Oceanview Speedway - The home of Wanganui Motorsport

It's been a few seasons since Wanganui lost its' TQ Midget class and for many of us, a return to that era is long overdue. Those that remember the battles between Angus McLeod, the Bagries, the Huijs brothers, Donny Hopkinson amongst others and the regular visitors from Stratford and Hawkes Bay, will know what I'm talking about. On Sunday afternoon that thirst was filled a little by the arrival of the Midgets from Stratford and the Minisprints from Palmerston North who provided us with some excellent racing.

The sun once again poured down on Brent Boddy Cars Oceanview Speedway, meaning a big job to keep some moisture in the track. Overall the surface held up well but the Midgets in particular still found it difficult to find enough grip to circumnavigate the southern bend. A moderate sized crowd was in attendance for the afternoon with most classes a bit on the "light" size but some close racing kept everyone interested.

Minisprints

I don't know whether it was just me but the Palmerston North Minisprint peddlers seemed to take quite a liking to the tight Wanganui track. The 7 cars present put on a great show and it seems that if there was one Open Wheel class that might make the transition to the tight Oceanview oval then this might be the option. The racing was close (particularly between 34P Allen "Bones" Burton and 81P Sean Rice) with pedal to the metal for the full 8 laps. The class appears to have pricked the imagination of some great names from the past with Burton having been a proud Palmerston North Panther 15/20 years ago while Taranaki-based Neil Cowley dates back probably even further being one of the original drivers to introduce the Saloon class to Stratford almost 40 years ago. The class seems to have found favour with the ‘Naki based drivers with Rice and Megan Deam I believe also hailing from that part of the country. To the racing itself and Cowley wasn't able to do himself justice with the black 95P embedded in the southern wall in the 1^st heat reducing his afternoon to the trailer. 53P Steven Golding looked set to nail the 1^st prize in the 2^nd race but had to pull infield with a lap to go handing victory to Rice. The last race was superb with Rice doing everything he could to nail Burton but the old campaigner managed to make the car sufficiently wide enough to make it difficult to pass.

Race One: 1. 34P Allen "Bones" Burton. 2. 81P Sean Rice. 3. 53P Steven Golding. 4. 21P Megan Deam. 5. 65P Stephen Quinn. 6. 54P Geoff Lamberton.

Race Two: 1. 81P. 2. 34P. 3. 65P. 4. 21P.

Race Three: 1. 34P. 2. 81P. 3. 53P. 4. 21P. 5. 65P. 6. 54P.

Midgets

The Midgets from Stratford are a more regular visitor to these parts and a competitive 9 cars made the trip down to entertain the crowd. The Midgets have always found it difficult at Wanganui to find sufficient traction and Sunday was no different as the drivers tried to find the right set-up. Although the races were punctuated by numerous yellow flags, when they got the mix right there was some terrific skill on show - particularly from the likes of 42S Greg Jones and 75S Lydia Dickinson who had some impressive high speed duels. The slick track made control all the more difficult but the drivers did their best and at times it was a great spectacle.

Race One: 1. 42S Greg Jones. 2. 11S Ricky Paul. 3. 27S James Greenough. 4. 14S Steve Paul. 5. 75S Lydia Dickinson.

Race Two: 1. 75S. 2. 42S. 3. 14S. 4. 27S. 5. 21S Carl Mehring. 6. 8S Tony Korff.

Race Three: 1. 42S. 2. 75S. 3. 14S. 4. 51S Daniel Jensen. 5. 11S.

Superstocks/Stockcars

With the Vulcans carrying their bruises from the previous night in Palmerston North and the prospect of a few Superstock regulars being unavailable it was decided to run the two classes together with 4 Superstocks and 8 Stcokcars on show. 282S Phil Ogle once again flew the flag for Stratford in the Supers while 16P Justin Kinane and 406S Chris Flett fronted for an afternoon's activity.

Racing was mainly of the "flag" variety although there was the odd stoush with Flett taking a liking to 15V Morris Doyle in race one and 88V Ian Barron and 2NZ Gerry Linklater renewing rivalries in the Feature. The last race was an electronic lapscorers nightmare with the starters reversing across the line to get started!!! 3NZ Darryl Taylor had a feast all afternoon winning 3 races from 4.

Race One: 1. 88V Ian Barron. 2. 282S Phil Ogle. 3. 2NZ Gerry Linklater. 4. 23V Scott Duncan. 5. 8V Malcolm Barron. 6. 16P Justin Kinane.

Race Two: 1. 3NZ Darryl Taylor. 2. 282S Phil Ogle. 3. 15V Morris Doyle. 4. 88V Ian Barron. 5. 23V Scott Duncan. 6. 52V Francis Potaka.

Feature: 1. 3NZ. 2. 282S. 3. 23V. 4. 2NZ. 5. 8V. 6. 406S Chris Flett.

Grand Slam: 1. 3NZ. 2. 282S. 3. 23V. 4. 88V. 5. 24V Wayne Wright. 6. 15V.

Adult Ministocks

The 10 cars on show was one of the smaller fields seen for a while leaving the way open for a few different names to share the spoils. 49P Daniel Gubb and 9P Brett Whiting are regulars at Wanganui and shared the pickings on offer while 34V Ross Travers has emerged as the frontrunner of the locals claiming a well deserved win.

Race One: 1. 9P Brett Whiting. 2. 49P Daniel Gubb. 3. 4V Glen Heywood. 4. 34V Ross Travers. 5. 5V Stuart Smith. 6. 89V Blair Lockett.

Race Two: 1. 34V. 2. 5V. 3. 49P. 4. 89V. 5. 4V. 6. 45V Rebecca Black.

Feature: 1. 49P. 2. 9P. 3. 34V. 4. 89V. 5. 21P Barry Reid. 6. 4V.

Youth Ministocks

The biggest field of the day with 22 cars lining up for 3 clean, hard-driven races. For the local track it was great to see the 18 "V" cars on the grid, which augurs well for the future. 99P Tayla Lampp however has had good success and the two wins was a result of some excellent driving. 15V Kyle Heibner had one of his better afternoons to pick up a win and a well-timed lunge for 2^nd in the Feature. It was interesting also to see the development of some of last seasons' novice drivers with 92V Aimee Barnes scoring a good top 6 result in the Feature.

Race One: 1. 15V Kyle Heibner. 2. 22P Josh Prentice. 3. 98P Jack Miers. 4. 82V Dennis Black. 5. 99P Tayla Lampp. 6. 21V Dylan Brockway.

Race Two: 1. 99P. 2. 23V Kyle Taylor. 3. 98P. 4. 82V. 5. 55P Marshall Harris. 6. 15V.

Feature: 1. 99P. 2. 15V. 3. 98P. 4. 22P. 5. 55P. 6. 92V Aimee Barnes.

Production Saloons

With another driver graduating to the class and regular visits from our Wellington friends the Saloons are at last providing some good entertainment that has been lacking for a couple of seasons. 53V John Caird had an afternoon to remember with two hard fought wins - the 2^nd one being hard work as 8V Peter Dowman tried all he could to muscle his way past his rival.

Race One: 1. 53V John Caird. 2. 44V Grant Loveridge. 3. 73V John Huijs. 4. 55V Wayne Pointon. 5. 8V Peter Dowman. 6. 72W Daniel Griggs.

Race Two: 1. 73V. 2. 53V. 3. 11W Scott Jones. 4. 72W. 5. 8V. 6. 55V.

Feature: 1. 53V. 2. 8V. 3. 73V. 4. 44V. 5. 11W. 6. 72W.

Sidecars

Just the 5 bikes on show with the 62V Scott/Hirini and 19V Hannan/Wallis hotshots joined by regulars 32P Josh Lambert & Sam Carter and 45P Phillip & Simon McNabb. 33P Jeff Marshall & Kyle Whittington also fronted but were plagued by engine gremlins. The 62V bike was like lightning out of the tapes and plundered victories in the 1^st two races. But a slow start in the Feature handed a victory to the orange 19V beast to restore some parity to proceedings. The 32P bike has improved considerably this season and rode well in the 1sr race to hold the experienced 19V lads.

Race One: 1. 62V Craig Scott/Tony Hirini. 2. 32P Josh Lambert/Sam Carter. 3. 19V John Hannan/Jason Wallis. 4. 45P Phillip McNabb/Simon McNabb.

Race Two: 1. 62V. 2. 19V. 3. 32P. 4. 45P.

Feature: 1. 19V. 2. 62V. 3. 32P. 4. 45P.

Duthie Rules Supreme
Stratford's Mark Duthie has managed to achieve what few have done before him and that is wrestle the West Coast Adult Ministock title from the clutches of the Wanganui hosts. With the likes of Carl Burns, Blair Lockett and Paul Ellis all proving stubborn resistance in the past, 2008 was not the year of the "V" however as Duthie confidently took the winner's sash.

Run in hot conditions on Sunday afternoon, Brent Boddy Cars Speedway wasn't exactly full to overflowing but there was a fair sized crowd in attendance given that the beach would've been an attractive option for the day. And the pits were full again with plenty of visitors filling out the fields.

The principal event however was the 2008 running of the West Coast Adult Ministock Champs and a healthy field of 28 faced the starter with the 11 locals joined by 10 visitors from Palmerston North and 7 from Stratford.

The 1^st heat was an excellent demonstration in clean and fast racing with no real race "incidents" as 49P Daniel Gubb made good use of his time spent at Oceanview to surge clear for a good win ahead of 15S Phillip Gorgan and 75P Chevron Taniwha. The 2^nd heat was also an ideal advertisement for the class with 33P Justin Farrington spear-heading a Palmerston North trifecta ahead of Taniwha and 9P Brett Whiting. So with two heats completed without any dramas the leaderboard stood with Farrington & Taniwha level on 53 points and Gubb 3 back on 50. 32S Mark Duthie was next on 48 points with 22S Kerry Perrett 4 points back. However, with 25 cars on the grid for heat 3, the draw was going to be critical. With Duthie sitting in grid 5 and the Palmerston North trio all near the back it was obvious that the gap would be in the Stratford mans' favour. And so it was to be, as Duthie had got to the front after exiting the southern bend on the 1^st lap. With Duthie clear and away the attention switched to what progress the chasers were going to make. Taniwha and Farrington were making heavy weather of it and their cause was not helped with the race being red-flagged 3 times. 89V Blair Lockett's evening came to an abrupt end when he clipped the stranded 35S Carl Shearer and flipped on to his roof. 58V Paul Ellis and Farrington then soured the race to a degree when they locked horns mid-race. Ellis had forced his was inside Farrington going in to the City bend. Farrington took exception to this and gave Ellis a shunt going under the start/finish line with both cars then spearing off the end of the straight and in to the southern wall. The stoppage saw both cars "red-carded" and the race continued only to be halted shortly later when 102P Dion Parkes and 6V Ron Hollis ploughed in to the southern bend again. All the while Duthie kept his cool and ticked over the laps to take the chequered flag with Taniwha too far adrift to make up the placings required to topple the winner. The final table was as follows:-

WC Ministock Champs 2008

No

Driver

H1

H2

Sub

H3

Total

Plc

32S

Mark Duthie

23

25

48

28

76

1

75P

Chevron Taniwha

26

27

53

20

73

2

9P

Brett Whiting

17

26

43

27

70

3

71S

Tony Shaw

22

21

43

25

68

4

49P

Daniel Gubb

28

22

50

17

67

5

34V

Ross Travers

24

13

37

24

61

6=

15S

Phillip Gorgan

27

12

39

22

61

6=

22S

Kerry Perrett

21

23

44

16

60

8

37S

Mark Phipps

13

24

37

21

58

9

12S

Todd Duthie

12

19

31

23

54

10=

84P

Jeremy Hope

19

17

36

18

54

10=

102P

Dion Parkes

18

16

34

19

53

12=

33P

Justin Farrington

25

28

53

53

12=

98P

Duncan Small

4

15

19

26

45

14

4V

Glen Heywood

7

20

27

15

42

15

5V

Stuart Smith

16

8

24

12

36

16

35S

Carl Shearer

14

18

32

32

17

89V

Blair Lockett

20

11

31

31

18

12V

Bradley Kendall

10

6

16

14

30

19

58V

Paul Ellis

15

14

29

29

20

45V

Rebecca Black

8

7

15

13

28

21

72P

Stewart Rackham

11

10

21

21

22

6V

Ron Hollis

5

9

14

14

23

77V

Brad Fairweather

6

4

10

10

24

66V

Teresa Jurgens

9

9

9

25

44V

Nigel Moody

5

5

DNS

5

26

34P

Jay Holtham

0

DNS

0

27=

41P

Nick Eichler

0

DNS

0

27=

Superstocks

The six locals were joined by 282S Phil Ogle and 39S Michel Willemsen. Out for his first spin at home this year was 3NZ Darryl Taylor who looked to be on song quickly picking up the Feature. Racing was pretty uneventful until the Grand Slam when 99V Richard Watkins ended up with 6V Dion Mooney on his bonnet in the southern bend while at the opposite end 23V Scott Duncan had the same problem with visiting stockcar pilot 71B Peter Barry.

Race One: 1. 99V Richard Watkins. 2. 45V Steve Guilford. 3. 23V Scott Duncan. 4. 282S Phil Ogle. 5. 15V Morris Doyle. 6. 39S Michel Willemsen.

Race Two: 1. 282S. 2. 15V. 3. 45V. 4. 23V. 5. 3NZ Darryl Taylor. 6. 39S.

Feature: 1. 3NZ. 2. 282S. 3. 45V. 4. 23V. 5. 39S. 6. 99V.

Grand Slam: 1. 45V. 2. 3NZ. 3. 52V Francis Potaka. 4. 2NZ Gerry Linklater. 5. 46V Alan Levien.

Stockcars

The 8 locals were joined by the master-stirrer 71B Peter Barry who was looking to repeat his antics from the previous week. Barry was soon in the action as he had a lot of attention from 2NZ Gerry Linklater, 6V Shaun Smith and 4V Josh Kahui. Barry almost had 52V Francis Potaka on his lid in the 1^st race and dealt heavily to Linklater in the Feature. The eye-catching result of the night was 82V Shonn Black picking up his first win in the class by taking the Feature. His car appears to have sorted its' gremlins and the young peddler can now start to show the promise evident in his Ministock days.

Race One: 1.46V Alan Levien. 2. 82V Shonn Black. 3. 18V Tony James. 4. 2NZ Gerry Linklater. 5. 52V Francis Potaka. 6. 24V Wayne Wright.

Race Two: 1. 2NZ. 2. 52V. 3. 18V. 4. 82V. 5. 46V. 6. 24V.

Feature¨1. 82V. 2. 2NZ. 3. 18V. 4. 46V. 5. 24V. 6. 52V Mick Paul.

Production Saloons

The 5 locals were joined by 11W Scott Jones and 72W Daniel Griggs. The racing was the best seen in a while with 73V John Huijs and 44V Grant Loveridge putting on a great spectacle. The 2^nd race of the evening was a beauty with Huijs persisting with an outside line around Loveridge that saw him inch closer lap by lap to finally gain the upper hand on the penultimate lap. Loveridge however gained revenge in the Feature with a steady drive.

Race One: 1. 73V John Huijs. 2. 44V Grant Loveridge. 3. 11W Scott Jones. 4. 8V Peter Dowman. 5. 53V John Caird. 6. 55V Wayne Pointon.

Race Two: 1. 73V. 2. 44V. 3. 53V. 4. 11W. 5. 8V. 6. 55V.

Feature: 1. 44V. 2. 73V. 3. 53V. 4. 11W. 5. 72W Daniel Griggs. 6. 55V.

Sidecars
The three local hot shots were joined by 4P John Moxham/Bryce Ogilvie, 45P Phillip & Simon MacNabb and 22P Sam Ludlow/Mark Stewart. As always the racing was superb with 62V Craig Scott/Tony Hirini eventually gaining the upper hand over the 4P bike by winning the 2^nd and 3^rd races after conceding the 1^st race of the afternoon. Scott puts the bike in places on the track that leave you heart in your mouth and in no doubt as to why I write about rather than compete in the sport.

Race One: 1. 4P Moxham/Ogilvie. 2. 62V Scott/Hirini. 3. 35V Paul/Blinkhorne. 4. 19V Hannan/Wallis. 5. 45P MacNabb/MacNabb. 6. 22P Ludlow/Stewart.

Race Two: 1. 62V. 2. 4P. 3. 45P. 4. 22P.

Feature: 1. 62V. 2. 4P. 3. 45P.

Saloons

The crowd was treated to the unusual sight of saloons competing on the tight circuit. With 13R Murray Guy making the trip down it was great to see the Stratford boys support the event with 4S Ash Cook, 8S Craig Korff, 16S Thomas Korff and 69S Sam Korff rolling through the shute. Joining them were Wanganui's 32V Richard Allen and 15P Keith Davis. The racing was marred a little bit by the track slicking off under the baking sun but while the grip held it was spectacular stuff.

Race One: 1. 13R Murray Guy. 2. 4S Ash Cook. 3. 69S Sam Korff. 4. 8S Craig Korff. 5. 16S Thomas Korff. 6. 15P Keith Davis.

Race Two: 1. 4S. 2. 69S. 3. 13R. 4. 15P. 5. 16S. 6. 8S.

Race Three: 1. 69S. 2. 8S. 3. 13R. 4. 16S. 5. 4S. 6. 15P.

Youth Ministocks

23 of the youth class completed the afternoon's entertainment with 5 Palmerston North cars, 2 Hawkes Bay cars and 1 driver from Stratford joining the 15 locals. While the racing was generally clean the slick track caught out a few in the last race with 19V Stacey Cromarty taking a punt that required medical treatment infield. On the racing front 82V Dennis Black continued his rise with two wins and a second while 98P Jack Miers also tasted victory.

Race One: 1. 98P Jack Miers. 2. 82V Dennis Black. 3. 76P Caleb Moleta. 4. 21V Dylan Brockway. 5. 24S Mark Zender. 6. 19P Ryan Burrell.

Race Two: 1. 82V. 2. 99P Tayla Lampp. 3. 78VMark Johnston. 4. 15V Kyle Heibner. 5. 98B James Hughes-Lock. 6. 98P.

Race Three: 1. 82V. 2. 99P. 3. 15V. 4. 98P. 5. 21V. 6. 78V.

Season Starts With A Big Bang!!

Brent Boddy Cars Oceanview Speedway is under waY for the 2008/09 season with the running of Opening Meeting on Sunday 23^rd November. A later start time of 6.00pm was required to allow the annual Fireworks Extravaganza to be held. The unusual start time didn't deter the big crowd on hand who witnessed a good night's entertainment. The weather forecast hadn't looked good all week but Sunday was an absolute scorcher with the evening warm and balmy.

STOCKCARS

A healthy 13 cars fronted with the 8 locals joined by the bruising 71B Peter Barry and the 4 Stratford cars 45S Daniel Reade, 124S Andrew Dodunski, 686 S Sandy Flett and 888S Chris Flett. Given that the Wanganui Vulcans had been in Huntly over the previous two nights it was a good turnout with Ian Barron, Allan Levien, Josh Kahui amongst others all scheduled to front at some stage. Of the locals 6V Shaun Smith has re-appeared after a couple of season off to drive the smart looking RSB Motorsport car while 24V Wayne Wright is a new name in a very tidily presented steed.

On what looked a terrific surface, the first race of the season was an entertaining affair with Barry being the standout performer. Having first spun 18V Tony James when leading he continued to stir for the full race although 2NZ Gerry Linklater kept him honest on his way to the chequered flag.

Race two was the best of the night with Barry again causing all sorts of problems. Firstly he had to contend with Linklater and 52V Francis Potaka but freed from their clutches he set about seeing off James and the deposited 7V Kristifa Allen up the wall in the southern bend. Unfortunately the damage in the incident meant he could not return for the Feature but he had given us something to smile about. Smith made full use of the carnage to score a maiden win in his new wheels.

The Feature was a bit tamer with Linklater winning easily although James didn't help his cause getting hooked up with 82V Shonn Black while Potaka made sure 124S Andrew Dodunski was not going to spoil the "V" party.

Race 1: 1. 2NZ Gerry Linklater. 2. 124S Andrew Dodunski. 3. 18V Tony James. 4. 52V Francis Potaka. 5. 888S Chris Flett. 6. 7V Kristifa Allen.

Race 2: 1. 6V Shaun Smith. 2. 82V Shonn Black. 3. 124S. 4. 2NZ. 5. 52V. 6. 18V.

Feature: 1. 2NZ. 2. 18V. 3. 6V. 4. 124S. 5. 52V. 6. 82V.

SUPERSTOCKS

A fair early season muster with 8 cars. The 5 "V" cars were joined by 282S Phil Ogle, 39S Michael Willemsen and 98P Craig Humphries.

The racing was hard and fast without too much incident. The Wanganui cars all seemed to be well dialed in with 99V Richard Watkins showing some good speed. 23V Scott Duncan seems to have gained some speed also and will mix it up well this season.

The Feature saw 6V Dion Mooney get "involved" after spinning early, holding up 45V Steve Guilford to allow Watkins to take a win.

Race 1: 1. 6V Dion Mooney. 2. 45V Steve Guilford. 3. 99V Richard Watkins. 4. 23V Scott Duncan. 5. 39S Michael Willemsen. 6. 98P Craig Humphries.

Race 2: 1. 99V. 2. 45V. 3. 15V Morris Doyle. 4. 23V. 5. 282 S Phil Ogle. 6. 6V.

Feature: 1. 99V. 2. 282S. 3. 23V. 4. 45V. 5. 15V. 6. 6V.

Grand Slam: 1. 15V. 2. 2NZ Linklater. 3. 6V. 4. 18V James. 5. 23V. 6. 24V Wayne Wright.

SIDECARS

One of the features of the night with the held over 2007/08 West Coast Champs being held. A good field of bikes was assembled with the local hot shoes 35V Mick Paul/Paul Blinkhorne and 62V Craig Scott/Tony Hirini joined by 5 Palmerston North units in 6P Derek Ramsey/Tony Hislop, 32P Josh Lambert/Sam Carter, 39P Andrew Buchanan/Phillipa Burns, 45P Philip & Simon MacNabb and 52P Stu Priest/Richie Dunbar.

The 1^st heat was shaping up well until the 6P & 39P bikes tangled in the southern bend sending both units crashing heavily in to the wall. Phillipa Burns will be having nightmares about Wanganui as she has come to grief here previously. While the 39P bike in particular looked sad, it appeared that everyone was in one piece after the prang. The re-start also looked to be building well until Stu Priest lost his swinger who got collected by a following bike. So after the two incidents it was decided to abandon the race.

Four bikes fronted for heat two, which seemed to be going the way of Priest/Dunbar after an electric start. But Scott/Hirini hunted them down and in a brilliant move they took a breath-taking line in to the final bend to emerge with the inside running to the chequered flag where they exploded across the line in front of the ex-Wellington duo. Exhilarating stuff that had the crowd on their feet.

Heat three and the 52P bike got away well again with Scott/Hirini chasing hard. The Wanganui duo however over-cooked a plan that dropped them back to 3^rd, which meant that Pries/Dunbar came away with the title. This was good reward for a unit that supports Wanganui well.

Race 1: Abondoned.

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