TAKE a bow Big Al!

Hawke's Bay's Al Howatson made sure the North Island Streetstock Championship title stayed in the Bay when he took out Saturday night's 33-car Championship at Meeanee.

It was appropriate Howatson should capture the title as his business, Forestry Maintenance Ltd, was the major sponsor of the championship. He won the title by three points from Whanganui's Simon Bland and Rotorua's Mike King, a two-time winner of the title, was a further two points back in third place.

"I'm rapt the Bay has gone back to back but I'm buggered now," Howatson said before the prizegiving.

He was referring to the fact he raced in two 12-lap qualifying heats and three 15-lap Championship heats on Saturday night after wet weather forced the two-night Championship to be reduced to a one night meeting.

A 54-year-old veteran of nine years in the class, Howatson, was competing in the championship for the third time.

"I couldn't have won it without the support of my clubmates. The Bay boys did a top job tonight," Howatson said.

Nine Hawke's Bay drivers qualified for the Top 26 in the Championship. They were  Howatson, Kennedy Browne, Hawke's Bay champion Dontage Irfan, the 2002/'03 season winner of the title Darren Melling and David Adams from the Forestry Maintenance Group and defending champion Brent Redington, Thomas McEwan, Kurt Bentley and Paul Dixon from the Mag & Tyre Group.

Final placings in the Championship were: Al Howatson (Hawke's Bay) 71 points 1; Simon Bland (Whanganui) 68 2; Mike King (Rotorua) 66 3; Dontage Irfan (Hawke's Bay) 62 4; Adam Graham (Auckland) 56 5.

Just five drivers contested the Tier Two Mag & Tyre City of Hastings Streetstock Classic for non-qualifiers. Final placings were:

Phillip Mortensen (Auckland) 52 points 1; Jaxon Whyte (Rotorua) 49 2; Simon Whitley (Gisborne) 47 3.

Stockcars, Superstocks, Saloons and TQs provided the Support Class action on Saturday night. There was also an entertaining Stockcar Teams race between the Meeanee Maulers and Orange Roughes which was staged as part of the selection process for the Maulers team to compete in next month's National Teams Champs in Auckland.

Ethan Dorward produced an outstanding drive for the Roughies and was on target to secure the win before he was blocked out of contention by three Maulers on the second to last lap. This allowed Gibson Tout to secure the chequered flag for the Maulers.

The Maulers team which will compete in Huntly this weekend  is: 10B Ethan Dorward, 75B Leroy O'Riley, 78B Gibson Tout, 85B Willy Stevenson, 261B Ethan Anderson.

Nineteen Stockcar drivers fronted on Saturday night and Bay clubmates Bradley Penn and Jemma Holloway were the respective heat winners.

Twelve Superstock drivers turned on some fast and furious racing. Heat One saw Hawke's Bay's Jacob Buckrell secure the victory and the Gisborne-contracted Regan Penn and Hawke's Bay's Ben Milne finish second and third respectively. Penn and Buckrell finished first and second respectively in Heat Two and regular Stockcar class driver Caleb Ireland raced Regan O'Brien's car to third place.

Heat Three saw Penn secure the chequered flag and Ireland and Buckrell finish second and third respectively. Ireland delighted the O'Brien family with his victory in Heat Four which saw Zach Glenny cross the finish line in second place and Mac Kwok finish third. 

Just five Saloon drivers fronted. However this class produced the most spectacular collision of the night which involved Hawke's Bay clubmates Wayne Melling and Jeremy Browne in Heat Two.

Track photographer John Faulkner has some superb photos from this incident on his Facebook page. 

Browne had earlier won Heat One in this class. Palmerston North's Paul Hosking and Calvin Honore were the respective winners of Heats Two and Three.

Fourteen TQ drivers including Gisborne visitors Seth McKay and Karl Carpendale were in action. Heat One saw Hawke's Bay champion Duane Todd capture the chequered flag and clubmates Lee Erskine and Bart Dudding finish second and third respectively.

Ryan MacGregor took out Heat Two from clubmates Chris Wiffin and Sam Warner. Todd won Heat Three from MacGregor and Adam Coonan.

Todd secured his third win in Heat Four from Chris Wiffin and Scott McIntosh.

A two-time 1NZ, Todd, will be hoping this form continues when Meeanee hosts the New Zealand Grand Prix on February 24. This meeting will also feature a Caravan Derby.

- Shane Hurndell

Article added: Monday 12 February 2024