REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL

By Pete McNae

There are plenty of grumpy people around these days. If you're not immediately sure why, don't worry ... they will tell you. But, every second Saturday, the Nelson Speedway Association attempts to lift the gloom with a race night at the Milestone Homes Top of the South Speedway.

It worked for Jeremy Webb, he was happy. Brett Nicholls was well pleased. Callum Russ and Jack Brownlees had plenty to smile about. Rob and Harly Martin let their joy shine through. And the little dude who smoked the field in the kids' bike race on his balance bike was the happiest of them all.

Chances are the speedway association and Child Cancer Foundation were contented too, after it was Nelson 1, nature 0 tonight with the Racing for the Kids charity meeting conducted against a backdrop of Covid conditions and intermittent drizzle. But, as always, the club got the job done, completing a handful of championships before rolling into the annual Coca-Cola fireworks display which sent punters home smiling and only slightly soggy.

Fireworks night tends to draw a number of once-a-season patrons, but the aim is always to run an entertaining meeting so those families might come back later in the season because they enjoyed the on-track package. And it wasn't bad – not one for the archives but let's go with the rose-tinted race goggles and look for silver linings rather than grey clouds.

Things got off to an unusual start when Darcy Rasmussen got tangled up in turn 2 in the quarter midgets and rolled from wheels to rollcage and back on to his wheels at just his second meeting in the sport. Undaunted, the eight-year-old's car was restarted, and he finished the race, providing a great story for the classroom on Monday. Brownlees, visiting again from Christchurch, swept the Racing for the Kids promotion for the class with three straight wins with Kohen Thompson coming closest to breaking the streak. But Brownlees, on 42 points, clocked in well clear of Thompson with Nelson's Bailey Bensemann and Locky Martin tied for third.

The other youth class, the ministocks, provided the night's tightest finish. Luke Higgins got clear in heat one and drove tactically through until the final corner when Jack Burson found a way through, crossing the line with a margin of less than half-a-second. A two-place relegation later, Higgins had the win from Callum Russ with Burson back in third. Later races were mopped up by Russ, although there was usually not a lot between him, Burson, Higgins and Blake Hearne. The final points gave Russ the Racing for the Kids title by three from Burson with Hearne and Higgins in close company. Aaron Marshall from Blenheim has looked good this season while Ashley Harrington's well-turned out car came all the way from the Cromwell club to take eighth overall.

Completing the kid focus was the push-bike race that was run mid-meeting. This year Zoe and the team from the Junior Members club put a lot of effort into getting as many entries as possible, with around 70 kids in various ages and stages spread around the track. The littlest riders on balance bikes, trikes and trainer wheels went off the greatest handicap and the winner got the biggest cheer of the night when his little legs propelled him to the flag first.

The Covid-induced cancellation of the Woodford Glen meeting scheduled for tonight saw a couple of extra stockcars and a streetstock swap across to Nelson – and do a pretty solid job of repping the C. Wade Sweeting had already chosen Nelson in his 151C stockcar, but he was joined by Harley Robb and SI champion Braydon Lennon, while Nathan Martin entered from the other side of the Buller Gorge and Roydon Winstanley continued to fine-tune his new 82P car. Most contact was accidental or incidental -- Max Baker might dispute that – and tyres popped by the track trench in turn 3 spoiled few drivers' chances, but Nelson's Dylan Clarke finished all three heats up near the front to be the leading overall point scorer, ahead of Winstanley, who had a second, a win and a flattie, with Morgan Dumelow a well-deserved third. In fact, Clarke and Dumelow were the only drivers to get across the line all three times as Baker took a big hit that dislocated the rear of his car – which was then dropped off the tow truck.

There was a matching heavy hit among the streetstocks when Kieran (Fiddy) Davies hit the back straight wall in race two and Ray Brand came off the corner following other cars and ended up funnelling straight into the 26N at speed, ending the meeting for both drivers. After a difficult run with his BMW's reliability seemed to have ended with a handy second place in heat one, Brand was left with more broken bits and Davies' run of rough luck continued. Cody McCarrison and Ryan Musgrove fronted with straight new cars and picked up a win apiece but overall hit to pass champion was sole Christchurch visitor Matthew Cruden, who struck the right mix of pace and push. Neville Soper won the stirrer's prize while second overall was McCarrison with Harry Moffat-Schwass in third. Mention, too, to Malita Evans for her fourth placing overall in just her second season and to Greymouth's Brad Kahui – there was always a reason to watch the 44GM car, whether it was leading races or angle parking in the wall.

Superstocks made their first appearance of the season and, as anticipated, early season fragility showed out in the Trackman Trophy series. A legit field of eight local cars, plus the two immaculate historics of Andre Vegas and Brayden Nell, dwindled alarmingly by the end of the meeting to three running cars, plus the two invited classic cars although Vegas' Rover V8 was losing water and running a temperature in its final outing. Adam Hall and Shane Brooks will have been happy with their first night in a new class, Ian Clayworth, Matt Inwood, Chris Baxter and James Nicholson less so with both Clayworth and Nicholson on the wrong side of the very strict noise rules the club must meet. Trackman Trophy champion was Brett Nicholls, the 48N Gordge rarely misses a beat and Nicholls has thousands of Nelson laps under his belts. Brooks and Hall were second and third overall.

Sidecars also got to run this time after a chopped up track saw them opt out for safety reasons on opening night. Five combinations fronted for the Mark Thorn Memorial Trophy and, while Nathan Ching and Shaun Solly's trophy win was no great shock, the second place getters caught the eye. Rob and son Harly Martin haven't had the easiest of introductions to the class, but they finished just a point behind Ching and Solly and had a super second heat when they won going away from their chasers. The excitement was evident, even through their race gear.

Last class on the card was the TQ midgets with four-time national champion (and that is four times in a row) and defending 1NZ Jeremy Webb returning to his home away from home in Richmond. Race one went his way, he ran out of laps to reel in Cameron McKenzie in race two, then had a ding-dong battle with Dylan Bensemann in the feature. Bensemann was out for the first time this season after bending his chassis in multiple places last summer and almost caused the upset in the feature, Webb making the right call in lapped traffic to duck past for the win as he found his groove. Bensemann was well pleased with second, despite ruing that one missed passing opportunity, with Jayden Corkill third in the feature.

And that was meeting number two in what shapes to be a masked, mandated and slightly stilted summer as the club works to keep to the rules while others either haven't got started or have seen problems, rather than solutions. Nelson's next meeting is on November 13 when Mike Rollo of Harcourts presents the Hydraulink War of the Wings sprintcar series.

Photos: Rebecca Connor Maling, BM Photography

Article added: Saturday 30 October 2021