Ian Abrahams
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Rotorua. North Island Stockcar Championship. 1st January 1999.
The table shows the finish positions in the heats but the total is the points scored. 15 points were given to the winner of the race, 14points to the second, 13 points to the third etc.
No
Driver
Heat 1
Heat 2
Heat 3
Total
Place
5r
46r
19r
18r
98r
41a
74s
11w
12h
94h
99h
27
b
48h
82p
Nick Beasley
Stewart Walsh
Lance Audridge
Laxlo Meszaros
Gary
Hunter
Warrick Ansty
Brendon Rowlands
Brian Musgrove
Gary Ellis
Murray Hobbs
Mark
Deake
Shane Warner
Glen Drabble
Paul Urlich
11
8
13
4
3
7
2
5
9
1
12
10
6
14
11
10
13
2
4
8
1
5
6
3
7
12
9
0
10
0
9
5
4
8
2
0
7
1
0
0
3
6
16
14
13
37
37
25
43
22
26
43
13
10
30
12
-
-
-
3=
3=
-
1=
-
6
1=
-
-
5
-
Paul Demenser was the only major contender not to make the meeting but who
was expected in this group. Hobbs was good and never looked to be in trouble. Rowlands was impressive.
Drabble was a surprise and there is some doubt over his third placing in heat three. Musgrove was extremely
unlucky not to qualify when he tangled with Ansty and was left perched on the 41a front bumper. A tap
would have knocked him off but the referee threw the red light. The 41a and 11w managed to get away
from each other without any outside assistence but the officials ordered the Wellington car to the in field. As
John Webster pointed out now officials are penalising stockcar drivers for making contact. The decision
stunk and Musgrove is out of the Championship for no fault of his own. Warrick Ansty had a flat tyre and
although still racing couldnt make the passes necessarry to score the points to qualify. He had gone into the
final heat with a score of 17 points. Both Ellis and Drabble also had 17 points after two rounds and both got
through. Had Musgrove been credited with the points for last place he would have been racing tomorrow
night.
| No | Driver | Heat 1 | Heat 2 | Heat 3 | Total | Place |
96r 81r 83r 1nz 75a 101s 59w 9w 8h 19h 69p 77g 22h |
Jason Redinger Mike Raynal Wayne Houston Craig Pierce Dave Tennant Mike Selby Wayne Hemi Paul Gaskin Dave Roigard Kerry Tennant Barry Pordjuski Steve McCafferty Blair Ashton |
0 11 10 1 6 9 5 12 3 2 7 4 8 |
0 11 1 0 5 9 2 6 4 3 7 8 10 |
0 11 4 0 8 7 2 5 3 10 1 6 9 |
0 15 33 15 29 23 39 25 38 33 33 30 21 |
- - 3 - - - 1 - 2 3= 3= 6 - |
Non shows in this gtoup were the Flying Dutchman and the Cow Cockie Laurance Christini (motor not back in the car in time). Word is that the 0r car of Robert Maybe never got under 1536 kgs and therefore never raced. Pierce had his motor go rat atat tat whilst leading in the early stages of the second heat and pulled to the infield. Although he came back on the track at the chequered to try and score points he was one of two drivers on the night to get caught reentering the track from a different section to the part of the track onto which they went onto the grass. Tennant had several spins and encounters but will race the championship as one of the two highest scoring non qualifiers. Wayne Hemi in his ordinary looking car drove anonymously and effectively in this group and the 69p looked very subdued until the points were needed desperately.
| No | Driver | Heat 1 | Heat 2 | Heat 3 | Total | Place |
72r 4r 37r 66r 17a 2nz 6w 3nz 38h 59b 46p 58g 23r 16h |
Lyall Rumney Callan Hose Darcy Hunter Ian Elsworth Rick Campbell Roydon Collingwood Eddie Hawkins Darren Grey Ross Ashby Shane Penn Kelvin Grey Joe Farram Tony Melgers Phil Dove |
4 10 8 9 11 3 6 7 0 5 1 2 0 12 |
0 11 7 8 9 3 6 5 10 4 2 1 0 0 |
1 12 11 5 0 6 7 2 8 4 3 10 9 0 |
27 15 22 26 12 36 29 34 14 35 42 35 7 4 |
- - - - - 2 6 5 - 3= 1 3= - - |
Non shows in this group were Steve Hampton in his Std Stock and Neil McCord in the tank that seized a motor going onto the trailer just after Christmas. Yellow group had some good pedallersa and fortunately the racing was a la Modifieds not Super Saloons. The cream got through without a lot of contact being made. Kelvin Grey looked on top of his form and Rick Campbells rotten luck continued. Lyall Rumney came out of retirement to scrap through to the Championship after having his front suspension collapse in the second race. He gets in as the 26th car. The best six from each group (four groups) and the two next highest scoring cars. Defending North Island Champion Barry Hunter was in the pits, helping not racing. His nephew Darcy was in 37r (and failed to qualify) whilst Barrys son in 97r did get thrrough. The 23r car looks just as did when last teams raced by David Decke.
| No | Driver | Heat 1 | Heat 2 | Heat 3 | Total | Place |
88r 51r 113a 515r 7r 21a 116a 28s 15s 71w 85h 33h 89p 165a |
Carl Graff Rodney Wood Tony Takurua Stan Hickey Steve Orr Peter Drake Chris Allen Gary Worthington Pat Uhlenberg Kim Lace Paul Wade Colin McLeod John Cunningham Vic Neal |
10 5 2 1 12 6 0 9 8 4 3 11 13 7 |
9 2 5 3 12 4 11 6 4 1 7 13 10 8 |
9 2 3 1 10 7 0 12 5 4 6 8 11 0 |
20 39 38 43 14 31 5 21 21 39 32 16 14 17 |
- 2= 4 1 - 6 - - - 2= 5 - - - |
The only non starter from the programme in this group was Wanganuis Darryl Taylor who never got passed scrutineering. The unofficial word is that the motor was illegal. Rodney Wood survived a pig handling race in heat 1 to easily qualify. Stan Hickey in his new car looked total class and in spite of his easy run in the qualifing obviously didnt show everyhing he has up his sleeve. There was some action in the final heat of this red group when obvious non qualifiers 165a, 28s and 89p had a play with each other and Vic Neal ended up on his side after riding the wall. Why the three didnt do their stirring by playing with the cars racing fast, clean and without contact collecting points was a disappointment but then SNZ appears to be determined to stop contact in the Stockcar class. Why the blue shirts dont put their efforts into cleaning up the biff and bash in the Super Saloon car class and the stockcar driving in the Midgets is beyond comprehension.
Rotorua. North Island Stockcar Championship. 2nd January 1999.
POINTS CHART
| No | Driver | Heat 1 | Heat 2 | Heat 3 | Total | Place |
2nz 3nz 6w 8h 12h 18r 19h 21a 46p 48h 51r 58g 59b 99w 69p 71w 72r 74s 75a 77g 83r 85h 94h 98r 113a 515r |
Roydon Collingwood Darren Grey Eddie Hawkins Dave Roigard Gary Ellis Lazlo Maszaros Kerry Rennant Peter Drake Kelvin Grey Glen Drabble Rodney Wood Joe Faram Shane Penn Wayne Hemi Barry Podjurski Kim Lace Lyall Rumney Brendon Rowlands Dave Tennant Steve McCafferty Wayne Housten Paul Wade Murray Hobbs Gary Hunter Tony Takarua Stan Hickey |
0 20 21 9 12 17 13 15 24 0 26 0 19 0 8 23 14 18 11 16 6 0 22 25 7 10 |
0 22 14 21 12 16 0 20 24 11 26 0 18 0 15 13 0 0 19 10 0 0 23 25 17 0 |
0 0 21 0 13 22 0 16 20 0 25 0 23 0 19 18 26 17 24 14 0 0 0 12 15 0 |
0 42 56 30 37 55 13 51 68 11 77 0 60 0 42 54 40 35 54 40 6 0 45 62 39 10 |
- 11 5 - - 6 - 9 2 - 1 - 4 - 11 7 - - 7 - - - 10 3 - - |
1st Rodney Wood. The Rotorua car at it's home track won the North Island. This was the 51r's first meeting of the year and the Marsh engine was strong. The BOP driver had two wins in his first two heats of the race championship and surprise surprise wasn't taken out in the third heat. He finished 2nd (after starting from grid 12) in that race to win the championship. Incidently he was recorded on the noise meter at 102 dcb. The limit is 95. He was apparently given a ticket. He was also given a sash, a cheque and a trophy.
After two heats Kelvin Grey had two thirds for a total of 48 going into the last race. Wayne Houston had a couple of shots at him but Kelvin who is driving brilliantly at the moment stayed cool and finished 7th which was good enough to claim the second place money. He too had a Marsh engine that ran strong all meeting in his car that is available to anyone who has the desire (and cash) to race a proven winning stockcar.
Second after the first two heats (with two seconds giving him a total of 50 points) was Rotorua first year driver Gary Hunter. The shy son of Barry stayed out of trouble in the third race and gained enough points to finish third overall which is a great start to his Stockcar career. Defending champion Barry Hunter raced the Darcy Hunter car in the consolation races and although was had a win was no match for Pat Westbury in the jumbo engined 97r who won the other three. Shane Penn in the old Wayne Hemi car raced anonymously but well to get enough points for 4th place in the third heat off grid 8 and 4th place overall. Lyall Rumney had pole in the third heat and had an easy win with a noisy header pipe in that race. Team boss Stan Hickey never got to start the third and last having been bend bad in the second heat after he had hit Brendon Rowlings who had put his crippled car in the path of the traffic. The Hickey #72 with Lyall aboard slammed the new Gorge which Frankie Weimann is slotted to drive later this month. Stan was sore but Llyall struggled to even hobble after the prang. The rrace was red lighted to remove the wrecks but the 37s car was allowed to stay on the track after Rowlings had waved away the offered assistance. The race went a couple of laps under green when the officials threw a red to have the Stratford stirrer removed. The 37s car racing as 74 in these championships was still mobile but sitting stationary in the straight. He appeared to waiting to pull out in front of another car, possibly an R registered car. Rowlings was ordered from the track, and drove off without any help. He was not told why he was ordered from the track and was dumb founded that the officials had pulled a mobile car from the track even though he may have been deemed to be parked in a dangerous position, a spot where the he had been a few minutes earlier when the race was restarted after the Hickey/Rumney monumental collision. Wellington fast man Eddie Hawkins came home 5th in the Championship after a stroke of luck in the final heat. The 6w was pushed onto the track late with the driver not strapped in his car and the crash helmet sitting on the roof. Big Eddie climbed out of the car to let his crew work in the cockpit and after a very long 3 minutes Hawkins climbed aboard, strapped in, put on his helmet and joined the waiting gridded cars on his alotted 17 spot. The 6w has what has to be the wildest graphics for a paint job on any contact machine and that Fast Eddie came 5th overall in a car that can be seen as well as if he had sirens and red lights strobing is indicative of how well the former winner of the championship is driving.
The hoons favourite quiet man Murray Hobbs in the Richards japper hot rod 94h failed to add to his 45 points when he was a victim of a tight pack racing on a slick little track. Hobbs ran the wall and retired with a front suspension damage. Darren Grey was another with front damage and a dnf in the all important final race after starting with a reasonable 42 points.
58g Joe Farram was on a one man demolition mission and rolled himself in the first heat after clipping a parked car. His retirement removed the only driver not obviously racing for points from the frst heat. Huey did his bit for his mate Woodsey in the third race but when 1,2,and 3 going into the final race still finish in the top three (Gary Hunter never made enough passes from his 24th grid start to keep Kelvin Grey from pipping him in the points tally) suggests that Stockcar racing has been tamed, by costs, speed, fragile cars or officials or what ever.
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