By Daniel Neville

All good things must come to an end, thankfully it’s only a temporary in this case, but with Easter being early this year then the conclusion of the 2023/24 race season at TWS Paradise Valley Speedway is too with the Hickey Contracting Easter Extravaganza starting on Saturday March 30th and concluding the following night. 

It was a traditionally cool evening in the valley with some hard core petrol heads making it trackside who wrapped up warm to watch the action unfold.

There were five classes competing for various championships on the first night with Production Saloons, Modifieds, Stockcars, Superstocks joining the two Ministock divisions on the 23 race programme. 

Opening proceedings was the Glenn’s Glass & Aluminum BOP Production Saloon Champs. A big field showed up with the four race format adopted with each driver participating in three. 18 cars for heat 1 made for a good race with 97b William Bayliss getting the win despite running wide at times. Second was 6h Vaughan Gliddon with another Hawkes Bay visitor 79b Dave Cartwright third. Heat 2 saw a brilliant drive from 434v Brent Hackett who went from grid 13 to het the win from 27r James Cunningham with 35h Steve Clout third. Not so fortunate was 10v Mike Lovell had a case of you picked a fine time to leave me loose wheel with his Honda Civic shedding it’s right front near the end. Heat 3 was a battle of the 48’s with 48r Dave Pilkington dueling with 48v Ray Jaggard. At the end it was 48v winning from 48r as 63r Peter Cradock got third. Heat 4 was the decider and from the start 434v Hackett jumped to the lead from the front row and disappeared into the distance taking the win from 95r Craig Jones with 27r Cunningham third. Overall Hackett had done the job winning the championship from 48v Jaggard with a tie between 48h Pillkington and 6h Gliddon needed to determine third overall. Pilkington got the jump and led for 4 laps to take third overall.

Glenns Glass & Aluminium BOP Production Saloon Champs Points

The Avery Auto Electrical Ministock Junior Champs had 11 starters for their 3 heats. A slightly slippery track made it challenging for a few in the opening laps with 47r Dylan Heard getting te best of it all opening up a solid lead which he held all race getting the win from 13r Benjamin Ramage with 41r Blake Hose going well for third. Heat 2 saw 47r Heard get the lead but spun it away late to gift 41r Hose the win from 92r Kelly-Anne Pinder with heard recovering for third. Heat 3 saw 41r Hose get the win from 47r Heard with 13r Ramage third and that’s the way they finished in the championship after 3 tidy heats.

Avery Auto Electrical Ministock Champ Jnr Points

The Insight Drainage Ministock Senior Champs had 15 starters and a big pile up in turn resulted in 471r Jordan Wadsworth in the wall and out with bumper damage after starting on pole. At the finish it was 971r George Crawford carrying the flag with brother 972r Jimmy Crawford recovering a late race incident to get second. Heat 2 was a repeat for 971r Crawford who won from 98r Reeve Transom with 93r Blake Fraser coming through for third. Heat 3 had a familiar look about it with 971r George Crawford making it 3 from 3 and winning the championship from 98r Transom with 972r Jimmy Crawford third overall.

Insight Drainage Ministock Champ Snr Points

The Barclay Engravers Limited BOP Superstock Champs was over 3 heats. Heat 1 saw defending champion 10r Alan McRobbie out early as was 4h Joel Nicholson-Mabey who copped a couple of solid hits. 335r Ken Hunter got the win in a fast race from 351r Paul Vazey and 94r Dale Stewart. Heat 2 saw 198r Mark Costello scoot away for a commanding win with an intriguing battle for the next 3 places going down to the wire as 335r Hunter came through for second from 81r Damian Orr with 94r Stewart pipping 10r McRobbie for third after some close laps together. Heat 3 was a hasty drag for the flag won by 94r Stewart from 81r Orr and 96m Dylan Towler, the heat 3 win giving Stewart the BOP championship by a point from 335r Hunter with Orr completing the podium in third.

Barclays Engravers Ltd BOP Superstock Champs Points

A rare but welcome appearance for the Modifieds contesting the Matt Thompson Transport BOP Champs. Just a small 7 car field featuring current 1nz Brad Lane and past multiple NZ champion 11a Jamie Fox. Heat 1 went to 12s Jason Kalin with 53h Barry Hunter second with 68h Cody Hata third from a fast following Lane. Heat 2 saw Lane skip away off the outside front row leaving the rest to fight it out. After 12 laps Lane took a half lap win from 96h Scott Redfern with 9s Braith Kalin holding off 11a Fox for third. Heat 3 saw 11a Fox shoot to the front from grid 2 with 12s Kalin in pursuit. 1nz Lane settled into third and that’s the way they stayed until the end in a quick race. Overall it was a tie for first between Lane and Kaelin with Fox third on his own in third. The run off over 4 laps and after 2 false starts it was Kalin who got the jump and kept Lane chasing the whole way to claim the championship with some wheel stands on the straights making it more spectacular.

Matt Thompson Transport BOP Modified Champs Points

The last race for the Modifieds was the traditional 15 lapper for the Ginge Hayward Memorial with the top points scorers from the earlier heats running off the rear of the grid. Hata got the jump with 9s Braith Kalin behind whotried everything to get past and almost did it on the finish line with Hata getting there first by a fraction of a second from Kalin with Fox home third in a flag to flag race.

The Hynds Pipe Systems Ltd BOP Stockcar Champs saw 2 groups racing over 2 heats each with the top 14 from each going through to the one race final.the group 1 heat 1 went to 735r of Keegan Orr from 5r Dion Henderson with former national champion 10w Benjamin Ellis third. Heat 2 for group 1 was another busy race which went the way of 18r Jayden Steiner from 98r Jonny Morley with a rough race by 44k Sean Wepa ending in third. A top drive again from the 735r or Orr who was 6th from the back of the grid.

Hynds Pipe Systems Ltd BOP Stockcar Group One Points

Group 2 heat 1 was a see-sawing race with the win going to 46r Richard Willis from 91r Tony Coxhead and 144r Steven Pattle. Unlucky for 28r Alex Jones who was third until the last corner when 87r Chris Shingleton rode over her front reducing Jones to 12th place. Group 2 heat 2 was another good race at the front with 513r Callum Flavell getting the best of it with the win from 144r Pattle and 87r Shingleton third.

Hynds Pipe Systems Ltd BOP Stockcar Group Two Points

The 28 car 15 lap final was bound to be a goodie and it didn’t disappoint with the quick cars of 144r Pattle and the 513r Flavell off the front and more pace behind them in the form of 5r Henderson and 735r Orr. After a false start Flavell got the lead but slowly slipped back through as Pattle took over with Henderson and Orr also getting past into the top 3. A stoppage for 66a James Offord who hit the wall so hard that his wing flew off was bad news for Pattle who stumbled off the restart and eventually pulled infield with a malfunctioning clutch to blame for his exit. As the laps ticked it was Henderson who got the advantage and the win from Orr with Flavell getting back for third overall.

Hynds Pipe Systems Ltd BOP Stockcar Champs Points

The Easter Extravaganza continues from 5pm today Sunday with Streetstocks contesting their BOP Championship and Tri Series, the Easter Championships for both Superstocks and Stockcars, the BOP Saloon Car Championship and the BOP TQ Midget Championship. Once all that is done there will be a Demolition Derby to close the season out.

Media Results
Fastest Lap

Lap Data - http://www.sport.net.nz/data/30-03-24_data.zip

Photos On: www.speedwaynz.com