Kelvin Gray
The Aucklander had trouble at scrutineering. The car had required major repairs after the New Zealand GP at Waikaraka Park the previous week-end. A brand new crush rail on the front bumper had been finished on the morning of scrutineering. A scrutineer wanted the edges of the crush rail blurred. Kelvin pulled reverse and was perhaps brutal in his reversing and hit a SNZ official in the scrutineering lane. He was loaded up and told he was out of the New Zealand Stockcar Championship. After a lot of discussion after everybody else had been through scrutineering ,Kelvin was hooked a hundred bucks for dangerous driving and made to apologise. His front bumper then passed inspection, but keen observers noted that only the front bumper was scrutineered, no-body looked at the rest of the car!!! I guess SNZ will now have to have a training seminar to teach scrutineers that if stockcars have there engines running they might move, and 400 h.p. cars can move quickly, often have very fierce clutch pedals and drivers have restricted rearwards vision. Moving stockcars need to be respected, particularly if it’s driver is a little tired and is a little annoyed.
Incidentally just for the record a similar incident had a streetstock driver banned for 12 months (on that occasion nobody got hit). However Kelvin’s punishment has set a precedent, SNZ officials are worth $100 to run down. Had it been me hit by the stockcar, of course instead of a hundred dollar fine and the need to make an apology Kelvin would have received an official framed commendation and a cheque for hundred.
Kelvin Gray qualified.

Darren Gray
In his first qualifier the 3nz car was running strong when he clipped the broken down 99 of Mark Decke. Gray did a flick spin but also spat a wheel-guard onto the track. The race was stopped and Darren Gray ordered out of the championship. He drove onto the infield. Once again at a major championship, officials are deciding who qualifies by taking mobile cars out of races for no apparent reason other than those same officials being to quick on the button to show red lights. During the stoppage Decke’s car was removed from the pit straight where it had been sitting. Meanwhile the race cars still in the race where awaiting the green and revving their engines. Then SNZ officials decided to move a car that had cribbed a few metres, approx. 20, when the red was first thrown. 20 metres in a stockcar race makes no difference so why bother. If the car had kept racing under a red light the penalty is more severe but obvious. During the delay Tony MacLanachan’s car stopped. He had been leading the race but had been slowing prior to the stoppage. Chris Allen’s car almost next to Tony Mac’s started to overheat and Chris moved under the red and had to retire to the infield. Incidentally the 116a was hit whilst under brakes stopping on the red. The driver of the car behind was not moved 20 meters for cribbing under the red light or ordered to the in field for hitting a car when the race was stopped.
Darren Gray did not qualify, nor did Tony MacLanachan or Chris Allen.

Dave Tennant.
After a good first race, the 75a car got caught out in a melee in the second corner of his second qualifier. A freshly watered track sent a pack of cars to the wall . Tennant lost the left lock of his steering. A red was thrown, eventually, to remove a car from the wall where the crashing had occurred. In the opposite corner Tennant was ordered from the track. Another mobile car denied the opportunity to race in The New Zealand Championship by officials. Tennant needed to slowly cruise the wall over the next eight or so laps and cross the finish line to score five or six points and perhaps stay in the hunt to qualify. In Auckland a few weeks previously a Palmerston North Standard Stock completed nearly a whole lap after he had spat his steering chain onto the track and left his steering wheel spinning uselessly. The officials did not intervene that time. Also two weeks earlier Rodney Wood won a brilliant run off with only three wheels and bouncing his car off a wall for two laps to get to the chequered. The crowd, me and the officials all reckon that was fantastic and I am sure no- one would have wanted SNZ to intervene in that instance.
Dave Tennant did not qualify.

Eddie Hawkins
Fast Eddie qualified as the highest points scoring, outside the automatic qualifiers, driver. From 4 groups the best six in each group automatically made the finals with the final two places going to the drivers with the highest points of those outside the top six in each group. Wellington’s Hawkins had a torrid time qualifying and probably made more contact than any other driver who made it into the final twenty six in the three qualifiers that the 6w survived.
Eddie Hawkins qualified.

Neil McCord.
After all the qualifying races, twenty five cars had made it through but five were tied on 33 points and vying for the last spot in the twenty six. Neil McCord had survived a couple of attacks which had delayed the tank and affected his points tally. He lined up on pole for the four lap run-off between the five to decide the one to go through. Gary Hunter had grid two and had actually caught and taken McCord to the wall in a spin in the final qualifier. Brian Johnson from Christchurch who had been hung on the wall in one of his qualifiers and failed to score points after being removed to the infield went from Grid 3. Paul Urlich in the O’Connor 82 went from the fourth spot on the grid for the run-off . 115a Darren Short stopped on grid 5 and watched the race from that position when he stalled at the start of the run-off. McCord got to the first corner in front and stayed that way. Johnson thought he had the power to catch the Auckland Tank but he was wrong. The other two simply raced to lose. There was no desperado contact in the run-off nobody was prepared to damage their cars in an effort to qualify for the New Zealand Championship. McCord drove his armchair to victory, Johnson goes home to Christchurch wondering if he should buy more horsepower. After the meeting the Ford V8 in the tank was tested for compression and was measured at nine to one. Well under the maximum permitted of ten to one.
Neil McCord qualified. Brian Johnson, Gary Hunter, Paul Urlich and Darren Short failed to qualify.

Standard Stocks.
Several local drivers entered their restricted engined Standard Stocks in the Championship. Steve Hampton stayed out of trouble and scored 27 points. Lala and Blabla (the Ashtons) had a ball playing with the A-Graders and causing havoc with the quicker stockcars. Tony Wootten actually caused other cars to fail to qualify for the next night.
No Standard Stocks made it through to the Finals.

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