McNABB's PRODUCTION LINE

By Pete McNae

The Nelson Speedway Association might not have delivered the knock-out blow to Covid-19 when they opened their 2021-22 season with the Trackman Trophy meeting, presented by A Plus Builders, tonight, but they certainly gave the tricky virus the old one-two.

One: They held a meeting at alert level 2, amid confusion around gathering rules, with another club's potential misreading of the situation sparking a late Friday night call to Speedway New Zealand to make sure Nelson was on the right side of the law in holding a race night.

And two: The community-focused club jumped on board the Super Saturday promotion in conjunction with Nelson Bays Primary Health and set up a vaccination clinic on-site, delivering more jabs in three hours than Motueka did in a day – and handing out 46 free passes to future meetings.

Given the circumstances around staging night one of the summer at the Milestone Homes Top of the South Speedway, it wasn't surprising that a couple of bugs (not Covid) showed up. The big dollar super saloon and superstock classes were pulled leading up to the meeting with shipping and upgrade delays meaning both classes were too short on numbers. The superstocks are expected to be on an upward curve with 12 to 15 cars in various stages of progress but, by Wednesday's committee meeting, there were just four locals and the two entered Canterbury drivers opted to stay home and run a double practice on their home track. Dave Manera was the only super saloon driver entered so that class, too, went down the plughole.

Then a choppy track surface ruled out the sidecar class. Twice, the five teams at the venue warmed up to see if there was a safe racing line but wisely parked up and will run their Trackman Trophy championship later in the season.

And it was cold. But it is mid-October and Nelson were racing and people were happy to be back in their favourite spot, many masked, all scanned and most trying to maintain a 1m bubble.

Back to the track, that left six classes vying for Trackman Trophy glory, the prize named after the late Murray Teece who used to present the cups and whose name is honoured by the club at this meeting each season.

Star turn and also winner of the John Pomeroy Memorial Trophy for the best performer on opening night was production saloon driver Kaylim McNabb. It's not often the class gets the spotlight but McNabb didn't leave anything to chance, bombing three wins from three starts and taking a daring outside line, out beyond the clay cushion, that few others were willing to risk. His best effort came in the feature race, when he started from mid-pack, dived to the outside and was in front by the end of lap one. Apart from his Honda's detachable rear bumper, little went wrong for McNabb who tallied 36 of a possible 36 points, five clear of Jordan Gillespie who put up a good fight in a couple of heats, with Blenheim's Brett Allan third overall.

There was plenty of lap time for the two youth classes, quarter midgets and youth ministocks with each class welcoming a handy group of first-night drivers. Doing double duty was Conley Webley, adding a ministock to the stable. The improvement in last season's quarter midget drivers, with a season of experience behind them, was obvious, Locky Martin, Meneka Rawson, Kohen Thompson and Webley all coming on nicely but Canterbury's Jack Brownlees showed great poise in traffic.

The youth ministock class saw presentation levels through the roof in a strong field of 16. The cars of Toby Walker, Deegan Broker, McKenzie Keene, Callum Russ and Jack Burson arrived with striking paint and graphics, but it was Burson who sewed up the Trackman Trophy for the class with a fourth, a win and a second placing to put him a single point ahead of Nelson clubmates Russ and Blake Hearne. They ran off for second and when Russ nipped, Hearne tucked and vice versa, Russ barely getting the better of a close duel on the line. Well-performed Cantabrian Ben McSweeney was fourth as Nelson welcomed in a few from Blenheim, some from the Coast and a couple from Canterbury across the six classes.

In fact, the three-quarter midget and stockcar honours both went out of town, with James Thompson the TQ champion and Wade Sweeting, who has a number of track codes under his belts already, winning the stockcar hit to pass for Canterbury.

The TQs, to the surprise of absolutely no-one, also logged the first roll of the season with Cambell McManaway the unlucky driver, crashing heavily with a lap to go in the feature. The track was a bit of a nightmare for the lightweight open wheelers and McManaway appeared to get sucked in by the muck, powering into the turn 3 wall and rolling. The front end of the 56N took a caning from the concrete and McManaway was disappointed to be starting his season with repairs ahead.

The race was won by Thompson, who started on the front row alongside Corkill and didn't give the Nelson driver a clear look at the lead although the nose of the 11N was alongside on a number of occasions.

In the stockcars, Sweeting went 1-2-1, taking time out to run Troy Cleveland up the wall in heat two. In positive signs for the class here, KC Rose, Kynan Robinson and Riley Eathorne made their debuts with Braden Russ also arriving in his birthday present to himself, a former Hawke's Bay car.

Sweeting was confident enough to start half a lap in arrears in a bonus race to end the meeting and still climbed to third as Canterbury's Matty Leigh played stirrer and hampered Eathorne before focusing on Max Baker. Sweeting came away with 32 points, four clear of Dylan Clarke with Cleveland in third, Morgan Dumelow fourth and Eathorne fifth on debut in a car out of Christchurch. Local numbers are still tissue paper thin so the support of the Blenheim and Canterbury cars made a big difference.

The final class managed good numbers, and they were all local after three Coast cars failed to front. The streetstocks were a revelation last season and look likely to put their hands up again this summer with good fields, more to come and enough action. Matt Watson was a deserved Trackman champion after putting his bumpers in and gathering 35 points, one clear of Richard Bateman with Neville Soper third. Bradley Evans started the night on form but then tangled with Watson while Ryan Musgrove is a brave man, dicing with the Falcons in his little Nissan and coming away with a win and a wall-bump in a bonus race later in the meeting.

Next up for Nelson is the Coca-Cola Fireworks night, featuring the Racing for the Kids fund raiser in support of the Child Cancer Foundation on October 30. With the constant changes regarding the virus, it would be wise to keep an eye on the club Facebook page around seating limits.

Photos: Rebecca Connor Maling, BM Photography

Article added: Saturday 16 October 2021