some great racing. Duff tried on many occasions to unsettle the New Zealand Champ, but Myers was as cool as a cucumber eventually pulling a gap on Duff to claim the race win, Duff second, and Guilford who had the best seat in the house third.

This would now lead to the feature final and again a fantastic battle up front between Duff and Guilford this time around. Duff burst out of the blocks and took a handy lead which he held for the first ten laps of this thirty lap feature race. Guilford would slip through and take the lead, third at this stage was Forsey but he would soon retired to the infield, while Myers was starting to work his way through the field.

The first caution would come out on lap twenty when Burson flaunted with the wall on the main straight just once too often, causing damage to the car and ending his night.

At the restart Duff would try and attack Guilford but it was Guilfords team mate Myers who got past Duff up to second, Duff starting to fade back. Both Anderson and James Robinson of Cromwell would also both head to the infield after making contact late in the race.

The last few laps were going to be red hot, the newly crowned South Island Champion and the New Zealand Champion going at it, Guilford not giving an inch powered away from Myers and at the end of thirty laps he would secure this round of the War Of The Wings, Myers second with Duff left content for third. This result would see Myers go to round four in Christchurch with a thirty six point buffer.

The following day Sprintcars would run the Winner Takes All and Ron Spriggs Memorial races, heat one of the day saw Steve Duff Jnr of Cromwell lead the entire race, right up until the very last lap where Jamie Duff would pass him and take the race win, Duff Jnr would settle for second with Australia Sprintcar driver Cody O'Connell third.

Heat two, more of the same from "The Duffman" Jamie Duff, he took over the lead of the race after Buchanan was forced to retire, this would be the last we would see of Duff though, after a win here he would retire from the meeting with mechanical issues. Second went the way of Shanarrah Stronach of Cromwell with Job Quantock of Palmerston North third.

The third heat saw plenty of action early with Grant Molloy of Riverside and Whetu Taewa of Cromwell both spinning early putting them both out, Quantock would join them a lap later with his car grinding to a sudden halt. Out front O'Connell was super fast and would race off to secure his first win on foreign soil ahead of Dean Miller of Cromwell and Stronach in third.

From here it was time for the feature and it was a war of attrition, eight cars started, just two finished.

This all happened after Molloy got crossed up coming out of turn two, he and Miller would make contact, Molloy accelerated directly towards the wall, making contact with Taewa in the process causing both cars to roll over, all three cars out.

O'Connell would have been gutted, he was leading after three laps only to have to retire also, suddenly we were losing cars and down to just three cars, Stronach, Buchanan and Steve Scoles also of Cromwell.

You would think at this stage all three would make it home, but no wrong, Stronach while placed second would also pull infield with dramas leaving Buchanan to cruise to the flag, Scoles would come home in second.

The Winner Takes All Trophy would go the way of Buchanan, Scoles second, Stronach third, while the Ron Spriggs Memorial was won by O'Connell, Jamie Duff second and Stronach third.

Streetstocks were a welcome addition to the program, and a grade not usually run here in Cromwell, but twenty six of these cars rolled through the gate to compete.

Heat one saw just the one stoppage for Riverside's Tyson Thomas who stopped on track, the race would be won by Buddy Finch of Dunedin who was driving the 1NZ machine of Allan Finch, Jareb Verdoner of Beachlands was second ahead of clubmate Braden Adams.

Heat two and after one lap turn four resembled The Warehouse car park on Christmas Eve, there was cars just absolutely everywhere, surprisingly though only Adam Stewart of Dunedin was the only car to be sent to the infield with damage. Lap five would see another stoppage, this time for Chris Illingworth of Riverside, while the next stoppage was a bit more spectacular, Jake Barr of Dunedin being flipped in a big roll by Adams on the main straight.

Once the race took shape it would be Finch again taking the race win, Adams second with Scott Palmer of Dunedin third.

Heat three and a fairly tame affair compared to the last heat, and what was to follow, one stoppage for Kaleb Marshall of Beachlands would be all we would see, winner of this heat would be new South Island Champion Ben Jenkins of Dunedin, clubmate Mitch Lavender second with Verdoner third.

The feature race would have to be the most entertaining, brutal Streetstock race I have ever seen, over twenty started the race, just five finished, the crowd were loving it.

Now for me to run through the list of what happened in this race, we would be here forever, but let me tell you, there were big hits, wall rides, flat tyres, cars overheating, it was all happening, but the one big incident that sent Central Motor Speedway into a frenzy was when Riverside's Shae Mckenzie and Beachlands Kaleb Marshall were at each other lap upon lap, McKenzie had already dispatched of Marshalls twin brother Clay earlier. Adams was well out in front and about half a lap ahead of the nearest car, Adams would head to the outside of McKenzie and Marshall when McKenzie fired out right collecting Adams the race leader, all three cars making big contact, Adams done and dusted, Marshalls car bursting into flames when Madi Stewart of Dunedin came through with nowhere to go, thankfully all three drivers walked away unscathed, that can't be said about their cars.

This incident would stop the race for sometime, at the restart Jenkins would snatch the lead and crusie home to win the race, second was Josh Murdoch of Dunedin and Stewart did well to claim third.

Tri Series results went the way of Verdoner in first, Steve Dryden of Invercargill second and Murdoch third, Murdoch also won the stirrers prize money along with McKenzie.

Stockcars also had plenty of biff and bash, heat one saw Dylan Prattley of Cromwell, Cayden Race of Riverside and Sam Jack of Christchurch have a coming together early, Race and Jack would retire from this race. It was a fast pace set up front, Jacob Boulton of Cromwell would secure the win over Bailey Mitchell and Steven Thompson of Dunedin.

Heat two and this time around Boulton become a target, put into the wall and out of the race courtesy of Casey McEwan the Cromwell club President. The results I had marked down at the conclusion of this race was Zac Newsham of Riverside in first, his clubmate Adam Naber second and another Riverside driver Luke Fallow third but official results see Mitchell picking up the race win.

Race three, Alisha Race of Riverside stops early sparking a red light, the very next lap another red light for debris. Once the race started to finally take shape Boulton would get to the front of the pack and remain unchallenged to take the race win, second was Thompson with Fallow third.

The final was nothing short of entertaining, plenty of big hits being put in, the biggest when Thompson and McEwan were fighting in turn three when Mitchell came in from behind and sent McEwan upside down, this got the crowd fizzing, but all three cars were now out.

Once the race restarted Fallow got to the front and would remain in front to claim the race win, second was Boulton with Luke Molloy of Christchurch third, those results would stand in the Winner Takes All Trophy, while the Ron Spriggs Memorial would go to Boulton, Cromwell's Trazarn Ryland Annabell second and Thompson third, Tri Series trophy went to Ryland Annabell first, Fallow second and McEwan third. McEwan and Thompson also won Best Stirrers.

Six Shooters were in action running for the Winner takes all title, Adam Evans of Cromwell was the winner of heat one, pushed hard by the man in second Mason Whelan of Riverside and Luke Shearing in third place.

Race two saw a couple of cautions, one for debris, the second when Riverside's Danny Livingstone came unstuck in turn one on lap four. Evans would again find his way to the front of the pack and bank his second win of the day, getting home ahead of Brian Ellison of Cromwell and Harrison Brown of Riverside.

Race three was exciting, Whelan and Shearing were having a great battle up front when Josh Livingston of Riverside spun on lap seven, Whelan was leading but Shearing got off to a flying start when the race resumed, perhaps a little too quick as he was pinged and relegated two spots at the next caution, which come about when Brown and Ellison had a coming together causing a caution, Shearing dropped back to third as a result and Whelan took the race lead back.

From here Whelan would race on for the win, Shearing moved up a spot to second with Danny Livingstone third.

Feature time for Six Shooters, twenty laps, just the one caution when Riverside driver Duane Cracknell came unstuck mid race. Evans and Whelan had a hell of a battle up front, Evans would pull away, Whelan would drag him back, it was a brilliant spectacle to watch but Evans would be too fast and claim the race win, Shearing would get past Whelan for second only to be excluded from the race due to a three minute bell infringement handing Whelan second with Blair Smith of Cromwell third.

Winner takes all for Youth Ministocks saw Brook Marshall of Cromwell spin early in race one, once the race restarted it was Olly Stephen of Christchurch who would take control and drive home for the race win, Second was Lucee Scott of Cromwell with clubmate Ryder Harris third.

The next heat was a clean run from the time the green flag dropped, Christchurch driver Jack Anderton got the lead early and wasn't going to be stopped taking the race win from Josh McIntyre of Cromwell and Leilah Jeffcoate in third place.

Heat three and like heat two it was a fast clean race with great battles across the track, Conley Webley of Nelson would grab himself the win in this race, Stephen claimed second while Harris was again third.

This now led to the feature race and some extra laps thrown in for the Youth Ministocks, the race was again clean, no cautions which was a real credit to all these young drivers. Up front there was again good solid battles but the driver to take out the Winner Takes All Trophy would be Stephen ahead of Webley in second and Jeffcoate third.

A very small field of Super Saloons also raced, Ricky Boulton of Dunedin would win overall from Christchurch's Josh Boulton, Cannan Jordon of Auckland would take third spot.