WE PROMISED some Easter Treats during the weekend's East Coast Championship meetings at Meeanee Speedway and they were delivered big time.

Fans will be talking about Hawke's Bay Superstock driver Jack Cunningham's roll during Heat Two of Sunday's night's East Coast Championship for the next two decades at least. It is the most spectacular and highest roll by a Superstock at Meeanee since the class was introduced to our sport.

Track photographer John Faulkner has some cracker photos of it and if this photo isn't an award winner at the Speedway New Zealand awards later this year I'll be surprised. More detail of the roll will be found later in this report.

Almost as spectacular was Hawke's Bay TQ driver Duane Todd's roll during Heat Three of the East Coast TQ Championship on Friday night.

Once again Faulkner has captured this incident well.

While Cunningham and Todd emerged almost unscathed from these incidents there were serious concerns for the wellbeing of Hawke's Bay's North Island champion Sidecar swinger Ann Plummer after her mishap during the East Coast Championship for her class on Friday night.

However fans were happy to hear Plummer was able to leave hospital on Saturday with severe bruising.

SUPERSTOCKS (report from Barry Sklennars)

At Friday night's Alexander Electric-sponsored meeting 27 drivers (17 locals and 10 visitors) fronted for the Hawke's Bay Superstock Championship.

The racing was hard and fast with all drivers intent on scoring good points over the first two races. This is the normal pattern for most Championship events.

Race 1 winner was 89G Tyler James, second was 31W Josh Patterson third was 422B Dylan Ashton, fourth was 9b Adam Groome, fifth was 96W Brad McGee and sixth was 89W Dale Robertson. Most started off front row grids except for Robertson who made the most passes, starting off grid 25.

Race 2 winner was 46B Quinn Ryan second 53V Shaun Smith, third 22B Zach Lawrence, fourth 47B Zach Glenny, fifth Robertson, sixth 99B Jacob Buckrell.

Points after the second race were: 1st Patterson 46 points, 2nd= Ryan,45, 2nd= Robertson 45, 4th= Lawrence 44, 4th= James 44, 6th McGee 42, 7th= Smith 38, 7th= Glenny 38, 7th= 76B Ben Milne 38.

The dynamics changed for Race 3, where several HB cars went into blocking mode, especially against the visitors. The results are indicative of how the race went with the leading local cars being barely untouched, while the visitors were hampered by the blockers.

The winner was Glenny, 2nd Lawrence, 3rd 52B Regan O'Brien, 4th 89B Keegan Bunce, 5th 66A Randal Tarrant, 6th James.

The final points tally resulted in a new HB Champion in Lawrence with 70 points, 2nd James 66, 3rd Glenny 65, 4th Robertson 61, 5th Ryan 60, 6th= O'Brien 58 & 6th= Milne 58.

Easter Sunday dawned fine and clear, and with some visitors returning home early after Saturday night's meeting was postponed, the East Coast Champs for Superstocks produced a total of 23 cars - 16 locals and seven visitors.

The track conditions had changed from the Friday night event, with a fairly loose surface hampering grip. However, this event was full of action and a real crowd-pleaser.

On the first lap of Heat One 66A Randal Tarrant was squeezed against the concrete wall exiting turn 2 and received his first rollover in his Rees chassis car. Then on lap two, 89G Tyler James got tangled with 46B Quinn Ryan on turn two resulting in 89G rolling, also in a Rees chassis car. By race end, there was a fair amount of damage, with six cars not finishing. The race was won by 96W Brad McGee, 2nd was 235G Regan Penn, 3rd 422B Dylan Ashton, 4th 99B Jacob Buckrell, 5th 76B Ben Milne & 6th 81 Max Holloway.

Heat Two again proved a torrid affair, with the track surface once again causing problems for drivers. On lap two a gaggle of cars were exiting turn two when 25B Kairyn O'Brien went wide and 71B Jack Cunningham ran over O'Brien's front wheel and launched into the air, rolling sideways and hitting the track surface nose first.

This would have to be one of the most spectacular and highest rolls seen at Meeanee for some years. Luckily Jack emerged unhurt from his car, to the relief of everyone.

The race resumed at pace, with 422B Dylan Ashton taking the flag and the win. 2nd was 47B Zach Glenny, 3rd 81V Max Holloway, 4th 99B Jacob Buckrell, 5th 76B Ben Milne, 6th 11B Bailey Warner.

At the end of race 2, points were as follows: 1st 422B Dylan Ashton 44, 2nd= 81V Max Holloway 39, 2nd= 47B Zach Glenny 39, 4th 99B Jacob Buckrell 38, 5th 76B Ben Milne 36.

Heat Three started with 25B Kairyn O'Brien on pole with 81V Max Holloway right behind him and 52B Regan O'Brien alongside Holloway. Kairyn briefly held Holloway up, allowing 52B Regan to take the lead which he held right up to flag fall. 99B Jacob Buckrell started off grid 2 and finished 2nd, with 81V Max Holloway 3rd. 422B Dylan Ashton 4th, 96W Brad McGee 5th and 235G G Regan Penn 6th.

The final points ended with: 1st 422B Dylan Ashton 64, 2nd= 99B Jacob Buckrell, 2nd = 81V Max Holloway 60, 4th 47B Zach Glenny 54, 5th 76B Ben Milne 52.

Normally with a tie on points, a run-off is held, but time constraints resulted in a countback to the fastest lap recorded over the three races for both Holloway and Buckrell. As Holloway recorded the fastest lap time he was awarded 2nd place and Buckrell 3rd.

TQs

Friday night's 32-car East Coast TQ Championship was taken out by Kihi Kihi-contracted 2NZ Aaron Humble. He finished one point ahead of Rotorua's Terence Dorrell and Humble's clubmate Kayden Barker was a further two points back in third place.

On Sunday night at the Mag & Tyre Warehouse Hastings-sponsored meeting 20 TQ drivers fronted for the Dusty Rhodes Memorial Trophy 20 lapper. Points accumulated during the first three heats determined the grid draw for the 20 lapper.

Kihi Kihi's Regan Tyler, who recorded a lap time of 15.939s during the 20 lapper, captured the trophy. Hawke's Bay's Adam Coonan did well to finish second and Humble third.

STOCKCARS

The 34-car East Coast Stockcar Championship consisted of six races - three on Friday night and three on Sunday night. Hawke's Bay's Brad Singer won the title by five points from clubmate Caleb Ireland.

Jemma Holloway completed the host track trifecta finishing a further five points back in third place. Huntly's James Marshall was the best of the visitors with his sixth placing.

MINISTOCKS

Sixty drivers chased the East Coast Ministock title which involved qualifying heats on Friday night and Championship heats on Sunday night.

Hawke's Bay's Memphis Trengrove won the title by four points from Wellingtonian Thomas Davis. Palmerston North's Ashton Dorn was a further 11 points back in third place.

Non qualifiers contested the Meeanee Classic. Hawke's Bay's Aiden Dudding won the Classic by three points from clubmate Logan Smith.

Another host track driver Abigail Cullum finished four points behind Smith in third place.

PRODUCTION SALOONS

Regular Wanganui visitor Brent Hackett won the 17-car East Coast Production Saloon Championship by three points from clubmate Ray Jaggard. Huntly's Mark Levin was a further three points back in third place.

Lewis Claypole was the best of the Hawke's Bay starters with his fourth placing, seven points behind Hackett.

SUPER SALOONS (report from Melissa Kingi-Collier)

Our Hawke's Bay Super Saloon drivers completed a massive weekend of racing over the Easter Weekend. Having travelled to Palmerston North on Good Friday for the 2 Wide Nats where our very own 6B Grant Flynn won the title and 95B Jeremy Browne also made the podium with a 3rd Place.

Saturday, it was load up and make the trip to Bay Park in Tauranga where they raced for the Bay Super Saloon Sundown. Our HB drivers came away with some impressive results considering the top-class field and a 30 Lap Final. 5B Steve Flynn finished 4th overall, 6B Grant Flynn 6th, 41B Jason Long 8th, 95B Jeremy Browne 10th and 33B Chace Rodda 11th.

After Meeanee raining out Saturday and postponed to Sunday the drivers had the opportunity to race a third night with a late addition to the new race programme. All drivers were keen as anything as this would give us the last required meeting for the season to meet the SNZ Criteria to be able to host the NZ Super Saloon Championship here at Meeanee in the future.

Sunday night was made up of 2 heats and a feature, it was great to be able to welcome our newest Bay driver 18 Dan Monteperto and have all our guys battle it out at home. 41B Jason Long continued his success in his first season in Super Saloons starting on Grid 4 in the first heat and taking out the win, closely followed by the Flynn brothers 5B Steve Flynn from grid 5 to finish in 2nd and 6B Grant Flynn starting on Grid 7 to finish in 3rd. A special mention and thank you must go to 58P Pete Bengston and 69M Craig Partington for travelling to the Bay and supporting our track.

Sadly, our youngest driver 95B Jeremy Browne had engine issues and was out after the first heat and won’t be making it back out this season but watch out for him next season, he is improving and making his way through the fields at every meeting. One to watch in the future that’s for sure.

Heat Two saw 5B Steve Flynn take out the win from grid 4 over 6B Grant Flynn with a consistent 2nd and 41B Jason Long moved his way up from Grid 5 to finish in third, Kevin Martin 4th came from 6th to 4th and 33B Chace Rodda from 8th to 6th.

Going into the feature, grids are determined by highest points over the two heats. 5B Steve Flynn took out the feature win with 92B Kevin Martin making good ground from grid 4 to finish in 2nd. 6B Grant Flynn started from Grid 3 finishing in 4th and 33B Chace Rodda moved up from Grid 6 to finish in 4th. It was a good night and the guys all deserved a well-earned rest and some chocolate on Easter Monday!! (After washing the cars of course)

Our HB drivers really appreciate the support of the fans and their sponsors throughout the season.

SIDECARS

The East Coast Sidecar Championship wasn't completed.

- Shane Hurndell

- Photography: John faulkner photographer

Article added: Thursday 04 April 2024