23-11-2002
Waikaraka Park
City of Auckland (Std) Stockcar Classic
By Macgor
I spent most of Saturday working on vehicles outside in bright
sunshine yet come time to head off to speedway and the clouds roll in bringing
some mild moisture to dampen my speedway spirit . A last minute sprint
to Huntly option was not needed though as the rain stopped just leaving
a bitterly cold wind to harass us through the night . Another shower of
rain during the second heat of the Std Stock Classic caused some
of the less hardy to head for home .
Std Stocks
Huntly , Rotoua and Baypark cars joined the Auckland
locals to make up a 34 car field which was somewhat less than the hoped
for 52 car turnout but still plenty good enough in numbers to produce a
show of the kind I like to watch .
Qualifying was needed to reduce the field to the standard
26 cars stipulated for championship heats so they were split into two groups
and given two heats each with the first 13 cars on points from each group
qualifying for the 3 championship heats .
I had hoped they would run sudden death qualitying of
one heat for each group to find the first twenty and then lump all the
non qualifiers into a race to find the final six . This would have saved
time and time there was not enough of on this night with the meeting not
winding up until sometime past 11.00 pm
Qualifying was not tame racing and plenty of pot shots
were taken particularly by the locals on the visiting cars . Standout performers
for me at this stage of proceedings were 2nz Clive Pritchard , 73m Clinton
Thickpenny , 66a Peter Church , 57a Clint Herring and 67a Nick Krisnic
.
Like I've already said , the racing was not tame with
plenty of spins , wallings and general rough house mauling happening .Most
of those expected to qualify did so with the notable exception of 68a Freddo
Morgan who was well on his way but ground to a halt a lap before the end
of his second heat .
Std Stock Classic
Heat One
| Starting Order |
69a |
188h |
143r |
72a |
21h |
66a |
18a |
88a |
26a |
45a |
25a |
99a |
94a |
172h |
67a |
5a |
57a |
198m |
8m |
62a |
63a |
97h |
145h |
43h |
73m |
2nz |
| Finishing Order |
66a |
69a |
145h |
67a |
57a |
45a |
73m |
8m |
21h |
143h |
26a |
25a |
5a |
88a |
18a |
172h |
72a |
94a |
62a |
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It was gone 9pm before this event took to the track
and the real mayhem began . First spinner was 62a David Moore in turn two
and the next 198m in turn three . Both cars got going again while
everyone's eyes were upon the movers in the pack bumpering their way through
from the rear of the field . The main two were 2nz Clive Pritchard and
73m Clinton Thickpenny who had plenty of pace but had to be wary of the
wild card locals looking for scalps . 8m Scot Fredrickson was another going
well but looked to be the target of a vendetta and when he was left side
ways in turn four 2nz had nowhere to go but into him . 2nz must have been
up into the top three at this stage and although he bounced off 8m and
a whack on the rear bumper from 72a sent him on his way again there was
less than a lap left in the 2nz car before retirement for the night .
A red light was needed to retrieve 97h Adam O'Grady after he received a
massive hit in the rear while stationary on the main straight courtesy
of 143h Tony Bennetto who hadn't seen him because the 143h had done most
of the main straight up the wall at the mercy of some culprit or another
. Actually I think the culprit was 57a Clint Herring but I'm not 100% on
that .
Good race , plenty of action with 66a Peter Church winning
, 69a Richard Fletcher going well for second .
The big surprise was 145h Phil Brisco who earned third
by way of an unnoticed drive all the way from grid 23 . 67a Nick Krisnic
, 57a Clint Herring and 73m Clinton Thickpenny were all impressive too
.
Heat Two
White = Did Not Start
| Starting Order |
172h |
67a |
5a |
57a |
198m |
8m |
62a |
63a |
97h |
145h |
43h
|
73m |
2nz |
69a |
188h |
143r |
72a |
21h |
66a |
18a |
88a |
26a |
45a |
99a |
25a |
94a |
| Finishing Order |
5a |
145h |
66a |
73m |
45a |
57a |
69a |
67a |
88a |
99a |
25a |
21h |
72a |
188h |
18a |
8m |
172h |
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The starting order for heat 2 listed above is as called by
the announcers but for some reason 172h Ricky Ireland started from the
rear instead of his rightful pole spot and gaps for the missing cars were
not maintained when they lined up on the track .
73m Clinton Thickpenny was the first outsider to be spun
. A big incident involving 26a? saw a section of the wall in turn two turned
to shrapnel and a red needed to clear the mess up . 66a Peter Church showed
how when the going gets tough the tough get going and cleared the opposition
out of his way to claim third place at the end . Fly in his ointment though
was that 145h car of Phil Brisco who came home ahead of him in second place
. 5a Noel Hawthorne had a good run to lead all the way for 1st place money
.
Heat Three
| Starting Order |
2nz |
94a |
73m |
99a |
143r |
25a |
145h |
45a |
97h |
26a |
63a |
88a |
62a |
18a |
8m |
66a |
198m |
21h |
57a |
72a |
5a |
43h |
67a |
188h |
172h |
69a |
| Finishing Order |
57a |
73m |
67a |
43h |
66a |
45a |
69a |
5a |
88a |
25a |
18a |
8m |
188h |
145h |
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Once again the table above is the way the field should have
been assembled for the third and final heat . The reality was a little
different with once again the gaps for missing cars not being correctly
maintained .
Interest was focussed on points leader at this stage 66a
Peter Church on 50 points and 145h Phil Brisco only one point behind on
49 points .
Brisco was leaving from grid 7 and Church from grid 16
which meant Church actually had to catch and pass Brisco to be an outright
winner . There were three cars missing from the grid between them so those
three spots were gifted to Church before the race ever started but the
way Brisco had been running meant Church had a tough task on his hands
unless his clubmates helped out .
8m Scot Fredrickson was the first outsider to be disposed
of in cemetary bend by 72a Norman Anderson followed soon after by 73m Clinton
Thickpenny in pit bend by 43h Tony Bennetto . All cars continued
although delayed .
By the time the first lap was completed it was 57a Clint
Herring in the lead who in theory had left from grid 19 !! . The reality
was somewhat different though because the 57a appeared to be in the wrong
place on the grid and had started two or three rows further forward .
5a Noel Hawthorne had decided his chances of winning the
classic were zero so was creating chaos among the visiting cars . 57a Clint
Herring got spun by a retribution seeking 8m Scot Fredrickson . 73m Clinton
Thickpenny was performing the hell drive on his way towards the front of
the field while 66a Peter Church was also making places steadily .
At this stage though nobody I sighted was looking like
dealing to the 145h Phil Brisco machine until Peter Church caught him up
and did the deed himself , shunting 145h off the end of the main straight
and into the wall leaving 145h with just enough mobility to make for the
grass infield . Briscoe eventually returning to the track at the end of
the race to record a last place finish .
Peter Church survived a determined attack from Scot Fredrickson
that almost but not quite succeeded in putting Church around on the back
straight but while he was recovering 73m shot past and headed off into
the distance . Fredrickson was dealt to soon after by Noel Hawthorne
as was Tony Bennetto in 43h .
62a David Moore was next in the line of fire when he was
set upon by 188h Justin Hutchby and 172h Ricky Ireland in turn three and
molested
all the way down the main straight and around cemetary
bend until Noel Hawthorne figured the Huntly cars were easy prey and attacked
. The end result was even more pressure applied to 62a David Moore causing
the 62a to ride up the wall and be left high and dry once the other cars
cleared off . A red light was actuated to retrieve 62a .
I reckon David Moore is worthy of special mention for
his efforts during this meeting . As I understand it David is in his first
season of Std stocks after graduating from the youth ministock class .
I first noticed him last weekend when he seemed to attract much attention
from his comrades who punted him here there and everywhere around the track
but despite the heavy handed treatment he kept coming back for more.
On the night of the Classic it was much the same , his
car was running like a pig without grunt and sounded even worse yet
he still fronted the thing for every race and caused as many problems as
possible for the other cars while withstanding many an attack from visitors
and locals alike . I'll watch his progress this season with interest .
When it was all over 57a Clint Herring received the winners
flag for heat 3 and Clinton Thickpenny just pipped 67a Nick Krisnic for
second at the line .
It was 10.45pm by this time and despite there still being
two more races on the program I called it quits and headed for home . Full
results for the Classic are on the Waikaraka
Park site but when the points were tallied 66a Peter Church was the
deserved winning , 57a Clint Herring was 2nd and 73m Clinton Thickpenny
was an impressive 3rd
 Left
to right
3rd - 73m Clint Thickpenny
1st - 66a Peter Church
2nd -57a Clint Herring |
Overall
A good meeting with the Std Stocks turning on plenty
of action and the 10 car field of Modifieds doing likewise . Saloons and
Ministock also played their part in providing an entertaining night
of speedway . Commentating by Jamie McCarthy and Barry Brown was good and
informative . If there was a downside it was the delays caused by wheel
packing laps and on getting cars gridded up . Racing incidents also
caused unavoidable delays and it did seem some drivers were just a bit
quick giving the thumbs down signal at times .
Hopefully there will be another page added to this review
covering the other classes if I can find the time .
 |
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| Peter Church - Classic Winner |
Top Cars = Top action |
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45a Neville Langdon tusselling with
2nz Clive Pritchard |
4 wide and room for more |
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| White car gives Black car a taste of white
wall and that's not rubber dust that's being created |
|
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| 18a Gordon Sander |
Action aplenty |
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The beginning of the end for 2nz Clive Pritchard
when he clobbered 8m Scot Fredrickson |
Fredrickson was impressive in his bid to survive
and seek redress |
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| 73m Clinton Thickpenny being spoiled |
Cheap concrete fill 4 sale maybe |
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| 62a David Moore on his way up and out |
Fredrickson nearly got Peter Church |
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