POLISHED REHEARSAL FOR QUINN RYAN

By Shane Hurndell

IF one was to ask any Hawke's Bay speedway fan to name their best four hopes from the province for a podium finish at next week's New Zealand Superstock Championship at Meeanee Quinn Ryan's name would be a certainty.

Ryan will go into the PTS Logistics Ltd-sponsored championship with plenty of Hawke's Bay Hawkeyes teammates for support. He has reliable machinery and Ryan isn't short of mates from other regions.

Also the long-serving Hawkeye couldn't have asked for a better rehearsal than his winning of the BJs Bakery-sponsored 28-car City of Napier Superstock Classic at Meeanee on Wednesday night.

Ryan was one of 21 locals and seven visitors who turned on a fast feast of racing with their focus on polished rehearsals for next week's Championship. Because of entry numbers, the decision was made to run the four race system, with each car getting three races and one race stand-down, with points tallied after race four to find the final place-getters. 

For a change, the locals were the best on the night, with 46B Ryan taking top honours with two firsts and a fifth for a total of 62 points. Second was 422B Dylan Ashton on 58 points, with 99B Jacob Buckrell third on 57 points. Fourth was 98B Quintin Butcher on 55 points and fifth was 81B Sam Bartholomew on 54 points. Best of the visitors was 71K Shayne Mellsop with 46 points for ninth place. 4K Chad Ace was running hot with a fifth place in Race one and third in Race two, but a DNF in Race three put paid to his chances.

While the track surface grew slick early in the programme, the water truck changed the dynamics on Race 3 after a watering changed the track surface, to see cars spinning out on the corners - cars that don't normally spin out.  However, Ryan had the good sense to reduce speed and take a well deserved win after starting off grid 13.

Fastest lap of the night was recorded by Ace with a time of 17.817s seconds in Race one.

The Hawke's Bay Saloon Championship and Hawke's Bay Production Saloon Championship were the other feature events on Wednesday night.

Gisborne's Daniel Cook in 77G won the 19-car Hawke's Bay Saloon Championship with 59 points. Cook recorded two firsts and a second placing. Second place went to Stratford's 12S Blake Hooper with 54 points and promising host track driver Jeremy Browne in 18B was third with 52 points.

Thirteen drivers chased the Hawke's Bay Production Saloon Championship. After winning the first two races Wanganui's Brent Hackett in 434V only needed a top three finish in the third race to capture the title.

Hackett completed an unbeaten night to win the tile by four points from Rotorua's Peter Cradock in 63R. Huntly's Brian Jackson in 68H was a further six points back in third place.

The best of the Meeanee starters was Dave Cartwright in 79B who finished fourth. Hawke's Bay's Joshua Green in 87B had a spectacular roll.

This roll was magnificently captured by track photographer John Faulkner. See his "water feature" photo among the photos which accompany this review.

Ministocks, Stockcars and TQs were the support classes at this meeting. 

Fresh from his title-winning effort at the Gizzy 100 Ministock event Hawke's Bay's Tom Steel in 21B again posted three wins and has now won eight consecutive races.

Twenty eight Stockcar drivers fronted. With first, second and third placings Palmerston North's Kyle Lampp in 772P  was the top driver on the night with 81 points. 

His brother Taylor Lampp in 992P was five points behind in second place. Jemma Holloway in 14B was the best of the Bay starters with a third placing and 73 points from third, fifth and sixth placings.

Nineteen TQ drivers were in action. Gisborne's Dylan MacGregor in 17G was the top driver on the night with two firsts and a second placing. Hawke's Bay's Duane Todd in 6B was second with first, second and fourth placings.

Kihi Kihi's Harry Hodgson in 12K was third with second, third and seventh placings.

Article added: Saturday 30 December 2023