2023 WORLD 240’S QUALIFYING COMPLETE!
By Daniel Neville
The biggest meeting of the season at TWS Paradise Valley Speedway kicked off on Friday January 20th and it was the always popular World Invitation Superstock Championship. It was bigger and better than the last two years with the English continent able to take part again due to Covid restrictions being lifted and joining them were two Dutch drivers which added a bit of interest to the event. Once again it was 3 time winner of the event 515gb Frankie Wainman Jnr who led the charge along with 555gb Frankie Wainman Jnr Jnr, 1gb Charlie Sworder and the From Holland 418h Niels Tesselaar & 410h Jelle Tesselaar made their NZ racing debuts.
The qualifying took place with over 100 entries fighting for just 20 finals spots to join the overseas drivers along with last year’s Superstocks In Paradise winner, 46b Quinn Ryan. Unfortunately the defending champion and current 2nz Jason Long was not present, calling time on his racing career at the beginning of this season so a new world champion was being sought from the outset. Also, last years runner up and third placing were not in attendance with 58p Peter Bengston switching to super saloons and 3nz Mitch Vickery taking time out due to an accident at Paradise Valley earlier in the season.
The red group got the weekend underway and after a turn 1 pole up it was 19c Malcolm Ngatai who led with a whole lot happening behind him including current 1nz Asher Rees circulating much slower than the rest but still managed to finish in 20th place. Ngatai went on to win and collect maximum points. Heat 2 saw 1nz Asher Rees back on the pace and taking the win while heat 1 winner Ngatai came unstuck losing a wheel when he put a shot on 62p Adam Joblin. Heat 3 saw another win for 1nz Rees with 99b Jacob Buckrell following the national champ home.
Red Group Qualifiers: 93m Marc Dunn, 7r Michael Rumney, 1nz Asher Rees, 99b Jacob Buckrell
Green group was next and heat 1 went to the way of 335r Ken Hunter from 72a Cody McKee in a face clean race. Heat 2 was rough at time with 37s Shane Denham providing the most notable incident cannoning off the wall and getting plenty of airtime. 581p Jordan Dare collected the win from 95n Alex Hill. Heat 3 saw another win for 581p Dare to see him qualify comfortably with 29g James Clark second.
Green Group Qualifiers: 95n Alex Hill, 581p Jordan Dare, 29g James Clark 335r Ken Hunter
Green Group Points
Blue group gridded up next with 88p Jack Miers on pole but it was 127g Ethan Rees who led after lap one and went on to win from Miers with 56v Trent James third. Heat 2 was over in a flash with 87g Brodie James home first from the 5w of Keegan Levien. Heat 3 was also won by 5w Keegan Levien which saw him through to the finals after calling for the 3 minute bell prior to the race.
Blue Group Qualifiers: 5w Keegan Levien, 87g Brodie James, 88p Jack Miers, 127g Ethan Rees
Blue Group Points
Yellow group greeted the starter next and an action packed race saw many in the wall on lap one and a coming together between 722p David Lowe and 15r Paul Mabey resulted in Mabey losing his wing. At the end it was 13w Brad McGee who won from 57v Dylan Marshall. Heat 2 saw pole sitter 638r Robbie Morris squeezed up and over on lap one and was out. A few laps later it was 17k Troy Mace who took a tumble and joined Morris on the infield. At the end 5g Josh Prentice took the win from 722p Lowe with 94r Dale Stewart third. Heat 3 was won by 971c Jayden Ward from 5g Prentice
Yellow Group Qualifiers: 5g Josh Prentice, 971c Jayden Ward, 13w Brad McGee, 94r Dale Stewart
Yellow Group Points
The fifth and final group was purple and had 46w Ethan Levien on pole. A first lap drama saw former winner of the event 52p Scott Joblin get pushed onto the front of 991c Daryl Wallace with Joblin unfortunately out. Pole sitter Levien got the job done winning from 172p Daniel Burmister. Heat 2 saw 10g Peter Rees get the win from 19m Kerry Remnant from 22w Richard Gaskin after a tidy race. Heat 3 was more action packed than the rest with a few of the points leaders getting attention. 10g Rees got the win from 133s Tyler Walker.
Purple Group Qualifiers: 10g Peter Rees, 46w Ethan Levien, 22w Richard Gaskin 99m Todd Hemingway
Also over the 2 nights was the sixth running of the Sharky’s Engineering Aotearoa Ladies Stockcar Crown run over 6 heats. Race one saw the get stuck in and a win going the way of 15a Alicia Gordon with 112p Hannah Pearson following Gordon home in second. Heat 2 saw defending champion 14b Jemma Holloway get the win from 85g Brittany Carpenter in another classic ladies race. Heat 3 saw another win for Gordon with 42b Lauren Swift with Holloway third.
Tomorrow night the first race will start at 6:30pm and it’ll be the repercharge to find the last qualifier with the main event underway from 7pm. There will be the World 240’s finals over 3 heats as well as the Superstocks in Paradise 2nd tier, a third tier competition and possibly consolation races if there’s enough cars still going. In addition to all that the final 3 heats for the Aotearoa Ladies Stockcar Crown will take place and also a teams race between Rotorua Rascals and the Palmerston North Pumas.
Meeting Photos - www.sportsweb.co.nz
