TQ’S AND SALOONS SHARE THE LIMELIGHT
By Daniel Neville
After an annoying rain out the previous Friday, racing at TWS Paradise Valley Speedway went ahead on January 26th under beautiful sunny skies with the Central Cup TQ Midget Series and the long awaited Salute to Jumbo event for Saloons sharing the top billing.
The open wheel series was a new addition to the speedway calendar with Paradise Valley now having TQ’s as a registered class while the Saloons event had been postponed multiple times for various reasons with both features delivering some superb racing. Support classes on the night were Stockcars, Production Saloons, Six Shooters and Ministocks.
The TQ Midgets fielded a 18 cars for their opening round of the series with some top names amongst them including current 2nz Aaron Humble as well as ex 3nz and local hero Terence Dorrell. A great first heat featuring plenty of passing and a few bumps here and there with the win going to 56k Regan Tyler and a classy drive by Dorrell coming from near the back to fourth. Heat 2 was bad luck for Humble who had a tangle up and did some damage also the 25a car of Kate Groshinski came to grief after a collision left a front wheel hanging by a thread. Dorrell went on to steal the win, running down leader 21k Jack Wilson after the restart. Heat 3 was another unlucky heat for a top driver with 3nz Ryan Baker pulling up lame with a broken race car as 12k Harry Hodgson scooped the win from previous heat winner Tyler fast too coming hime second. The dash for cash feature was for the top 6 on points with the highest scorers off the back over 6 laps. It was ll over quickly with 6b Duane Todd making the most of his front row start getting the win from 44k Kayden Barker second from 4a Troy Pennington with Dorrell making up a few places after starting off the rear. The big 20 lap finale had cars on track with Dorrell and Tyler on the front row. Tyler for the jump and led them away with Dorrell chasing. The 56k car had much pace and got out to decent lead that he would not surrender. Dorrell was fast but second was the best he could do with 4a Teoy Pennington getting a well deserved third.
The forever delayed return of the Saloons for their Salute to Jumbo event was finally able to happen with 12 making the grid including the legend Steve Williams who planned to retire from speedway and possibly finally can thanks to this meeting happening. Heat 1 was won by 8k Kevin Williams with fastest lap recorder and track mate 25k Reece Clements second abd Kihikihi trifecta was completed by 61k Josey Peat-Bennett in third. Heat 2 was another Kihihi top with Clements winning from 34k Craig Robson with 51k Craig Marsh third. The 22 lap feature was split in 2 featuring a pair of 11 lap dashes and the grid being reversed at the halfway point. The points from both races combined determined the overall winner. Part 1 was controlled by 51k Craig Marsh and 21a Steve Williams before they paused to change grids. Part 2 was a masterclass by the veteran Williams who guided the 21a from grid 10 to second in behind 8k Kevin Williams who took part 2 win. Overall though Steve Williams took the win from Marsh with quiet achiever 146a Paul Wright accumulating good points for third on the podium.
The Stockcars had four races and boasted newly crowned 2nz Logan Peat and the former NZ champion 10w Ben Ellis also 189r Milla Theobald who won the Aotearoa Ladies Stockcar last weekend and a good number of out of town visitors too. Race 1 was taken out by Peat in the 2nz after 10 tidy laps. Race 2 saw a win for Auckland visitor 16a Tyler Ingram with 2nz Peat on his bumper the whole way finishing second. Race 3 was a 144r Stephen Pattle benefit after a mostly trouble free race. The fourth and final race went to 98r Jonny Morely with 18r Jayden Steiner keeping him company in second.
The Production Saloons had 6 of the best on the night and race 1 was won by 63r Peter Cradock who held off 95r Craig Jones and 48r Dave Pilkington in a close finish. Race 2 saw a great drive by 25h Mark Levin, holding off both Pilkington and Jones for a well earned win. Race 3 saw Pilkington finally get his win after trying all night as 13r Justin Driver had his car expire in a huge cloud of smoke as the final flag dropped.
The Six Shooters made a welcome return with 12 cars, notably former podium hogger in the Saloon class Brent McClymont peddling the 5m car formerly driven so well by his son Luke. The race 1 win went to 71r Boyd Westbury in good company. Race 2 had 71m Josh McClymont on pole ans he drove it like he stole it letting no one pass him for a great win from 28m Cruz Hodson. Race 3 was an epic fight at the front with 79m Billy Grffiths leading nearly all the way with Brent McClymont shadowing him but a last gasp move saw Boyd Westbury snatch the win with Griffiths hanging onto second and McClymont good enough for third.
The Ministocks race in their age categories with the “older” division up first. Race 1 was mad battle at the front with 59g Cody Gooch stealing the win on the last corner from 46h Noah Britton. Race 2 went the way of 137r Peanuckle Rawiri with 88r George Crawford second driving the ex Cohen Wright car. Race 3 went the way of 98r Reeve Transom who led them home as a few others collected damage in the non contact class most notably 99r Declan Orr who dumped his driveshaft on the track on one of the restarts.
The “younger” less experienced Ministock group had just 2 races which yielded wins for 61r Kellie Yorke and 41r Blake Hose.
The next meeting at TWS Paradise Valley Speedway is a double on Friday February 9th and Saturday February 10th and it the Stealth Engineering Ministocks in Paradise with competitions for both seniors and juniors across the 2 meetings. It’s time for the younger generation of racers to shine and hopefully the sun will be doing the same with racing starting at 5pm both days.
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