The Nelson Garage Doors Fireworks and Stock Car teams racing night bought back the “Boom” at Milestone Homes Top of the South Speedway with three solid teams' races, the opener a feel out before the second went skyward in intensity then an epic last lap in the 3rd race to decide the overall results, the Cando Crushers making use of the blocking skills of team captain Jay Holtham to hold the Tasman Thunder runner Riley Eathorne up, enabling Troy Cleveland to take the win in the opening race and take out the Dumelow/Martin Trophy. Thunder captain Adam Hall ended his race early after being parked up the wall by Crusher Samuel Jack.The second heat was a swing for the Thunder, Kohu Whalon rolling himself and Crusher Braden Lawton, Whalon ended back on his tyres and was able to continue while Lawton was left parked on the infield, Eathorne getting the job done to take the win squaring the points for the Danny Holtham trophy.It was the final race of the night that would decide the overall winners, Crusher Dave Houston Jnr led the opening lap before the Thunder slowed his progress, but teammate Troy Cleveland took the lead right up until lap 8 of 10, the Thunder blocker doing enough to get Brenton Coleman in to the lead on the final lap, but Cleveland was to have the last say, pushing Coleman wide in the first turn to have a clear run to the line, the Crushers doing enough to take out the competition 2-1.  The teams racing proving a real crowd pleaser in a packed stadium, the return of the Thunder looking strong for future meetings. The usually jovial Jay Holtham left speechless as he was the first to receive the Danny Holtham trophy in honor of his father. Clearly emotional, it was a fitting way to end the night's festivities.

There were plenty of other competitions happening throughout the night, the T.Q.’s ran the first round of their Club championship, a shortened feature race saw 1nz Jeremy Webb come from the back grid back to grab the lead before the race was ended under yellow. He had won an epic opening race with experience getting him across the line against the 17-yr old Kohen Thompson, with another 17-yr old Malakai Webb 3rd, a repeat of their South Island placings when they last met in Greymouth last year. Morgan Frost’s last race was in that same event in Greymouth; his return to the track netted him the heat 2 win and was 3rd in the final race behind Malakai Webb when it ended early. It was a tough battle with a tacky track; race lines were as spread out as a braded riverbed; there will be some tired hands that kept a tight grip on the steering wheel all night. The rest of the field did their best against the visitors, clean racing all night on a difficult track.

The Dave Scott Memorial Trophy for the Super Stocks looked clear cut on the track for Brett Nicholls to claim the win but a sharp eye spotted a flat rear tyre in the final laps of heat 3 to deny him points and the trophy, the result putting the returning Jason Moir into first place after consistent results as others struggled on a difficult track, Alex Hill’s roll over after clashing with Michael Oakley in heat 2 quickly forgotten as wife Alicia Hill picked up her first race win in the Super Stock grade. Shane Harwood found a better set-up in the final heat to claim 2nd overall while a couple of trips South to race by Blake Hearne to learn his new car netted him 3rd overall. Their next major meeting will be the South Island title here in early December; it promises to be an epic event if the Christchurch cars turn up in force.

The first of the blind triples event was in the Streetstocks, a healthy field make for some interesting moments, not knowing who your partner was kept the big hits at a minimum, but there were a few cars looking very second hand by the end of the night. The wash–up was a part family affair, Ryan and Andre Musgrove with Richard Bateman in tow, took out 1st place. Perry Soper, Malita Evans and Daniel Honey finished in 2nd place with Jordan Gillespie, Shane Chapman and Kynan Reed 3rd. A steady build up towards their NZ title in January, they have a couple of big meetings ahead, a Tri-series and Open Streetstock Championship still to come before Xmas.

The other blind Triples was run in the Production Saloon grade, their final heat was missed due to time constraints, the class fielding bigger numbers this year, the mix of drivers ages range from teenagers to almost octogenarians, youngin’s watching TikTok's on their iPhone while the oldies are listening to Tick Tock's on their pacemakers (lol). The triples of Shaun Heath, Paul Adcock and Easton Salter finishing 3rd, Brett Allen, David Leitch and Morgan Wells 2nd with the winners by 2 points were Eddy Frans, Phil Taylor and Matt Chapman. The first race of their night was a return match against Eastern states for the Mike Inwood trophy, Eastern States extending their lead to win 60 points to 40 over the 2 meetings.  

The Quarter Midgets were paired with a Three-quarter Midget driver for the night. After a roll over last meeting for Darcy Rasmussen, it was a clean sweep on the night against the in-form Lakyn Thompson who had won both of his previous meetings. Blake Stilwell is starting to challenge the leaders, while Bailey Bensemann keeps knocking on the door of the podium. The pairing results with the 3 ¼ Midgets had Mack Rawson finish 3rd with Jayden Corkill, Bailey Bensemann paired with Mark Bezett while the winners were Niko Harper and Morgan Frost.The most competitive grade might just be the Youth Ministocks, the number of drivers that have their eyes on a race win have never been tighter, grid position and being able to manage traffic has sometimes been the difference between winning and not making the top 5, it just so close between the drivers.  The opening race on the night had a couple of the top drivers off the front, Eli Gare and Locky Martin once again resuming their battle for top spot over the past few weeks, the tackiness of the track and passing lap traffic meaning the lead was swapped several times, but the pivotal moment was when Martin was spun down the back straight as they were joined by Bailey Jefcoate in a 3-way tussle. The referee’s throwing on the yellow and putting Martin back to the front of the pack, after the restart, Gare and Jefcoate kept up their competition while it gave Martin enough space to take the win, fist pumping inside the car as he crossed the finish line, post-race a couple of disqualifications ended a couple of drivers nights. Tate Carpenter fresh off winning the CTRA S.I. title in Ashburton a week earlier took out race 2, he is another that has found the podium on multiple occasions, while Kade Taylor won heat 3 and will be a genuine threat to the boys throughout the season. The newer drivers are gaining confidence, keeping race lines so the older drivers can pass being part of the learning curve, some of the older drivers sometimes forgetting that that used to be them when they first started.  

The President opted for the bigger fireworks package this year and the crowd got their money's worth as the sky lit up in a multiple of colors and sounds, you could feel the heat from the double-barreled explosions that ended the show, the thousands of kids had the stadium humming with ooh’s and argh’s throughout the display, the team’s racing providing the icing on the cake on a perfect Nelson stunner of a race night and Alister Thomas got to play with his new stadium lights..

📸BM Photography

✍️ Jody Scott