It's a panelbeater's paradise at Oceanview recently
There was plenty of crashing and bashing at Fast Lane Spares Oceanview Family Speedway on Saturday, although not all of it was intended.
By the end of the night, however, another two West Coast titles had been decided, in the stockcar and production saloon classes.
Stratford youngster William Hughes (99S) took out the West Coast Stockcar title, after a near faultless night of racing.
The large field was divided into four groups, each of which raced in three of the four championship heats.
Keegan Levien (4W) took out the first heat ahead of Josh Walsh (18V), Callum Sturzaker (15V), Blair Reeves-Smith (212V) and his brother, Ethan Levien (46W).
Heat two got off to an eventful start with Joshua Annabell (39V) squeezed up the wall at the southern end, almost rolling, before coming back down on his wheels.
Ethan Levien narrowly missed getting caught in the incident, finishing second in the race behind Hughes, whose group had sat out heat one.
Mark Johnston (78V), Kyle Rowe (79P) and Brandon Symes filled the next three positions.
That left Levien on 47 points, and leading the championship, but a DNF in heat three, Levien's final race, ended his championship.
Hughes was dominant again in heat three coming home in first ahead of Keegan Levien, Brian Taniwha (98V), Sturzaker and Trevor Greig (81V).
Going into the final heat Hughes led Keegan Levien by a solitary point with Sturzaker and Ethan Levien tied for third, a further four points back, although Ethan had completed his racing.
There was an immediate stoppage to heat four, when Keegan Levien's car remained stationary at the drop of the green flag, ending his title challenge.
Johnston led for most of the race, until he was run down by Rowe and Byron Rowlands (97P), eventually finishing third ahead of impressive debutant Cody Lockett, driving his father Blair's 89V machine.
Hughes was content to run just behind the lead pack, until he was spun by Sturzaker on the final corner.
Hughes recovered quickly to take seventh place in the race, giving him a three-point victory over Sturzaker, with Rowe a further point back in third place.
When Bailey Goldsack (72V) took out the first heat of the West Coast Production Saloons ahead of John Huijs (73V) and Grant Loveridge (7V) a close championship looked in the offing.
However, a major pile-up in heat two saw many of the favourites eliminated either from the race, or the rest of the night's racing.
Seth McKay (48G) caught the wall at the end of the back straight and Richard Hudson (83V) had nowhere to go, ploughing into the back of McKay's car.
In quick succession Loveridge, Nathan Smith (29V), Goldsack, Jason Pointon (71V), Darren McKay (18V) and Mike Lovell (10V) joined the fray in a panelbeater's delight.
Of the cars involved, only Smith was able to continue, finishing third when the race restarted, behind Ray Jaggard (48V) and Huijs.
Huijs had a comfortable six-point lead heading into the final heat and drove a conservative race to take out the West Coast title.
Seth McKay took out the final heat ahead of Smith, Loveridge, Huijs and Jaggard, leaving Smith in second position overall, and Jaggard taking the final position on the podium.
A small but quality field of superstocks saw wins shared between Kaelin Mooney, driving the 136V SS Motorsport car, Seth Hodge (12P) who took out his first win in the class, and Rebecca Barr (34P) who took two wins.
Hayden Green (4V) recorded his best result of the season with a second placing behind Mooney in heat one.
Jack Lammas-Martin's win in heat three of the adult ministocks stopped the Hodge twins dominating the night completely, after Seth Hodge had won the first two races, with Cody Hodge taking out the fourth race.
Racing resumes at Oceanview on Sunday, February 28, with the ever-popular Trev's Concrete Stockcar Shootout. However, the organisers of that meeting and the New Zealand Stockcar Teams Champs in Wellington this weekend face a nervous wait to see if Covid restrictions are lifted later this week.
Tony Stuart
Whanganui Chronicle 16/2/21