All Matt Evans' Christmases came early in 2024. The longtime supporter and sporadic competitor at Nelson's Milestone Homes Top of the South Speedway was the surprising new face when the superstock boys held their class meeting ahead of the new season. Evans had raced production saloons, a stockcar and numerous streetstocks –but a superstock was a definite change of gear.It turned out that Evans was the beneficiary of a generous gesture from a chap in Blenheim namedBryan (Fozzie) Peake. Fozzie owns the 54E superstock, a Gordge chassis running a MidwestMotors Toyota V8. A passionate superstock guy, Fozzie had previously run the car as 54N with Jono Webb at the controls before it was parked for much of last season. With Nelson hosting the DC Equipment New Zealand Superstock Championship, supported by Mean Machine and TWS, this summer, Evans was the right man in the right place at the right time to inherit the drive.

He'd been crewing for Blenheim's Chris Baxter (a talented driver whose return in his Top Gear-Ford has been frustrated by the late arrival of engine parts) and was chatting with Baxter, when the topic of Fozzie's car came up. “I casually asked what the plans were,” Evans said. “Chris said, 'Keen, are you?' and it spiralled from there. We went over to Renwick, had a look, sat in the car, had a chat about how it might all work ... Fozzie was up-front, he said he just wanted the car on the track and offered me thedrive.”And that's how Evans became a somewhat unlikely addition to the Nelson class. His race history has been marked by cars that weren't quite up to it, resulting in part-seasons and long periods away from the sport. After starting as a spectator looking up to the likes of “Bigfoot” Tony Frost,Trevor Wishart and Karl “Mad Dog” Morgan as a 12-year-old, his fan-dom was crystallised when Morgan called him down to the pits one day and gave him a supporters' T-shirt. “That one moment, when a driver I was hero-worshipping reached out to me, that's when I was hooked,” Evans said. As a teenager, he started in a Datsun 180B production saloon, and got the best part of two seasons before his class mates suggested his driving style was better suited to streetstocks. He followed that advice with an XF Falcon but fatherhood at 18 contributed to one of many long breaks from the sport.

That changed when the Sangster family upgraded Dan's stockcar and offered their previous ride to Evans to run.“Not sure why but, pretty early in the piece, Ricco Gray smoked me off the end and KO'd me and that was the end of that.”Evans admits that his subsequent attempts to get back on track, in tired streetstocks, amounted to “trying to string sh*t together with a rubber band”. With a growing family and work to prioritise, racing speedway was pretty much done until he started crewing for Shane Brooks in his stockcar and then helping Baxter when he signed with Nelson in his Tank superstock, before the more modern Top Gear was purchased. That's led to the current opportunity in the 54E Gordge. “I guess, when you go through the history, you'd say there was no prospect I'd ever get to race inthe class I'd always dreamed of – the top of the tree for me was watching Higgy and Boote and Hewitt. To be here now, in a championship season on my track, I feel like I'm living the dream.”Peake's car is getting on a little but the Midwest motor is always on-song and incredibly reliable.Old stockcar shocks have been replaced with superstock-specific ones, the car has been scaled and set up for the first time in a while and there are new Hoosiers in the shed for the champs tore place ones with sun cracks in them, they're that old.“We are going to give it a go,” Evans said. “I know there's an E on the car for Fozzie but I am N(Nelson) to the core and, if I can do something to help a Nelson driver get a number, then car and body are on the line. “We have guys in our club who are good enough to take out the whole thing but you need luck and help and if I'm in a position to do a good deed for a Nelson driver, that's my goal for the weekend.”Evans has a handy mentor in former Tigers teams racing captain Jared Gray.

His advice has been invaluable in set-up and subtle changes while he's also been able to mentor Evans on strategy and techniques.“How good is that? One of the drivers I followed for years has taken us on and wants to share.Boris [Gray] has come on as a sponsor and fabbed up a new birdcage when we shattered one, but his knowledge is just as important to me.”Gray's teams racing nous could also be handy, too. Evans has made it clear that he'd swap track codes and run with the Tigers in their return engagement with the Canterbury Beagles team in February, if asked. He's full of respect for the way young drivers Blake Hearne and Callum Russ have engineered a revival of teams racing in Nelson and would love to be a part of it, having competed in a streetstock State of Origin meeting for Greymouth.The five who took their best shot in Nelson in November deserve to have the inside running but Evans is keen to tick off another life goal. And the reason for his urgency is that this superstock season appears likely to be a one-off.

While Fozzie has left the current deal open-ended, and even offered the car for sale, Evans has almost certainly decided to step away at the end of the season. He and fiancee Mel are planning a wedding, are keen to travel and are the owners of a 1973 Mustang they want to use more often.“I'm comfortable with that ... perhaps I've sold myself a bit short with patched-up gear in the past but this season, thanks to Fozzie and Mel and some bloody good people, I've raced in my dream class, won a couple of races, and I have the opportunity to enter a national title meeting on myhome track,” Evans said.“I fully realise I couldn't have done this without a lot of help ... a LOT of help ... but I can walk away knowing I've had a go at something that not many people get the chance to do.”Matt Evans is grateful for the support of his partner, Mel, Fozzie Peake, Chris Baxter, Jared Grayand Tom Macleod. He races with sponsorship from a long list of helpers, primarily GeoSolutions,

JE Imports, Malibu Caravans, Broad Engineering, Renwick Automotive, Ultimate Auto Glass,High Rev Motorsport, NZ Super Artist, Pulse Graphic and Design, CT Media and his employer,Nigel Bryant Logging.

• The DC Equipment New Zealand Superstock Championship, with support from Mean Machine and TWS, will be raced over two nights, January 10-11, at the Milestone Homes Top of the South Speedway.

Written by Pete McNae

Photos by Rebecca Connor Maling, BM Photography