ROYAL RUMBLE

By Pete McNae

The decade hasn't started well for the royal family over in jolly old England. Prince Philip is resting in peace, Prince Harry has gone rogue and, if you get a card from the Queen when you turn 100, when you turn 16 you get a text from Prince Andrew. Perhaps they should stake their future on King Wade the First.

Blenheim's Wade Sweeting, who races his 151C stockcar out of Woodford Glen, lived up to expectations when he took out the Stockcar King of the Ring promotion, presented by Baby on the Move Nelson at the Milestone Homes Top of the South Speedway tonight. Sweeting, who has been in cracking form so far this speedway season, invited the attention of all comers in the lead up to tonight's meeting – and a couple had a go – but with a first and two seconds from his three heats, the crown sat comfortably on Sweeting's swede.

The King of the Ring was dreamed up to replace the South Island championships, scrapped this season because Covid-19 created playing fields that weren't even for all. Seventeen drivers chose to have a crack, a smaller field than anticipated, but that was true right across the meeting.

Maybe it was the snapper in the bay, or the 240s on livestream or just the Christmas credit card bills arriving in the inbox, but the entry list in most classes was sparse and only the stockcars consistently offered the entertainment expected. That was a pity after some long, hot hours by a handful of club members produced the best track of the season while there has to be some doubt around how many more meetings will be run before Omicron sends us all home to sulk.

Stockcar entries came from Canterbury, the Coast, Blenheim, Palmerston North and Nelson with local newcomer Braden Lawton having one brief run in his sharp new car before parking up. And the three heats were all busy without becoming all-out warfare, the most common scenario being a block or a hit being quickly repaid, with interest.

That's how heat one kicked off, as Sweeting got through the pack and cleared out while Dylan Clarke and Roydon Winstanley had a couple of moments, Clarke's opening shot drawing a prompt response from Winstanley that saw both cars head infield with tyre and bumper damage. Jack Rarity, Morgan Dumelow and Robert Gaskell also started something that would have a sequel later as Sweeting won from Blenheim's Leighton Stanton with Dave Houston Jnr from the Coast in third.

Heat two seemed set to be headed Sweeting's way too until, late in the piece, Paul Stanton in 57GM blocked him. Sweeting took a second or two to get his payback in, allowing Dumelow to slip past for a popular win by 0.2s, Houston Jnr was right there again in third. Canterbury's Josh Brosnahan, Clarke and fellow Nelsonian Max Baker were in the middle of the muddles.

Sweeting took a three-point lead into the deciding heat and just needed to stay out of trouble to be named the King of the Ring. Dumelow's charge ended on the wall, on top of Gaskell's car, Clarke and Leighton Stanton swapped shots and Paul Stanton slowed to block, got turned sideways in turn two and was smacked hard by Sweeting, who still went on to finish second behind Winstanley. Official points gave two winners for heat three but second was still enough for Sweeting to stack up 58 points, four clear of Houston Jnr with Gaskell third overall. Baker was the best of the Nelsonians in sixth.

A couple of club championships were decided but very small fields stripped them of some of their gloss. The sidecars had four starters, a far cry from the days of five on the grid and another five waiting to race. They did deliver three close heats, Brent Steer and Wade Thorn making the perfect start before Nathan Ching and Shaun Solly took a narrow points lead after heat two as Steer-Thorn got sideways and were clipped by the 14N bike of Rob and Harly Martin, both teams staying onboard. The title was decided in Ching-Solly's favour when Martin-Martin had a big wobble coming off turn two and lost momentum, allowing the 8N through to the lead and another club championship. Steer-Thorn claimed second with the Martins excluded from the heat three points.

The three-quarter midgets have been the backbone of the club in recent seasons with big fields and plenty of action. Tonight, they struggled for numbers as they wrapped up the third and final round of the club title. The meeting was running so far ahead of time that the class was handed a 25-lap feature but it came just as the sun was setting down the back straight. John Schoester was the driver worst affected. After being sent to the back of the pack for creating contact in turn two, Schoester was foot down and charging when he caught the rear wheel of Mark Bezett's car in the tricky conditions and cartwheeled into the wall. Race wins went to Jayden Corkill, James Thompson and Cambell McManaway (feature) with Corkill, Thompson and Alicia Hill the top three over the three-round championship.

The SM Hydraulics series drew a big field of quarter-midgets for round two of five. The little cars got an extra race to pad out the programme but series race wins all went to Canterbury drivers with Jack Brownlees taking two and Malakai Webb one. Isabelle Clark was pinned sideways on the wall in an early race but came back to almost pinch a win at the end of the night while Lakyn Thompson was the most successful of the local drivers. Respect to Bailey Bensemann, who had a good first race after a big crash in Ellesmere last weekend and young Taylor Martin who is staying on the lead lap as he gets quicker with each meeting.

Another driver who took a big tumble last weekend and still found his way to the front was Harlen Brunt in the youth ministock class. Brunt's previous victory lap in Nelson had been on the back of the tow truck but this time he got to complete one under his own power. Toby Walker broke through for the win that had been brewing and Luke Higgins got to use the Meat Loaf “two out of three ain't bad” line by winning twice. Kierren Flower was down from Rotorua in the immaculate 9R car and hung around the front of the field.

Production saloons and streetstocks completed the meeting but low numbers, popped tyres and wide open spaces turned their races into processions. Blenheim's David Allan took a well earned win in the sparse production ranks while a couple of his mates from over the saddle; Ryan Morrison and Richard Bateman, stood out among the streetstocks.

If health settings allow it, Nelson's next meeting will be on February 12. Already a better streetstock field has entered the Hi Reach Access Solutions Streetstock Summer Showdown with the ExpressLube 30-lap streetcar race slotting into the same programme after being held over last weekend.

Photos: Rebecca Connor Maling, BM Photography

Article added: Saturday 22 January 2022