A massive 19 pairings fronted up for the STOCKCAR BEST PAIRS and were split into 2 groups for qualifying.
In the first group 11B Matt Gautrey did what he does so well and rolled 321V Hilton Parker with a metal crunching hit. As the cars crossed the line 971P Ward had the win from 581P Dare, 510P Knight, 95B Penn, 86B Cooke and 3NZ O’Brien top 6. Penn and Dare paired together had just made a near perfect start in pursuit of the title by bagging 2nd and 4th.
Group 2 and the racing seemed harder and faster on the drying track. The wall was getting a great workout and the extra height it now has adds to the hit factor. 18G Hughes took the win from 94 PHumphries, 17B Iremonger, 97P Ward, 898S Flett and 68P Lamb. With 3rd and 5th both Ward and Humphries had grabbed a bagfull of points.
Heat 2 for group 1 was a classic. O’Brien and Dare were having the Mother of all races out front by swapping the lead over and over. Hollyman was menacing behind and waiting for his chance to upset the leaders. Coming off the final turn it looked like O’Brien had found the line on the inside only to be tagged by Hollyman on the run to the flag. The win went to 581P Jordan Dare from 115P Hollyman, 510P Knight, 3NZ O’brien skidding backwards to register 4th, 66B R Tarrant and 95B Penn 6th.
Group 2 heat 2 was a tame affair with 97P Ward totally dominating the race. 17B Iremonger worked his way through to 2nd, 33P Powell 3rd, 98P Taniwha 4th, 509P Knight 5th and 68P Lamb top 6.
Jason Penn and Jordan Dare had a narrow 5 point buffer going into the final heat but with the points battle tight behind were not in a position to back off. As soon as the lights went green the action started. Hits, misses, punctures this one had it all. 3NZ O’brien suffered a punture which destroyed his teams chances of a podium and then 17B Iremonger was walled on the back straight bringing on the reds. This eliminated another contender then we saw both the 86B of Cooke and 971P Ward lock together given Marty the wild ride along the top of the fence for almost a complete lap. Cars were dropping like flies in the heat of battle and at the line the 68P car Lamb had propelled his car to first over Penn, Dare, Knight, Palmer, Parker and Hollyman stealing away a very important 7th as he crossed the finish.
Once the points had been totalled up 6th overall went to the pairing of Troy Battison/Randal Tarrant, 5th Jason Lovell/Jay Knight, 4th Jayden Ward/Regan O’Brien a hugely popular 3rd to both Jemma Palmer/Grant Hollyman, 2nd Jared Lamb/Brian Taniwha and a dominant display in the final race making them out and out deserved winners Jason Penn/Jordan Dare.
It had been another action packed meeting from both championships and I would like to congratulate the winners and competitors for turning it on for us.
We have a break now at ZM Meeanee when the next event is 18th Feb. The Maulers will be contesting a Stockcar teams match.
A VERY BIG THANKS TO DARRIN WILSON FOR ORGANISING THIS EVENT.
Seeyou trackside
Mike Wilson
Sportsimages
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