By Daniel Neville

They say that third time is a charm, right? That adage proved true for TWS Paradise Valley Speedway and their mission to complete the Valvoline Superstock Charity Invitational meeting as the first night of 2 went off with a bang.

Previous attempts to run the Steve Williams organised event were put paid to by Covid 19 and weather but the third try had no pandemic, fine weather and a line up of celebrity and 70 hand picked regular drivers all ready to entertain the crowds both in attendance and watching the live stream supplied by The Pits Media who provided excellent coverage for those unable to make it to the track. 

This meeting was also special for another reason with proceeds from the meeting and live stream being donated to two very worthy charities those being Starship Hospital and Ronald McDonald House. 

Among the guest drivers were V8 Supercars legend Greg Murphy along with modern day competitors Richie Stanaway and Andre Heimgartner will be joined by former Superbike rider Aaron Slight, Rally superstar Hayden Paddon, Darren Kelly and Fanga Dan both of Driftcar fame, NZV8 pilot Lance Hughes along with former NZ Saloon and Super Saloon champion, infamous golf caddie and event organiser Steve Williams all strapped themselves into top quality Superstocks for practice runs first up before competing in the Garage 16 Celebrity Challenge. 

The 70 invited Superstock drivers raced 3 heats in their respective groups on the first night in order to qualify for the finals on the second night in a bid to claim the $20,000 first prize with a second tier competition on the cards for those not making the finals. The top 12 from each group made the finals with 2 from the last chance repercharge also going through to contest for the prize money.

The Superstock blue group qualifying was first up with the 99k of Blayke Adamson leading them away from pole position. That didn’t last too long though with 9r Brent Stewart and 335r Ken Hunter getting past with Hunter inheriting the lead and getting the win with Stewart second, Adamson third while current 1nz Asher Rees fourth. Heat 2 was going well for most but faring possibly the worst of all was Stefan Roigard who was tapped from behind with the 58k car erupting in a big cloud of smoke. At the pointy end though it was Asher Rees improving on his first heat with the win from 26v Kaelin Mooney with 29m Ryan Hunt third. Heat 3 was super fast on a slick dusty track with 9p Brett Hyslop leading the charge until the dying laps when 46b Quinn Ryan slipped past to get the win from Hyslop with former NZ champion 66a Randal Tarrant third. Heat 1 winner Hunter in 335r had a huge moment almost tipping over but recovered and carried on racing. The fourth and final heat saw a few gaps on the grid but that didn’t stop the action with Asher Rees coming within a nudge of being the first rollover victim of the night. A few good push and shove battles took place before 166v Hayden Hart took the flag 93h Marc Dunn with 19m Kerry Remnant third.

Superstock Blue Group Points

The Superstock green group heat 1 was led by the evergreen 10g of Peter Rees who got to tue front early and never surrendered with 99m Todd Hemingway the big mover coming from grid 23 to second with 82s Hamish Booker going well for third. Heat 2 was a fast and dusty affair with 9b Adam Groome leading from pole position for much of the race but got caught up late in the piece eventually coming home third as Booker took the win from 16b Brett Loveridge. Heat 3 was a more action packed with 94r Dale Stewart taken to the wall early was was 221a Brooke Clarkson as 38v Zane Dykstra took the win from 89g Tyler James with former 2 time NZ champion 72p Simon Joblin third. Heat 4 was the last chance to qualify and 193r Gary Hunter made a great bid for that by taking the win from 62p Adam Joblin with previous heat winner Dykstra home third.

Superstock Green Group Points

The Mondiale VGL Stockcar Best of the Best event featured a star studded field including the full podium from last season’s NZ Championship. Heat 1 was fairly tidy with 735r Keegan Orr the winner from 992p Taylor Lamp with 144r Steven Pattle third. Heat 2 was won by 2nz Scott Tennant from 15s Taylor Patene with 94a Sam Wright third. Heat 3 saw sparks fly off the wall manny times as drivers pushed hard to collect points and it also featured Sam Wright getting spun up a few tims but managed to continue. At the end it was 461n Jack Rarity who took the win to head a South Island 1-2 with 151c Wade Sweeting second and 99v Cody Lockett third.

Stockcar Best of the Best Points

The Salters Cartage Ministock Battle was next on track with the youth class putting on a great first heat won by 24p Ashton Dorn with 98h Josh Hancock second and 63k Riley Brennan home third. Heat 2 was a bit rough with numerous collisions and a few near misses with 29k Dexter Curtin the luckiest of them all coming with centermetres of being t boned big time while stationary. Up front it was 88r Cohen Wright who took the win from 971r George Crawford with 98r Reeve Transom in third. Heat 3 had the same top 2 as the previous race with Wright  first from Crawford with race one winner Dorn third. There was an extra race thrown in for the youth class with the win going to 189r Jayden James.

Ministock Points

Racing at TWS Paradise Valley Speedway resumes tonight (Saturday) finals of the Valvoline Superstock Invitational a well as the tier 2 competition. The Stockcars and Ministocks will continue their respective events while the celebrities will go from practice mode to taking part in the Garage 16 challenge. The night will finish up with the Rotorua Trust fireworks display with all things getting underway at the earlier time of 6pm.

Valvoline Charity Superstock Invitational 24 Qualifiers: 
1NZk Asher Rees 
5W Keegan Levien 
9B Adam Groome  
9R Brent Stewart 
16B Brett Loveridge 
26K Mitch Vickery 
26V Kaelin Mooney 
29G James Clarke 
34P Bex Barr 
38V Zane Dykstra 
46B Quinn Ryan 
46W Ethan Levien 
56V Trent James 
62P Adam Joblin
82S Hamish Booker
89G Tyler James
93H Marc Dunn 
99K Blayke Adamson 
99M Todd Hemingway 
166V Hayden Hart 
193R Gary Hunter 
235G Regan Penn 
272M Seth McConchie 
335R Ken Hunter

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