BUSY NIGHT ON THE TRACK AS QUALIFIERS SORTED FOR M.I.P.
By Daniel Neville
The 2021 New Zealand Dirt Track Racing Magazine sponsored Tubby Norriss Memorial Ministocks in Paradise at TWS Paradise Valley Speedway with qualifying kicking the weekend off on February 12th featuring over 130 of the 12 to 16 year old drivers along with some of the more experienced ones. As it is every year there are championships for seniors and juniors. There was fierce competition to make the finals with the youngsters giving it all they had.The top 26 from each division would make the finals with the rest racing in 2nd and 3rd tiers and consolation races.
The first win of the weekend went to the 16w Levi Poufrom the group red for seniors who made the most of his front grid. Heat two saw a close win for 11s BraithKalin who had 212r Terence Dorrellon his bumper the whole race. The third and final heat saw 48b Riley McLachlan get tipped onto his Sid on lap one forcing a restart where Dorrell marched to the win.
Red group qualifiers: 212r Terence Dorrell, 16w Levi Pou, 25k Jake Belk, 64w Samuel Hargraves, 22g CruizMcCreath, 81b Keegan Bunce
Blue group for seniors was next out and after a bit of push and shove near the start it was 24a Zach Hannam who took the win in impressive style. Heat two was rough once again with 46r Louis Taylor and 941r Alisha Clarey out after less than a lap following a big tangle up. Things tidied up from there with 97c Ben McSweeny getting the win. A frantic heat three was won by 47w Harrison Hocking with 12w Tim Pucker a close second place.
Blue group qualifiers: 97c Ben McSweeny, 24a Zach Hannam, 67k Blake Castleton, 65r Imogen Aulding, 56v Trent James, 95r Mitch Fabish
Green group for seniors produced 3 different winners with 13s Cody Ogle, 16r Ashton Osborne and 116a Zac Ingram all sharing the flag in their reasonably tidy heats.
Green group qualifiers: 16r Ashton Osborne, 13s Cody Ogle, 116a Zac Ingram, 71c Amber Brooks, 42r Tasman Bryson, 81n Callum Russ
Yellow group for seniors heat one was close at the front win going to 45s Corban Swan. Heat two seemed to take a long time to complete with multiple stoppages happening before 88r Cohen Wright too the flag.Heat three belonged to 72b Bailey Smith who took the lead halfway through the race and left the rest in his wake.
Yellow group qualifiers: 72b Bailey Smith, 88r Cohen Wright, 93r Flynn Fraser, 47k KamCastleton, 28h Ayrton Hodson, 97h Jayden Dreadon-Manning
The two next best points scorers that make up the 26 are 11b Liam Danielson and 47w Harrison Hocking
The Shane Warner Engineering Ltd Junior Orange group had a first up win for 21n Jack Bursonand also featured the first rollover of the weekend with 717h Levi Jones catching some air.
Burson was unlucky to be towed off before the beginning of heat two where 39r Caleb Stanaway took the win. The third heat had Stanaway home first again, this time by a huge margin.
Orange Junior Points
The cream group for the juniors had a win first up for 7w Thomas Davis. Heat two saw Davis on the grass midway through with the win going to local 71r Cody Harford. Heat three saw a few bumps and bangs with the win going to 21b Tom Steel.
The finals for the senior and junior championships will take place from 6pm Saturday with tier two and three and consolation races for the others.