By Daniel Neville

The third to last meeting for the 2024/25 season at TWS Paradise Valley Speedway took place on April 5th and it was the annual Memorial Champs Night. After a rainy couple of days in sulphur city, the weather cleared nicely allowing this meeting to go ahead.

There was racing for Superstocks, Stockcars, Streetstocks, Youth Ministocks, TQ Midgets and Six Shooters who were all competing for their respective championships. There were 3 heats for all classes.

As mentioned above it was the memorial meeting who was in honour of Rotorua drivers that have passed on such as Darcy and Barry Hunter, Jeff Mohi, Ray Channing and Mike Herbert to mention a few.
 

The 4WD Warehouse Youth Ministocks Invitation opened the night with a great field of 26 cars. A clean and tidy first heat was won by 93r Blake Fraser who pipped 191r Aidan Tidd by hundredths of a second as the pair crossed the line side by side. Heat 2 was similarly close with 98r Reeve Transom the winner. Race 3 was a busy one with plenty of cars scraping the wall and a few needing medical attention in an incident after the checkered flag fell. 82a Steven Skelton was the winner from 57r Ryan Millar-Frost. Overall Aidan Tidd took out first place from Millar-Frost with Transom completing the podium in third.

4WD Warehouse Youth Ministock Points

The McRobbie Contracting TQ Midgets had good field of 11 for their 3 races. A speedy 12 laps passed quickly with a few minor incidents along the way. The race was won by 17g Dylan MacGregor with 17a Jack Haslip second from the 12k of Harry Hodgson. Race 2 was looking like the same result as the first with a hard charging MacGregor coming unstuck while challenging for the lead. The benefactor of this was Hodgson who took the win from 21k Jack Wilson. Race 3 saw 8a James Macdonald streak into the lead while an epic battle ensued between Haslip and Hodgson with Hodgson getting the the better of it. Macdonald was unstoppable taking the win by a good distance. Overall it was Hodgson who won the memorial champs after beating Macdonald in the run off for top spot with Haslip doing well for third place.

McRobbie Contracting TQ Midget Points

The Ace Auto Dismantlers Stockcars had 24 on the grid first up. A busy race was won by Gisborne driver 98g Bryce Simpson with local 144r Steven Pattle. Most of the action was centered around 48m August Porter who was underneath when 46r Richard Willis climbed over him then later in the race the 48m went into the concrete hard courtesy of 85r Jason Munro. Race 2 saw Simpson collect another win despite being slowed early in the piece. Second and third place both had the lead at some point during the race and they were 192r Jayden Fraser and 94r Rochelle Stewart who finished second and third respectively. Heat 3 was bound to deliver with Simpson the clear leader after his 2 wins. It looked as though Simpson would cruise home as he was picking off cars comfortably but 48r Jacob Soper had other ideas, serving up the 98g big time in turn 4 which bent the Gisborne car and ended his night. Another moment in the race saw 15r Kendall Reid’s car expire in a cloud of smoke as Pattle took the win from 68r Keith Spanhake with Fraser third. Overall it was the veteran Spanhake who took out the memorial champs with Fraser beating 22r Les Hepworth in the run off for second place.

Ace Auto Dismantlers Stockcar Points

The Matamata Tanks & Vats Six Shooters fielded just 7 for their 3 heats. It was 71m Josh McClymont who took the first win with 71r Boyd Westbury second from 28a Laurie Peterson third. Race 2 was a Westbury shut out with Boyd 71r leading home brother Luke in 17r while Peterson remained consistent with another third placing. Race 3 saw heartbreak for points leader Boyd Westbury getting caught up in the back of 11a Andrew Groshinski early in the race. It was all good after that with Luke Westbury taking the win from Peterson and McClymont. Overall Like Westbury was the memorial champs winner with McClymont getting second via a run off leaving Peterson in third.  

Matamata Tanks & Vats Six Shooter Points

The Hawker Trucks 2015 Ltd Superstocks had 19 on the grid to open their account. It was a great first up race with plenty of argy bargey. A new car in the class 18r Caleb Ashton who now drives the ex Asher Rees/Malcolm Reed machine had an average start getting spun then had his front bumper corner snapped off. 89g Tyler James took the win from 247r Hayden Chapman with 198r Mark Costello third. Heat 2 got off to a frantic start with race 1 winner Tyler James almost tipping over on the first lap and 45r Dion Henderson finding the wall. It was a good race with most trying to avoid the the mobile chicane that was 33r Robbie Mabey. 87g Brodie James took the win from 351r Paul Vazey with 7r Michael Rumney third. Race 3 was a drag race with a big battle up front between Brodie James, Costello and Henderson as the rest were left to chase. Vazey pulled outna bliner going from grid 19 to 4th, banking valuable points. James managed to get the win on the final lap to complete a perfect night for James Brothers Racing. Costello and Henderson come home second and third respectively. Overall it was the retiring veteran Vazey who won the memorial champs from Brodie James with brother Tyler James finishing up tied with Costello for third. There was no run off due to both drivers having put their cars on the trailer already so they shook hands and shared third place.

Hawker Trucks 2015 Ltd Superstock Points

The ND Contracting Streetstocks were racing for the David “Stumpy” Schrader Memorial with 10 cars in attendance. A very high attrition rate through various incidents and only 4 of the original 10 crossing the line and 11r Steve De Malmanche home first as the infield was littered with non finishers. Heat 2 saw 8 cars on track and all of them made the finish in a less damaging race with regular Superstock pilot Dale Stewart taking the win in the 858r Shane Bracken car. Race 3 was all over the show with flat tyres costing many their chances of winning. It was a good show of blocking by 21r Blake Castleton who was trying to take out anyone who tried to pass. Provisional race winner De Malmanche was given the flag but an outside flat tyre saw him disqualified and 12r Daniel Curran was promoted to first from guest driver 67r Caleb Hayes in the Castleton owned car. Hayes also had a second place in the first heat and with the flat tyred cars in finale saw a reshuffle in the points tally. Overall it was Hayes who won the David “Stumpy” Schrader memorial from 199r Jaxon Whyte who had been near the pointy end all night with Curran completing the podium in third.

ND Contracting Streetstock Points

The season at TWS Paradise Valley Speedway comes to an end in a fortnight with the annual Hickey Contracting Easter Extravaganza on Saturday the 19th and Sunday the 20th of April. There will be Easter champs for Superstocks, Stockcars, Production Saloons, Ministocks (senior and junior) and Modifieds as well as the Bay of Plenty champs for TQ Midgets, Saloons and Modifieds. Also on the programme will be the last round of the Streetstock Tri Series and if you haven’t seen enough carnage by then the season will conclude with a demolition derby. Racing commences at 5pm both days.

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