Speedway: Hot night at Oceanview as busy season continues
Summer paid a visit to Whanganui on Saturday, and a hot day led to a hot night of action at Fast Lane Spares Oceanview Family Speedway.
Despite the warmth of the day, Mike Annabell and his track crew had got plenty of water into the Oceanview clay, and the track contributed to some fast and spectacular racing.
The Superstocks again topped the bill, with a host of visitors checking out the track ahead of the Elite Mechanical New Zealand Superstock Championship in January.
And the visiting drivers – from Nelson, Wellington, Palmerston North and Bay Park – will have liked what they saw.
The first race saw early action at both ends of the track.
Ethan Levien (46W) was the victim of a first corner coming together, then at the town end Todd O'Donnell (69P) neatly slotted Max Holloway (81V) up the wall, taking Holloway out of contention.
Graeme Barr (32P) took the opening win by less than 0.2 seconds from Brett Nicholls (48N) with Scott Miers (8P) powering home to finish third.
O'Donnell led the second heat for seven laps before coming to a stop at the southern end, handing Shane Kells (87V) the lead in just his second meeting in his newly-acquired car.
However, Kells could not hold off the impressive Jack Miers (88P), who took the race with Keegan Levien in third, just ahead of Nicholls.
As with last week, the track seemed to speed up after dark, as Barr broke the Superstock lap record in the feature race.
Barr turned in a scorching 16.10s lap en route to a win ahead if his daughter Rebecca (34P) and Jack Miers.
Levien finished fourth ahead of a trio of local cars in Kerry Podjursky (56V), Kells and Sheridan O'Hara (9V).
A spin by Rebecca Barr on the front straight provided action in the Grand Slam.
Coming to rest facing the oncoming traffic, Barr's car was clipped by Nicholls, before another car rode across the front end, leaving plenty of steelwork on the track.
Jack Miers took the win from Nicholls, and fellow Nelsonian Alex Hill (95N), bringing down the curtain on another night of Superstock speed and action.
Blair Lockett (89V) took out the opening Stockcar race, after leading from the start. He was chased home by Blair Reeves-Smith (212V) and Kaelin Mooney (26V).
Dion Mooney took out the second heat, ahead of Lockett and Mark Johnston (78V).
In the feature race, Trazarn Ryland-Annabell jumped behind the wheel of Cody Alabaster's 16V Tank, and had an immediate impact.
Ryland-Annabell took Callum Sturzaker to the wall, then almost rolled Mizaan Lees (58V), requiring a stoppage to remove Lees' stricken car from the concrete.
Dion Mooney took his second win of the night, ahead of Lockett and Kaelin Mooney. Kaelin Mooney got the jump in the Grand Slam, and after chasing for several laps, Dion Mooney decided to spice things up.
After being half-spun by Sturzaker, Mooney got his revenge by holding the 15V car up for almost a lap.
Kaelin Mooney took the win ahead of Jamie Jurgens (66V) and Reevs-Smith.
A big field of Youth Ministocks saw the four-heat format used, where each driver raced in three of the four heats.
Wins were shared around, with Eli Gifkins (99P), Seth Hodge (12P), Liam Whelan (32P) and Levi Pou (16W) taking one victory apiece.
The Adult Ministocks went to the other extreme, with Jack Lammas-Martin (157P) winning the first three heats before being shown the wall at the southern end by Dave Smith (27W), ending the race for both cars.
The wins were shared around in the Production Saloons as well, with Jason Pointon (71V), Brett Hackett (434V), John Huijs (73V) and Mike Lovell (10V) each taking the chequered flag.
Hackett provided the highlight in Heat 3, breaking the lap record set by Grant Loveridge the previous week by nearly 0.2 seconds, as new mark now sits at 17.21s.
Racing at Oceanview takes a break next weekend, but will resume on Saturday, November 23, with the West Coast Sidecars and the Ray Purdy Memorial for Production Saloons sharing the billing.
Tony Stuart
Whanganui Chronicle 11/11/19