The inaugural Queen of the Clay title and multiple grade competitions produced a flurry of winners by the end of a huge night of racing.

The Queen of the Clay reproducing the gamesmanship of the NZ Super Stock title here in January, the outcome again decided by the blockers.  A tacky track needing some flattening for the Sidecars, while the track was lumpy, it had plenty of bite but didn’t cause any major spills, the major rainstorm earlier in the week meaning the water truck was only used for rolling.
 

The lights having maximum effect on a darker autumn night. Queen of the Clay Brittany Carpenter was the one to beat after a huge win in heat one, but a broken axle and lost power steering belt in heat 2 changed the dynamics of the championship, the switch from running to full block mode in the final race decided the outcome of the Ladies Crown, Brittany’s key job, take out a couple of lead cars and protect her Cowgirls team mate Riki-Lee Kauri who was in title contention. The script pretty much went to plan, the first target was points leader Canterbury’s Laura Wier, then targeting 3rd placed Shinnae McNally before having an extended family feud with Kylie Hall, Kylie’s brother Adam Hall’s partner is Brittany’s sister. 
 

Riki-Lee steadily made her way up the field to take the lead with a couple of laps to go, the win securing an 8-point buffer from Weir and McNally for the inaugural Ladies Crown. A couple of wild rides throughout the night, Zoe Hughes having some dicey moments through the heats while the dash for cash ended with a couple of drivers jammed up and on the turn 3 wall, a hugely successful championship with some great trophies and prizes, the club can build for next year’s Ladies crown, there will be a few paybacks locked away in the memory banks of several drivers, bring on next year. 
 

Youth Ministocks 

A busy night for the club’s biggest grade, a night of fast clean racing on a challenging track for little tyres saw the cream rise to the top. It’s hard to follow points when they race 3 out of the 4 races after they get split into 4 groups, it’s not until the final race when all the points are calculated when the final outcome becomes clear, it was a dominant win after drawing pole in the final heat for Locky Martin, his final heat win giving him a 5-point buffer over second placed Andre Musgrove, Eli Gare claiming the final podium place in 3rd. 

The girls were also racing for their Queen of the Clay championship, Leliah Jefcoate taking the crown from Kayla Musgrove 2nd and Kody Hogarth 3rd, Kayla also won the Alex and Alicia Hill inaugural Ladies Ambassador trophy which will be handed out at the Queen of the Clay meeting every year. there’s still plenty of racing ahead for the youth drivers away from Nelson, but the competitiveness is only getting better as the level of racing has improved with more time on the track, there are still new drivers turning up as some of the older drivers will age out over the winter months. 

Super Stocks 

Just laps for the Super Stocks as they wind down from a huge season, nothing too exciting until Tigers Captain Blake Hearne decided to have a play in the final heat, a couple of swipes at workmate Alex Hill and a play with Shane Harwood had the crowd starting to get excited, Hill parking the Hearne car in the turn one wall at the end of the race, Hearne likely to be on the broom on Monday morning from the direction of his big boss Kerry Hill who works on Alex’s race car, at worst Blake might need to make the boss a coffee having a cheeky dab at the South Island champion. 

Callum Russ’s night ending after riding over Ian Clayworth’s front wheels, both suffered flat tyres, but Callum’s was an outside one forcing his retirement, while Clayworth struggled on with an inside one, little rubber left after the race ended.

Brett Nicholl’s got the overall points, a busy night with stepdaughter Tylar “Punisher” Pickering racing in the Ladies crown and nephew Locky winning the Youth Ministocks. Cleeve Kookshorn’s night ended early, the second week in a row while battling Nicholls. 

T.Q.’s 

The final round of the club T.Q. title came down to the wire, only 7 points deciding the top 3, the 4-point relegation in the opening heat proving costly for Kohen Thompson as he ended 2 points behind eventual club winner Jonti Austin, who knew what he needed to do in the feature race to secure the title even when Thompson won the feature race. Alicia Hill finishing 3rd overall in a small field of cars on the night, a dominant drive in the opening heat helping her points haul.

Dave McSherry having his best race of the season finishing 2nd in the feature race, while Clinton Cross kept it neat and tidy to drive the car on the trailer, some speed shown in the feature by Graeme Porter after a mixed season with engine issues. Super Saloons A small field finally made the track for the first time this season, aided by a couple of Saloons from Blenheim.
 

It was the first time since practice in October for Ian Burson to race on his home track, he has traversed the countryside all over NZ, racing away most weekends, but a lack of cars committing to coming to Nelson saw the earlier meeting cancelled, an almost impossible task of getting cars to travel to Nelson.

The car struggling on a tacky track, horsepower wasn’t required on the tight nelson circuit as the smaller Saloons proved tough to get around, the post-match speech culminated from the many missed meetings over the past few years at his home track. Daryl Martin claiming 2nd with Dale Bigwood 3rd, while a brush with the wall in the opening race left the crew some work to do on the Paul Power car. 

Production Saloons 

The Old V Young Battle was intriguing, as only one of the driver’s isn’t a grandparent, the older establishment were named as Dave Lietch, Geoff Watson and Eddie Frans, with the young ones named as Shaun Heath, Krissy Woolf and Richard Ross, while David Allen ran points for both teams as the odd one out, but managed to win all 3 races, a huge lead from the oldies after heat 1, but it was pegged back to just 2 points after heat 2, eventually the oldies running out of puff in heat 3 as the youngsters to took the overall win by the same margin of 2 points after heat 3. 

Sidecars 

The Sam Satherley Memorial was one of the few times the Sidecars have run this year, the track staff working mid-meeting to flatten out the track to make it safe enough to race the bikes on, Rob Martin fundraising some prizemoney for the fixture, Kieran and Daniel Satherley making an appearance in the 12b machine while the 54i car of Bevan Nuttridge and Michael Twose tested the track before racing commenced, Adie Drake and Jonno Kilburn returned to racing in the 47n machine.

But it was 23c Ben Morris and Graham Partridge that took the honours from Nuttridge and Twose with Rob and Harly Martin 3rd. 
 

Streetstocks 

The grade had a very quiet night, with nothing at stake, the racing was tame enough that the stirrer’s shovel was borrowed by Brittany Carpenter in the Stock car grade, it’s been a big year for many of the drivers, the cars needing plenty of TLC in the upcoming off season, Cody McCarrison back on the points table for the night from Ryan Musgrove, fresh from a good trophy haul in Dunedin last week, Perry Soper keeping tyres inflated to claim 3rd on points, big weekend ahead with 2 meetings in Blenheim before a likely final destruction race for the last meeting of the season here at the Easter Extravaganza. 

Summary 

The Queen of the Clay format proved successful, a meeting the club can build on in the years to come, combining the Girls Youth Ministock trophies as part of the night giving a strong basis for future proofing the event. The competition amongst the Ladies providing some outstanding racing, along with the Aeoteroa Ladies Competition at the 240’s in Rotorua, this could match that meeting and be the only Ladies meeting that takes centre stage as the headline promotion.

The amount of female drivers coming through the Nelson Youth grades can’t be ignored, with role models like Alicia Hill, Zoe Hughes and Nelson old girl Brittany Carpenter, they know there is a pathway where they can carry on competing in adult grades whichever class they choose, and that they have the full support of their club. 

There’s every chance that Nelson could produce NZ’s first female champion. The 26 odd races on the night still filtered through quickly, the 5pm start saw racing finish just before 9pm, which at this time of year with the cooler temperatures is the perfect time frame, the club quick to adapt the programme when needed and fix the track to keep the drivers safe and raceable for all grades. 

✍️Jody Scott

📸BM Photography

Article added: Sunday 13 April 2025