MACGOR'S NEW ZEALAND SPEEDWAY
Easy to remember address : www.macgors.has.it
19-10-2002
Huntly Speedway Season Opener
By Macgor
Huntly's new season of speedway action got off to a great start with the first meeting featuring plenty of aggression combined with high speed thrills . 
A dozen or so saloons , 10 agrade stockcars , 21 std stocks ,9 streetstocks , 11 minisprints and a zillion ministocks provided a show worth watching with the meeting winding up at a most respectable 10 pm . Biggest crash of the night was performed by 91m Andrew Marks when he rolled his super saloon big time . 
.Agrade stockcars in attendance were 8h Dave Roigard , 85h Jarrod Wade , 181m Lazlo Mezzaros in the ex Murray Hobbs nz title winning flier . 65m Mark Thompson , 5h Shaun Wade , 15 Steve Pribicevich , 16a Aaron Headington , 75a Dave Tennant , 12h Chris Bear  and 33h Callum McCloud . 
The racing I thought was aggressive and fast . 
Standout performer for me was Jarrod Wade in the awesome sounding 85h and he dominated for two wins out of three races on the night . I'm picking who ever is close to winning the NZ Champs this season better be checking their rear vision mirror as the laps wind down because 85h is likely to lining you up on his way to snatching the win .
12h Chris Bear won the first race when the front running pair of Roigard and Wade tangled and became stuck together . Bear was impressive though and showed later on in the night he was prepared to play wait and tag when he was out of the running for a top placing .
8h Dave Roigard is another that looked fast and although 15a Steve Pribicevich had teething woes the car when running right looked fast . When the chips were down a little of the animal killer instinct was showing and that's what I like to see .  
The ten car field may have been a little smaller than hoped for but was much better than the four car effort that fronted for last season's Huntly opener .
 
Std Stocks came from all the northern tracks including Kihikihi I thought until I realised that the cars were all carrying Huntly registration rather than the familiar 'K' . My feeling was of sadness because this means the Kihikihi field of stockcars must be decimated . I hope I'm wrong .
Plenty of class in the field for Huntly's opening night though with 2nz Clive Pritchard and 3nz Steve Axtens adding prestige . 71H Tony Wootton was the first race winner but from then on he was in the wars . 5h Greg Martin and 2nz Clive Pritchard were the other winners athough it was a well performing 5a Noel Hawthorne that took the silverware on the over all points score .
73m Clinton Thickpenny impressed as usual with his ability to dish out the hits and take them back again while staying on the move come what may .

Saloons
 A mix of supers and mostly Ltds with 96a Lance Jennings and the mazda rocket of Ken Sines providing the edge of the seat thrills . Momental rollover for 91m Andrew Marks did heaps of damage to the car and 41m Neville Stewart exploded the engine in his ltd ending early what looked to be a promising start to his season . Some good racing in this class but the track turned slick everywhere , excepting for the pole lane , making passing difficult . .

Streetstocks
 nine cars and a few Mintie's moments to stop them being too much of a bore .

Youth Ministocks
Heaps of the little critters and driven more proffesionally than some of the glamour classes .

Minisprints
The eleven that showed bettered the 7 that kicked of the season last year . First race was a goody but after that I lost interest .

Printed program & Commentating
 I know someone down the line that will have a chuckle at this . Listed as commentors were none other than Frank Irvine , Graeme 'Mintie' Mead and Malcom Simms . The reality is that Frank Millar , Graeme "Mintie' Mead and Malcom Sines are the men meant . For some reason I hate it when programs get this sort thing wrong . A little proof reading would fix it easy . 
Mintie was on his own for the opener and a wonderous job he did too . Enthusiasm , excitement and info were all conveyed and if I get the time I will put up a sound bite of Mintie in full cry . Good Stuff !! .

Food was passable but next time I will take my own .

Overall the meeting was well run and finished in a timely fashion at 10 pm which caught a few by surprise as they sat and waited for the next event . I had expected a bigger crowd than what attended but I had forgotten about the rugby game happening down the road .
A good start to the season for Huntly and if they can build from it the Waikato fans will be in for a good time 

The burnout pad that many of the speedway
drivers couldn't resist testing
Nigel Ross was the first crasher of the season but
returned to excel the rest of the night
Two of the ex 'K' cars and another one
Minisprints Ministocks
71h Tony Wootton  was the first std stock 
winner and 5a Noel Hawthorne was right there 
keeping him honest most of the way
Wootton returned to form as the night 
progressed and his car is looking well used 
already
The ex Kevin Free dinky toy is now a std stock
but still carries a famous number
12h Chris Bear impressed and the car looks real
good too
85h Jarrod Wade would have thrice won if the tangle with 8h Dave Roigard hadn't happened
2nz Clive Pritchard and 3nz Steve Axtens added 
prestige
Saloons probably mostly had hoped for a more
trouble free run
Ken Sines out wide rounding 41m Neville Stewart  The smoke denotes the demise of 41m
91m Andrew Marks took a big dump that is sure to set  his season back somewhat
.