By Daniel Neville

After a great qualifying night in the Valvoline Superstock Charity Invitational the finals took place on Saturday night at TWS Paradise Valley Speedway in front of a bigger crowd than the previous the qualifying meeting. 

It featured the finals of the Superstock Invitational, the tier 2 competition and the Garage 16 Celebrity Challenge. Also the Salters Cartage Ministock Battle continued along with the Mondiale VGL Stockcar Best of the Best competition. 

As per the first night, a percentage of proceeds from gate sales, programme sales and The Pits Media live stream were being donated to Starship Hospital and Ronald McDonald House, two very worthy charities.

The meeting began with the last chance to qualify repercharge with just he first 2 across the line of the 26 starters going to the big dancers with the rest going in the tier 2 competition. 19m Kerry Remnant had pole for the race with 81v Max Holloway alongside him. The regular turn one push left a few stranded then on lap three 12r Glenn Clarke came to grief when he tangled with 77r Lance Elsworth and rolled onto his side. 147k Matt Neilson led the restart with 29m Ryan Hunt and 10g Peter Rees in hot pursuit but it was 638r Robbie Morris who spoiled the party taking Rees to the wall and letting the chasing pack through. Race leader Neilson also copped in from Morris being taken out of first place which led to a   dramatic last corner where Hunt slipped past 307k Matt Picard and 66a Randal Tarrant to take the win with Picard second and both making it through to the finals with Tarrant getting unlucky third spot. 

The driver introductions and grid draws for the two Superstock championships took place live on the infield during the break between the repercharge and the main programme commenced. 

The Stockcars got the meeting underway and a hefty shunt into te turn one wall for 33s Tyler Walker got the action started with many more bangs, bumps and some unfortunate flat tyres forcing retirements. Out front though 94a Sam Wright took another win from 99v Cody Lockett with 2nz Scott Tennant third. Heat 2 was a push and shove affair won by Christchurch driver 151c Wade Sweeting from ex 1nz Tyler Walker second from 735r Keegan Orr. Heat 3 started with 18r Jayden Steiner lining up the rapid 5k Dion Henderson car ans leaving him stranded on the wall. Meanwhile 94a Sam Wright and 14b Jemma Holloway did a bit of infield dancing in a bid to carry on racing with the pair locking front bumpers but were unable to be separated without outside assistance. Tennant took the win from pole to win the race from 1nz Josh Walsh with 992p Taylor Lampp third. Overall Tennant won the championship with Sweeting second and Lampp completing the podium in third.

Stockcar Best of the Rest Points

The tier 2 for the non qualifiers was out next and a fairly tidy heat 1 went the way of 66a Tarrant closely followed by 52p Scott Joblin with 7r Michael Rumney getting the better of the race long battle with club mate 81r Damian Orr to finish third. Heat 2 lap 1 saw Holloway in 81v climbed up over the front of 61s Zane Riddick and nearly over as Peter Rees charged through for the win from 9p Brett Hyslop. Heat 3 had a few moments when 11r Liam Marsh was squeezed up and over then the first and second place cars of 94r Dale Stewart and 81v Holloway had a huge coming together allowing 19m Remnant to sneak through for the win from 99b Jacob Buckrell with 57v Dylan Marshall third. The fourth and final heat was over in a flash with Tim Ross taking the win from Rumney and Neilsen. Overall Randal Tarrant took first place with Peter Rees second and Tim Ross competing the podium in third.

Superstock Tier Two Points

The Ministock battle continued with 44g Corbyn Wilson taking an often rough heat 1 from 23r Flynn Ashton with 36s Ashley Lewis third. Heat 2 also saw some unprecedented contact in the non contact class. Somehow the 44g of Wilson managed the get the win again from 52p Boston Joblin with 59g Koby Gooch third. Heat 3 was equally as rough and was won by Boston Joblin this time from Flynn Ashton with 92r Blake Fraser third.

Ministock Points

The Garage 16 Celebrity Challenge saw it all get a little more serious after the previous night of practice runs. It was a great first heat led virtually from start to finish by 177h Cole Armstrong from 66m Richie Stanaway with 21r Chris Van Der Drift pipping 38m Greg Murphy for third. There were a few siderails rubbed all in th fun of the challenge while Fanga Dan in the 15r became a pin ball a couple of times but carried on the finish the race. Heat 2 was another great battle with Stanaway taking the lead early as Van Der Drift was unlucky to get a flat tyre and was out. Fanga Dan lost it and spun up in front of Murphy with both cars able to carry on following the collision. Stanaway took the race win from 198r Aaron Slight with 422b Darren Kelly going well for third. The third and final heat was another entertaining battle that was won by Ryan Wood in the 94p car with Stanaway second from 351r Andre Heimgartner. Overall it was Stanaway who won the celebrity challenge which seemed fitting as his racing career began at Paradise Valley Speedway in Ministocks several years ago. Second overall was Ryan Wood with Andre Heimgartner third.

Celebrity Points

To the main event and it was 5w Keegan Levien on pole alongside 46b Quinn Ryan and it was carnage from the get go. A three car pile up claiming 72p Simon Joblin, 26k Mitch Vickery and 82s Hamish Booker then a lap later 26v Kaelin Mooney went hard into the 82s bringing on the red lights. Pole sitter Levien got an outside puncture and was forced to retire as Ryan took the win and maximum points from 235g Regan Penn with 38v Zane Dykstra third. Heat 2 saw a bunch more drivers get outside flat tyres including 9r Brent Stewart and 56v Trent James who both had spells in the lead. 1nz Asher Rees took the win from 29g Jam s Clarke with 235g Penn third. Points heading into the third and finals heat had Rees and Penn as joint leaders from 38v Dykstra and 46b Ryan. The third and final heat was bound to be good and on lap 1 points leader Rees was smoked into the wall by Brent Stewart as Vickery assumed the lead. The other points leader Penn was also targeted. Rees recovered for third in the race as 335r took the win from 193r Gary Hunter. Overall Rees did enough to be back in familiar territory winning overall. Second went to Zane Dykstra with local favorite Ken Hunter capping off a good weekend in third.

Superstock Charity Points

Superstock|Ministock Best Pairs

There was an infield presentation before the last 4 races of the 2 cheques for $60,000 each going to Starship Hospital and Ronald McDonald House respectively as well as speeches from Steve Williams and many of the people involved. This was an indication that the whole event had been a roaring success and the huge round of applause from the crowd confirmed this to be true. 

The meeting ended with a bang quite literally as the Rotorua Trust fireworks display lit up and echoed through the valley to close out an epic 2 nights at New Zealand’s number one track, TWS Paradise Valley Speedway.

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