Meeting reviews from the keyboard of Chris Mackenzie......

- 21/01/12- Holland Collision Centre Ruapuna Speedway  -

Amberley based driver Tim George found a novel way to claim the feature race at Holland Collision Centre Ruapuna Speedway on Saturday night. Once again it was a smaller than hoped for field that would take the flag and George would make the most of it by quickly blasting into the lead making a great pass around the outside of Josh Walls going through the town bend.

A few seconds later and a rather big chink in the armor of George's 25c machine would be revealed as the car all but seemingly stalled going through the prison bend breifly allowing Walls to claim the lead back, before George again made an impressive pass, this time on the inside to regain the lead. All the while behind this battle another was brewing with Kieran Harris, Nigel Jackson, Nathan Astle and Darryl Harris all jostling in close proximity for a better position. The battle though would be short lived as Jackson slid into the town bend and almost in slow motion half spun, Darryl Harris had no-where to go but skillfully managed to pull the 31c machine up to the point where he only nudged the stricken 19c of Jackson, bringing out the first caution of the race. With no damage to either car they were both allowed to restart, with Jackson being relegated to the rear of the pack.

Green flag and George quickly set out in search of the feature win, Walls began the chase only to have it all come undone in the first turn as he got the 17c machine crossed-up and speared to the infield allowing Astle and the Harris duo to pass by. From here the race would become an interesting game of cat and mouse with Kieran Harris closing in and hounding the rear of Astle, and likewise Astle gaining on the yellow George machine. For several laps George would get a break only to have it whittled away as he time-after-time struggled to get the car through the prison bend, allowing the dueling Astle and Harris to catch up. This would continue until the town bend claimed its third spinning victim - this time it was the charging Kieran Harris that came un-stuck, spinning to a halt. This time no caution was forth-coming and the race continued, well for a couple of laps at least......

Tim George's continuing problem with the prison bend was about to unfurl one of the stranger finishes to a modifiedsprint feature event. With only a handful of laps remaining George's machine almost came to a standstill allowing Astle to catch up and attempt a pass around the outside as the two roared down the start/finish straight. The two crossed the line side-by-side and as George prepared to set the car up for the town bend he drifted up the track unaware that Astle was along side. George's car lurched as his rear wheel rode over Astle's front end, and from a spectators point it looked like a nasty exit was on the cards for both competitors. Somehow Astle kept the car on all fours and continued on as the 25c machine was dispatched at high speed towards the wall, spinning and travelling backwards with the front wheels pointing skyward, before snapping around, landing on all fours and then bouncing onto it's side. This incident would bring a premature end to the race and officials awarding the win the Tim George after rolling the running order back to the previous completed lap.

This result would cap off a pretty successful night for George as he also won the opening race, with Kieran Harris finally breaking his season hoodoo and claiming a win in the second race.

Results:

Heat 1: 1st - Tim George (25c), 2nd - Nigel Jackson (19c) , 3rd - Nathan Astle (9c)

Heat 2: 1st - Kieran Harris (22c), 2nd - Darryl Harris (31c) , 3rd -  Tim George (25c)

Feature: 1st - Tim George (25c), 2nd - Nathan Astle (9c) , 3rd - Darryl Harris (31c)

- 2/01/12- Holland Collision Centre Ruapuna Speedway  -

Holland Collision Centre Ruapuna Speedway wrapped up a busy few days for the modifiedsprint class on Monday night. Following on the heels of two nights of racing for the class at Central Motor Speedway in Cromwell, the modifiedsprints took to the Christchurch track in support of the South Island T.Q. championship.

Unfortunately a proposed visit by a few of the Invercargill based cars fell through after a torrid nights racing at Cromwell the night before. Only the lone 28i machine of Neil Hansen made the trip, albeit a very short lived trip as he retired from the nights racing after heat one with mechanical issues.

Heat One would see rookie driver Nigel Jackson (19c) show his potential with a good turn of speed as he raced out to a handy lead and held the position for a bulk of the race. The battle behind was strong as   another rookie Josh Walls (17c) raced hard to chase down Jackson, eventually he would come through and claim the lead with a handful of laps remaining. Likewise Darryl Harris (31c) stormed his way through the pack, seemingly enjoying the fastest off the back challenge and with only a couple of laps remaining managed to work his way past Jackson taking out second place. Further back Jimmy Doyle was battling with Brendan Daly both seemingly struggling for pace on the Ruapuna track. Nathan Astle's 9c failed to spark and sounded decidedly flat keeping him from making the expected challenge towards the front of the pack, while Jason Stark was having issues in the borrowed 41c machine that would ultimately see him sidelined for the remainder of the night. At the drop of the flag it was Walls who claimed the win ahead of a charging Harris, with Jackson coming home for a well driven third.

Heat two, and what a turn around for Astle - the car fired and so did he, as he quickly moved towards the front of the pack. The only driver who would stop Astle was the equally quick Harris, who just as quickly jumped to the front of the pack. These two would fight hard for a few laps before Harris slowly began to make a break. Further back race one winner, Walls was slowly making his way through the few remaining cars on the track. Brendan Daly looked slightly more comfortable this time out, but soon showed he wasnt as he spun on town bend, he was however able to keep the car rolling and no caution was called for. Jackson couldnt replicate the run of the previous race and slowly faded over the distance of the race. Back to the front and it looked like no-one was going to stop Harris as he drove clean lines to the finish ahead of Astle and Walls - no-one that was until after the race, when the referees imposed a penalty on Harris for contact early in the race with Jimmy Doyle. This allowed Astle to claim the race victory ahead of Harris, with Walls sitting in third.

Feature time, and by now the track had slickened off some-what meaning that the race could well be more a case of keeping the car pointed in the right direction than all out speed. Harris threw caution to the wind and went on a barn-storming all out assault to try and win this race, the 31c machine sitting nicely on the track looking surprisingly like a full sized sprintcar as it pitched into the corners and screamed off down the straights. What Harris hadn't counted on was the super quick 17c machine of Walls being ahead of him and this soon became a game of cat and mouse as harris set about reeling in Walls. Harris' impressive looking attempt to chase down Walls was all in vain as he failed to make any real impression on Walls' lead and had to settle for second spot. Behind these two, was anybodies guess, Jackson, Daly, Astle and Doyle were all out to try and claim third spot on a tricky looking track. After some shuffling and close racing somehow Daly managed to pull one out of the bag and rolled home in third spot ahead of Doyle, Astle and Jackson.

Results:

Heat 1: 1st - Josh Walls (17c), 2nd - Darryl Harris (31c) , 3rd - Nigel Jackson (19c)

Heat 2: 1st - Nathan Astle (9c), 2nd - Darryl Harris (31c) , 3rd -  Josh Walls (17c)

Feature: 1st - Josh Walls (17c), 2nd - Darryl Harris (31c) , 3rd - Brendan Daly (33c)

- 10/12/11- Holland Collision Centre Ruapuna Speedway  -

On a night that would see two challenges contested for the Modifiedsprints class at Holland Collision Centre Ruapuna Speedway the competiton was fast, furious and full of incident. First up would be the battle to see who would become the 2011/12 Canterbury Champ, followed up by the Avon Insurance Brokers Dash For Cash Challenge to cap the night off.

A reasonable field of 10 cars took to the track for the start of the night to take in the three races for the Canterbury Champs and it was obvious from the first flag-drop that it was going to be a hard fought and testing night of action ahead with the first heat taking three attempts to finally get underway. Attempt One would see a flying start by all and what looked like a competitive race on the cards, however heading out of turn three for the first time Jimmy Doyle drifted the 88c machine wide clobbering the wall hard enough to do substantial damage to the rear end of the car - caution one! Take two and again the field roared into action, only to be halted again inm turn three when Jason Stark spun the borrowed 41c mid turn - caution two! Third time lucky......Hopefully! and as the green flag dropped things got underway with the duo of Darryl and Kieran Harris at the front of the pack, Josh Walls sat in third and was quickly challenged and hounded for the spot by Nathan Astle. As the race progressed this would be the battle to watch as the Harris pairing cleared away from the pack, Tim George joined the tussle for third spot. The laps were quickly counting down and Astle continually probed down the inside of the black 17c machine of Walls, all the while waiting in the wings for a chance to pounce George sat comfortably in striking range. With a handful of laps remaining Darryl Harris had the race in the bag, with Kieran Harris in tow and the battle for third hotting up as the lapped cars of Brendan Daly (33c) and Andre Goldsmith (borrowed 19c) came into play. Astle saw his chance and took it weaving himself between Daly and Walls to leap into third spot....only to have it taken away again. As the flag dropped ending a testing race Darryl Harris claimed the win ahead of Kieran Harris and Josh Walls.

Race two, and like the first it would atke a while to finally get things underway, this time however it would be due to a spectacular exit from the Canterbury Championship by Bill "the wildman" Nelson in the 16c car. With a reversed results grid to start the race, Tim George would make the most of his handy position and storm past Daly and Stark and into the lead early. Walls likewise moved to the pointy end of the field quickly slotting into second place and taking Kieran Harris with him as they crossed the line for the first time. At this point the race turned pear shape for Stark and Nelson, as they completed another lap Stark went into turn one battling hard with Astle probably too hard as he lost control in front of the chasing pack. The car turned to face the oncoming traffic and stood up on it's rear end, all avoided the stricken machine with the exception of Nelson who ploughed heavily into the front end of the 41c and launched into the air rolling over to a less than respectable halt. With the twisted wreckage of Bill Nelson's car removed from the track the race was set to restart with Tim George leading the charge from Josh Walls and Kieran Harris. Once underway Walls quickly moved into the lead by making an inside pass heading into turn one for the first time, behind them a battle was raging with Kieran Harris, Nathan Astle and Darryl Harris all vying to improve thier positions. Kieran Harris would be the first to trip up as he spun in the prison bend and fell out of contention - leaving the remaining chargers to try and chase down the super-quick Walls. A lap later and Astle was the next to falter as he drifted wide coming off turn four and rode to wall allowing Darryl Harris to pass. At the head of the field it was Walls who would run to the flag un-hindered by the other competitors, Harris on the other hand had caught the tail of George and was threatening to move into second spot in a duel that would rage right to finish line. As they crossed the line Walls claimed the win ahead of George who managed to hold off the challenge of Harris.

Race three and the final heat of the championship would see the hard-chargers off the rear of the grid. like the previous races of the night things would get off to an untidy start as Walls ploughed into the back of Kieran Harris heading into turn one for the first time. the result would see Harris retire to the infield while Walls was momentarily left stranded on the track losing all chances of claiming the title. One would have guessed that the caution was close to being thrown just as the 17c machine ghugged into life and set off on it's way almost a lap down on the field. Leading the race was Jason Stark in the 41c machine, who was holding out solid challenges from Tim George and Nathan Astle. Darryl Harris sat comfortably in fourth and by now probably knew that he had done enough to grasp the title for 2011/12, but that didnt stop him from still pushing on as he ducked under Tim George in turn 2 to pick up third spot and set about chasing the 9c Astle car. Harris soon made short work of Astle in turn three as Astle's car rode a small rut and bobbled about allowing the 31c to pass. Not to be outdone, in the exact same spot a lap later Stark would drift out wide and Harris had an open door to move into the lead of the race. Astle likewise soon found his way past the now struggling Stark and settled into second spot, and eventually Goerge would do the same before they crossed the line.

With the chequered flag dropped on the title chase Darryl Harris had obviously taken the title with two wins and a third spot, the big question would be if Josh Walls had done enough to keep the others at bay with his results and the answer was yes! By a single point Walls had claimed second spot ahead of the tied pairing of Tim George and Nathan Astle

Results: Canterbury Champs

Heat 1: 1st - Darryl Harris (31c), 2nd - Kieran Harris (22c) , 3rd - Josh Walls (17c)

Heat 2: 1st - Josh Walls (24i), 2nd - Tim George (25c) , 3rd -  Darryl Harris (31c)

Final: 1st - Darryl Harris (31c), 2nd - Nathan Astle (9c) , 3rd - Tim George (25c)

Overall Results: 1st - Darryl Harris (31c), 2nd - Josh Walls (17i) , 3rd=   Nathan Astle (9c), Tim George (25c)

The Avon Insurance Brokers Dash For Cash Challenge

With the Canterbury Champs out of the way it was time for an additional special feature of the night, the Avon Insurance Brokers Dash For Cash Challenge. With a high rate of attrition over the course of the night a smaller than expeced field took to the track for this twelve lap cash race, where the winner would pocket a $250 dollar bonus. The grid had been determined by the results of the Canterbury Champs with Darryl Harris having the box seat alongside the flying rookie Josh Walls. Behind them was the pairing of Tim George and Nathan Astle, with Brendan Daly and Jason Stark rounding out the field. At the drop of the green it was a quick drag race into the first corner, with Harris edging out a strong challenge from Walls, Astle quicjkly slotted into third and set about chasing the leading two. Harris' lead was short lived as Walls pulled alongside heading down the backstraight and tucked down low to pass on the inside going into turn three, unfortunately the two made contact and bobbled around with Walls coming to a stop as the remainder of the field took evasive action.

Take two and Harris had the front spot ahead of Astle, Stark, George, Daly with Walls sent to the rear of the pack for causing the caution. Green flag time and for a few laps the order remained the same, that was until Jason Stark spun the 41c machine in turn 2-3 triggering another caution period. All this, and the race had only a few laps in the books....with this caution came another surprise situation as Darryl Harris was removed from the lead of the race by officials due to running without a knurf-bar. This left a lowly four cars to battle for honours in the Avon Insurance Brokers Dash For Cash Challenge.

Astle had inherited the lead of the race, followed by the hard charging Walls, George and rounding out the pack was the 33c of Bredan Daly. This order wouldnt change for the remainder of the race even though Walls looked like he could challenge for the lead for a few laps, and even a spin from Tim George couldn't give Daly enough of an advantage to pick up a spot. As the chequered flag dropped Astle won with a comfortable margin over Walls, with George some further distance back rounding out the podium. 

Results: Avon Insurance Dash For Cash Challenge

Dash: 1st - Nathan Astle (9c), 2nd - Josh Walls (17c) , 3rd - Tim George (25c)

The Christchurch Modifiedsprint Club would like to thank Avon Insurance Brokers for their support of the Dash For Cash Challenge.

-  26/11/11- Beachlands Speedway, Dunedin  -

It wasnt quite the outcome the modifiedsprints would have wanted when they visited Dunedin's Beachlands Speedway. A smaller than originally anticipated turn out of seven cars made the trip to the blustery beach-side track. The drivers were greeted by a smooth and exceptionally drivey track as they were allowed to take in a few warm-up laps, with most returning to the pits with grins from ear-to-ear in anticipation of some super-quick racing.

Modifiedsprints in the Dunedin pits before the meeting was set to start

By the time that the first race was set to roll the track had changed. No longer was the grippy surface on offer, instead a somewhat slick track was beginning to form. The seven cars took to the track ready to show their stuff in front of a relatively sized crowd and quickly got into their grid positions. Darryl Harris (31c) had the pole spot, slotted alongside him was the Invercargill driver Craig "Charger" Phillips (17i) on the next row was Glenn Findlay (33i) and Mark Simpson (71), rounding out the field was Nathan Astle (9c) Shaun Harris (24i) and Jimmy Doyle (88c) All was set for the first laps in anger as the cars came off turn four.....the flag dropped, and turmoil struck! As the pace picked up, the 71i machine suddenly lurched right and slammed nose-first into the front-straight wall sending the car into a wild 360deg spin. Simpsons car slowly rolled to the infield and for some time there was concern for the Invercargill driver as the ambulance was called for. After some delay Simpson clambered from the car to a round of applause from the crowd. Sadly it was game over for the 71i car, the impact had been so hard that the chassis was twisted out of square,as for the driver - Mark Simpson was in good spirits, asking if he had even crossed the start line and only needed a slight patch-up!

Take two and the six remaining cars formed up to restart the event, the flag dropped and Phillips and Darryl Harris stormed into turn one side by side. Behind them however things were again about to get messy as Shaun Harris lost control on the slick surface and spun out in front of the charging pack, for a fleeting moment it looked like the nights racing could well be over as three cars quickly approached the spinning 24i machine. Somehow, Harris managed to keep the car powered up and spectacularly stood the car up on it's left rear wheel, as the following cars splayed in different directions like a formation aerobatics team. Strangely enough Harris was able to exit the scene of the incident along with Doyle and Astle, leaving Findlay stranded as the innocent party.

Take three......and everyone, including the drivers were hoping that a race could get underway....and this time it did, and what a race it was! Phillips quickly got the jump and led away from Darryl Harris, with Sahun Harris hot on his tail, Astle remained in contention and set about launching an attack in S. Harris for third spot. Findlay quickly fell away from the pack struggling with an engine mis-fire, while Doyle was struggling to come to grips with the slick surface. Finally the class managed to complete a lap without major incident and get the race underway properly, although Astle had spun to the infield after losing controlin turn four, he quickly rejoined and set about tracking down a better finishing position. The battle however was brewing at the front of the pack, D. Harris was closing in on the 17i and looked to be waiting for the chance to strike, likewise S.Harris was in a good position should one of the leading two have a moment. Then it happened Phillips had a moment and drifted wide allowing Harris to drop down low and challenge for the lead. Phillips wasnt going to give the spot away easily and these two battled in close wheel-to-wheel proximity for an exciting few laps before Harris finally broke the shackles and slowly pulled out a gap. From here on in the positions would remain unchanged, with only Nathan Astle picking up a position on the final run to the flag.

31c Darryl Harris claimed victory in race one.....

Race two for the night, and a reverse grid was going to make for an interesting event. The flag dropped and Shaun Harris utilised his front row start to great advantage, blasting away from the pack to gain a good lead. Behind him the remaining group jostled for position with Jimmy Doyle holding the fast charging D.Harris behind him for several laps before drifting wide and losing positions to both Harris and Astle. Astle made the most of the moment and powered past Harris into second. For a few laps the pace seemed to settle S Harris had a handy margin over Astle in second, who was being hassled by D Harris, further back Phillips was slowly closing in on the battling pair. Findlay was again struggling for power in the 33i machine and Jimmy Doyle had another battle with the track. Coming to the flag the results would remain unchanged with S Harris taking the win followed by a quick looking Astle and rounding out the top three was D Harris.

It wouldnt be a speedway meeting if there wasnt some controversy..and the feature was about to throw controversy and confusion into the ranks in a big way. It was in all cases a "battle with the clock" Like many speedway's around the country the locals have forced the council to place a curfew on Beachlands Speedway, and with only a hand-ful of minutes remianing on the clock the modifiedsprints rolled onto the track to race the final part of the "Wings On The Beach" title. With l;ittle time on hand the cars gridded quickly and the green flag was dropped. The cars roared into life and Jimmy Doyle led the way in the 88c machine. Being that this was the last race on the programme the track by now was slick and pretty dusty and the drivers were battling for grip, Phillips slipped the 17i machine into a handy second spot, while Findlay was having his run of the night and held down third spot. All was seemingly going well until about the third lap when Jimmy Doyle spun out on turn two, causing the chasing field to take evasive action, Phillips was forced to the infield and for a moment findlay led the race. it wasnt to last however and he was soon rounded up by both S. Harris and Astle as the lap continued....it was at this point that things fell apart for the night. With Doyle and Phillips stranded the caution needed to be used. With time quickly running out the Beachlands officials were forced to "call" the race at this point. With the race hardly underway this threw all sorts of questions into the pot....Who would be called the winner? Should the last race even be counted? and unfortunately it left a few dis-gruntled drivers wandering the pits. When the dust had settled and the points sorted the event was declared a draw between the two Invercargill drivers Shaun Harris and Craig Phillips, with Darryl Harris rounding out the top three.

Results:

Heat 1: 1st - Darryl Harris (31c), 2nd - Craig Phillips (17i) , 3rd - Shaun Harris (24i)

Heat 2: 1st - Shaun Harris (24i), 2nd - Nathan Astle (9c) , 3rd -  Darryl Harris (31c)

Final: 1st - Jimmy Doyle (88c), 2nd - Craig Phillips (17i) , 3rd - Glenn Findlay (33i)

Overall Results: 1st= Shaun Harris (24i), 1st= Craig Phillips (17i) , 3rd - Darryl Harris (31c)

-  4/06/11- Sunset Speedway, Westport  -

- Concrete + Sump = Bung!......

It was supposed to be two days of hard fought competition, unfortunately it all fell apart on day one. Overnight rain at Sunset Speedway - Westport, left the club with a pluggy mud-bog that had to be turned into some form of racetrack for the two day meeting. Day one did get underway although somewhat delayed as a track was formed. Through no fault of anyone the track would eventually claim enough casualties to sideline the modifiedsprints for day two, which ironicly would turn out sunny.

Things had been going well with two challenging but quick races in the books, with wins to 8c Alastair Ford and 88c James 'Jimmy' Doyle. Doyles victory was soon countered, as oil was spotted dripping from the underside of the engine - sidelining him from the remaining race. The remaining drivers took to the track for the last heat of the day, and this was to be the un-doing of the class.

Over the course of the day turns 3-4 had slowly crept inwards, and although there the poleline was anything but easy to see. Observers would have been aware of a sinister sounding "groinch" through this turn, but most would have put it down to the chassis bottoming out, or the chain flicking. The race got off to a flyer and all looked good - that was until rookie driver Nigel Jackson (7c) stopped the race when he rolled the car on the backstraight. Jackson was fine - his car wasnt and a twisted wreck was removed to the infield, soon to be followed by the current race leader Alastair Ford - the reason? A pool of oil under the engine.

7c Nigel Jackson found out why the wall was there......

This had cut the field in half, with only Nathan Astle (9c) Andre Goldsmith (41c) and Bill Nelson (16c) remaining on the track.....a promising looking weekend was suddenly thrown into turmoil, and it would get worse - as the green dropped for the race to continue Bill Nelson would retire the 16c to the infield as well - leaving a cat and mouse chase to the flag between Astle and Goldsmith. Astle would keep a cool head and easily race to victory on a rather tricky track.

Further investigation at the completion of the race would show that both Doyle and Ford had suffered the same issue, while racing the sump "bung" had bottomed out on the concrete pole-line cracking, and in Fords case puncturing a hole in the sump. Looking over Jacksons twisted car to see if repairs could be carried out also revealed an oil leak from the sump.

With three cars side-lined for the remainder of the weekend things werent looking good, and Sundays event was in doubt. Roll in the weather....torrential over-night rain and the continuing drizzle would have put even the most ardent speedway fan off - yet the Westport Club perservered...and were rewarded in the end with a good track and a sunny day. Unfortunately for the modifiedsprints, only Goldsmith remained as Astle and Nelson headed back to Christchurch.

9c Nathan Astle shows the style that took him to victory in the 4th Annual Arnesen Trophy.

Un-deterred Goldsmith removed his wings and with permission ran off the back of the T.Q's for Sundays races and while not overly competitive with the limited wingless time, he certainly enjoyed the experience.

41c Andre Goldsmith went topless for Sundays racing

Sunday had been set aside for the running of the "Arnesen trophy" however with no-one to contest the 4th running of the trophy, it was decided to use the results of the previous days final race to award the trophy. That would mean that Nathan Astle would be the recipient for 2011, with Andre Goldsmith second and Bill Nelson taking out the third placed trophy.

Results:

Heat 1: 1st - Alastair Ford (8c), 2nd - Jimmy Doyle (88c) , 3rd -   Nathan Astle (9c)

Heat 2: 1st - Jimmy Doyle (88c), 2nd - Alastair Ford (8c) , 3rd -  Nigel Jackson (7c)

Final: 1st - Nathan Astle (9c), 2nd - Andre Goldsmith (41c) , 3rd - Bill Nelson (16c)

- 24/04/11- Central Motor Speedway, Cromwell  -

- Over In A Flash!......

This years visit to Cromwell's Central Motor Speedway was seemingly over in a flash. Although there was a huge programme on the cards and seemingly endless waits between heats once the modifiedsprints hit the track the laps flew by and the three races were completed on no time at all.

A decent sized field of 12 cars fronted at the Central Otago track to compete on day two of the annual Easter meeting - the format simple, marble draw fro heat 1, reverse grid for heat 2 and highest points off the front for the run to the flag in the Feature.

Heat 1 would get underway under a sunny sky, making the in-famous turns 1-2 even trickier than normal with sun-strike becoming a factor heading off down the back-straight... The front row of the grid was one to watch with two of the regions hard chargers sitting side by side, from Christchurch - Kieran Harris (who somehow always manages to draw grid 1!) in the 22c machine and alongside Lee O'keefe in the 18i car. behind them 10 more cars all wanting to make moves on the open expanses of the Cromwell track. The green dropped and the modifiedsprint cream began to wind up, Kieran Harris scored the first point by pulling ahead of the 18i TNL Transport endorsed car and led the pack into turn 1. 88c James Doyle wanted to be part of this action and slid down low to over take O'keefe going through turn 2 and set out after Harris. Behind this was a whole gaggle of cars all vying for the same piece of track - luckily no-one became a casualty and the pack screamed off down the backstraight for the first time. All this and it was only the first half of the lap, as they group exited turn 4 for the first time the the caution was thrown (unknown reason) and the field slowed, Tim George (25c) was seemingly caught un-aware and slewed the car sideways behind O'Keefe spinning out and causing the pack to split in all directions - again no damage was forth-coming and all racers were able to restart the event.

Take 2, and with the grid reformed the race was set to get underway..... the start would bring the same result as Kieran Harris lept out into the lead ahead of O'Keefe. Making a far better start was the Smithshire 31c machine of Darryl Harris, who managed to pick up a few positions heading through turns 1-2 and slot into the third place. Back further and a real battle was ensueing, George, Doyle, Nathan Astle (9c) and Shaun Harris (24i) were soon joined by the flying Craig Phillips (17i) in a five way duel for ontrack position. Harris would eventually slide past O'Keefe into second and likewise George would storm forward to race into the third spot rounding out the podium in a quick paced race. For the rest, O'keefe would hold onto fourth, while Doyle would ease out a gap and win the hard fought battle mentioned earlier ahead of Phillips, Harris, Astle, Andre Goldsmith (41c), Brendan Daly (33c), Alastair Ford (8c) and Glen Finlay (33i)

Heat 2 and the reverse grid race, and funnily enough it seemed that the usual hard chargers were starting from the back. Rookie driver Brendan Daly was on the front row alongside the ever improving Shaun Harris, Astle and Ford slotted in behind - the mid pack looked exciting with the likes of O'keefe, Phillips, and Darryl Harris in close proximity....having the hardest task would eb heat one winner Kieran Harris who was placed at the rear of the pack. Green flag and Daly was soon swamped by an agressive pack of charging speedsters, Shaun Harris grabbed the lead as firstly Phillips and then Darryl Harris stormed by the Avon Insurance sponsored 33c. Astle was next to line up the 33c car while behind them was another pack battle with a number of drivers out to improve their position. Back to the front and Shaun Harris was beginning to open up a matgin over the 17i machine of Phillips, who was starting to get pressure from Darryl Harris for second spot. With only a few laps to go the race was about to be subjected to a result changing incident, James Doyle spun sideways exiting turn 1 and was collected by the 18i machine of O'Keefe, still stricken Doyle was soon punted by the fast approaching Goldsmith. Luckily for all three damage was minimal and with the exception of O'Keefe who had a small fire in the engine area both cars were able to be repaired for the feature event. With three cars removed from the race the major benefactor would be Kieran Harris as he moved rapidly up the grid to fifth for the restart. Ahead of him was a tough challenge to get to the front...Astle, Darryl Harris, Phillips and Shaun Harris. Green flag and Shaun Harris surged forward retaining the lead ahead of Phillips and Darryl Harris, Kieran Harris chose the highline to take on Astle for position and slid around the outside - taking the spot with ease. From there on in it seemed the race would finish in this order, but then this is racing and anything can happen....and happen it did as Craig Phillips looped the 17i machine  in turn four with only a lap remaining on the cards. This allowed the Harris duo of Darryl and Kieran to slot into second and third respectively and completing a Harris formation finish with Shaun being the victor.

Time for the deciding feature and with a small amount of frantic work in the pits to repair the damage from the earlier heat, 11 cars wheeled their way onto the track for the final time. The Harris trio'd finish from the previous race certainly paid dividend as they took up the first three spots on the grid, joined by the ever present Tim George. As the flag dropped Kieran Harris lept into the lead followed closely by Darryl Harris, Tim George dropped down inside Shaun Harris but was unsuccessful in gaining the third spot as the field screamed down the backstraight for the first time. Phillips gained momentum and managed to blow by George as the pack turned into turns 3-4 and then continued on by blasting past Darryl Harris into third, while behind them Harris, Daly, Doyle,Astle, Goldsmith and Finlay all battled for ontrack position. One lap past in quicktime and with it position changes towards the front of the pack as Shaun Harris checked up coming across the start/finish line allowing Phillips to make a brave move down the inside, it was however to be short lived as Phillips got slightly crossed up coming off turn 2, allowing Harris to drag race down the backstraight and back into second. With Kieran Harris out in front the battle to watch was diffinately the one between clubmates Phillips and Shaun Harris for second as the two ran side by side and diced for position, all the while the 25c machine sat in wait ready to pounce should any opening present itself. Eventually the constant low line of Phillips would pay off as Harris drifted wide gifting the second spot to the purple 17i car, this allowed george to attack and soon after he also slid down the inside to slot into third. For the remaining few laps the positions remained unchanged, with Kieran Harris claiming the checkered flag ahead of Craig Phillips and Tim George. Shaun Harris would retain fourth after a last gasp effort from the 31c machine of Darryl Harris failed to bring about any advancement in position.

The Modifiedsprint drivers and the Christchurch Modifiedsprint Club would like to take the time to thank the Central Motor Speedway club for the invite to race at their track over the Easter break, we hope we added some value and something a little different to the race programme, and we look forward to returning in the future is possible.

Results:

Heat 1: 1st - Kieran Harris (22c), 2nd - Darryl Harris (31c) , 3rd - Tim George (25c)

Heat 2: 1st - Shaun Harris (24i), 2nd - Darryl Harris (31c) , 3rd -  Kieran Harris (22c)

Final: 1st - Kieran Harris (22c), 2nd - Craig Phillips (17i) , 3rd - Tim George (25c)

- 9/04/11- Equus Ruapuna Speedway  -

- Two Champions Found......

It had been a long time between race meetings At Equus Ruapuna Speedway, and it would be fitting that two Championships would be decided ont he final meeting of the 2010/11 season. It had never been the intention to run a round of the Chrsitchurch Modifiedsprint Club championship over the top of any other title meeting. With the season thrown into  dis-array on Febraury 22 the club was left with no other option but to clash the two titles into one night.

The club title would be decided after the running of the first race of the night. The results would turn an already fiercely contested five round seasonlong battle into a result even closer than first anticipated when the format was concieved, with a lot of drivers ending the series tied on points with their rival competitors. A stellar drive from Darryl Harris (31c) would see the Smithshire Henchcraft storm to a convincing win as the trailing pack fought hard for the minor placings. Of mahjor interest was the finishing positions of Kieran Harris (22c) and Nathan Astle (9c), who were hotly contesting the Club championship top spot. Determined to thwart their progress were a number of equally determined drivers, hell-bent on bettering their own finishing position in the title chase. Tim George (25c) was chasing Harris hard for the lead but was making little in-roads as he held off a quick Astle, who tried on several occasions to overtake the bright yellow T. George sponsored machine. Behind this pairing was an equally intense battle as Kieran Harris Battled with a deceptively quick Jason Stark (71c).Either of these moves would surely have major implications on the final placings in the 2011 Christchurch Modifiedsprint Championship, however neither were forthcoming as Darryl Harris stole the victory ahead of George, Astle, Stark, and Kieran Harris. Alastair Ford (8c) was next holding out Brendan Daly (33c) and James Doyle, while the dedicated appearance of two cars from Invercargill was short lived as both Lee O'Keefe (18i) and Glenn Finlay (33i) suffered mechanical issues during the race that forced them to retire from taking any further part in the nights racing.

After the dust had settled and the points tallied up, the Christchurch Modifiedsprint Club was able to announce the winner of the 2011 championship. That stellar drive from Darryl Harris, along with the mixed results behind him allowed the Kaiapoi based driver to overtake his rivals and clinch the title away by a single point. Astles third spot and  Kieran Harris's fifth would see the inseperable pairing tie in 2nd= on 88 points each. Further down the table there were other movers as well, as a few drivers scored enough points to allow them to tie for better overall positions.  

Snatched! Darryl Harris claimed the title by a single point...

With the club champs now over, drivers could concentrate on the next task at hand - racing for the Canterbury Champs. Of course points for that title chase had already been gained from the first race of the night as well, so in reality the title chase was already underway. Heat two and with the field already down two cars from the first heat eight cars took to the track.....a track that would claim a victim early in the race. With the drop of the green flag defending champion Kieran Harris made a blinder of a start racing around the outside of both front row starters, James Doyle an Brendan Daly to take an early lead. Daly would settle into second ahead of Doyle who was already recieving heated attention from the 9c car of Astle. Astle would soon slide by into third and drag Tim George along with him, it was from this point that the race was about to change. Harris had cleared out at the front of the field and looked un-touchable, but behind him Daly was feeling the heat from a charging Astle and after a lap of close quarters racing they both entered the Town bend side by side. As Astle tried to pass on the inside Daly allowed the 9c a little extra room and soon found himself in a bad place. The 33c Avon Insurance car hit a solid wall of clay and lurched to the right, Astle had backed out but found himself in a similar position and could only follow daly through the rough. Both cars would react in similar fashion how-ever Daly's car would cop a worse outcome as the front end plummeted into the track sending the rear end skyward. The car bucked like a rodeo bronco, before spinning side ways, bouncing and flipping over. Luckily for Astle his car stayed on all fours, but he was right behind the stricken 33c and couldnt avoid clipping the airborne machine ripping his front wing off and damaging the top wing.For Daly the damage sustained would end his nights racing, Astle however would be forced to retire from this heat but would return later in the night to contest the final.

After a short hold up to clear the track it was back to racing, Kieran Harris resumed in his front spot while Tim George had become the benefactor of Astle and Daly's demise and took up second place. James Doyle was working hard to hold off a torrid challenge from Darryl Harris to hold down the final podium spot. Eventually though the 31c machine would muscle its way past and into the third spot. Ironicly Doyle would also lose out the Jason Stark on the final lap as he bounced over the same wall of clay that tripped Daly up and headed out towards the safety fence. The checkered flag dropped to Kieran Harris, followed by Tim George with Darryl Harris rounding out the top three.

Feature time, and decider time - the points were tight and just like the fianl of the Club chmaps earlier in the night the results could go anywhere.With the grid decided by results from the previous race this was going to be one to watch as the fastest guys were placed off the rear of the grid. Although you wouldnt have guessed it as just like Kieran harris's exceptional start in the previous race, Tim George likewise made a great start to this race and blasted from his sixth spot right around the outside and into second through the course of the Town bend. Ahead of him was the 8c machine of Alastair Ford, who would soon be relegated to second as George sliced past him on the inside heading to the line for the first time. Astle was holding firmly onto the third spot ahead of the charging Harris duo. while Doyle and Stark copntinued their night long battle at the tgail of the pack. With George making a break on the pack the place to watch was the battle for second, Astle was continously probing down the inside of Ford, only to have the door shut in his face everytime. Darryl Harris sat a few car lenghts back waiting for any incident that may allow him to sneak by the battling pair ahead. It wasnt to be forthcoming however and the racing order remained thae same till the end with George going on to claim his first feature win and also take out the Canterbury Champs,Ford would come home second with Astle third.   

Results:

Heat 1: 1st - Darryl Harris (31c), 2nd - Tim George (25c) , 3rd - Nathan Astle (9c)

Heat 2: 1st - Kieran Harris (22c), 2nd - Tim George (25c) , 3rd -  Darryl Harris (31c)

Feature: 1st - Tim George (25c), 2nd - Alastair Ford (8c) , 3rd - Nathan Astle (9c)

Canterbury Champs Results: 1st - Tim George (25c), 2nd - Darryl Harris (31c), 3rd - Kieran Harris (22c)

Best Recorded Laptime: 14.664 - Darryl Harris (31c) - Heat 1

-  19/02/11 Riverside Speedway, Invercargill -

- Finally - A Break For Harris!......

Shaun Harris put behind a trying season to storm his way to victory in the second running of the Southland Modifiedsprint Championship. Thwarted by engine woes for quite some time it seems that the gremlins have finally been sorted as the 24i machine came out on top of the nine car field at Riverside Speedway.

Shaun Harris (24i) triumphant on home soil

The day however wasnt all plain sailing for the competitors as almost every car suffered some form of damage over the course of the day. Worst off would be visiting Christchurch hotshot Kieran Harris, who suffered extensive damage to the 22c Kincrome Henchcraft not once but twice throughout the days racing. In heat one the race had barely started when the car failed to turn into turn three and slammed into the wall before spinning around and tumbling onto its side. Frantic action in the pits saw the car repaired enough to take to the track for the second heat only to again slam into the wall exiting turn one, this time trying to avoid a few striken spun cars. With a bulk of spares already on the car there was no possible way that the Harris machine would see the track again for the final. Rookie driver Glenn Findlay (33i) had looked impressive in his first outing in the ex-Brian Bradshaw machine, and was improving with every race. His run would though come to an end as just as the flag dropped in the second heat the car dropped its drive chain and limped to a stop. Further inspection revealed that there was some damage to the rear end Findlays day was done...although he did admit to enjoying the experience....Modifiedsprints.co.nz puts Glenn down as one to watch in the future! Likewise fellow Invercargill driver Danny Lang (38i) would sit out heat two in the Agweld Engineering sponsored machine as he searched for a remedy to his rear end woes, unlike some of the other competitors Lang was lucky enough to make the track for the final. Many would have picked Nathan Astle to feature in the 9c Tradestaff sponsored machine The truth however was somewhat different with the car only just coming out of the workshop to solve some electrical issues it was lucky to even see the car hit the track. It wouldnt be electrical issues that would stop Astle in his tracks, rather it would be water....The 9c machine suffered from a leaking radiator and the decision to sit out the final wasnt taken lightly.

Heat one would see all nine cars line up ready to contest the 2011 Southland Modifiedsprint Championship. Christchurch hotshot Kieran Harris (22c) had the box seat with Southland flier Lee O'keefe (18i) alongside making for a great battle up front. It was however to be short lived as soon after the green flag was dropped Harris had the first of his incidents sidelining him from the race. A full restart was called and from there O'Keefe pretty much had it his own way as he blasted the 18i machine around the track to the finish line. Shaun Harris (24i) made his intentions known as he weaved his way throught he pack to claim second spot from his rear of the field starting grid. Third home was another of the evr increasing local contingient Bradley May (75i) who continues to gain speed as time goes by. Nathan Astle (9c) battled his way into fourth ahead of the hard charging 17i machine of Craig Phillips. Another of the Christchurch hopes Darryl Harris (31c) looked uneasy throughout the race and could only manage to bring the Smithshire sponsored car home in sixth ahead of the only other finisher Glenn Findlay.

Some frantic pitwork had all but one of the field return to the track for heat two. Danny Lang (38i) had decided to sit out the race after discovering some rear end issues and contnued working in readyness for the final. Kieran harris took his place at the rear of the grid, and would need to look to his brothers performance in heat one for inspiration to move toward the front of the field. An all Harris front row led the grid around to take the green, and it would be Shaun Harris who would get the intitial jump leading the chasing pack into turn one. Darryl Harris slotted in behind and set about hounding the 24i car for the lead spot. Nathan Astle got the jump on Bradley May who likewise hounded the back of the 9c machine until Astle came unstuck heading into turn two, spinning in front of the pack and causing a number of machines to spin in avasive action. The worst effected was again Kieran Harris who although managing to avoid the multicar tangle went high and slammed into the wall doing substantial damage and ending his title chase. With the race ready to restart Shaun Harris held the first spot with Darryl Harris slotted behind him. Astle resumed in third ahead of Craig Phillips, Lee O'keefe and Glenn Findlay. Green flag and the 24i car roared off with 31c hot on his tail, Craig Phillips ghot a blinder of a start and flew past Astle into third. Bradley May had suffered a puncture in the multicar tangle and was allowed to continue in the 75i May Finacial Services machine, gaining valuable points for the final, although at a snailspace and out of the main racing line. At the front Darryl Harris had used his experience to force Shaun Harris wide and snatch the lead, and with that move completed he set about opening a small gap between himself and the 24i machine. From that point on the race seemed to settle the and positions remained the same to the flag with Darryl Harris leading the field ahead of Shaun Harris, Craig Phillips, Nathan Astle, Lee O'keefe, and Bradley May some laps down.

*From this point on my review will be shortened - this was where I was upto when the 6.3 magnitude quake struck Christchurch. I'm currently finishing this report from a different location and as a result I dont have access to my notes......from here on the review will be written using my currently somewhat scrambled memory.

Final time, and unfortunately a somewhat reduced field took to the track to decide who would be crowned the 2011 Southland Modifiedsprint Champion. Shaun Harris had the box seat and was slotted alongside his major threat Lee O'Keefe. At the green it would be Harris that would get the jump and set about opening up a sizable lead over the course of the race. O'Keefe would chase hard and still be close enough to launch an attack if Harris should faulter....which he nearly did around the mid-race point. Coming off turn two the 24i machine stepped out and began to spin towards the infield - O'Keefe closed the gap rapidlybut couldnt capitalise as Harris was able to re-align the car and continue on, again slowly opening up a sizable gap. Behind these two the fight was just as intense with Craig Phillips, Darryl Harris and Bradley may all fighting for the final spot on the podium, the battle for position between Harris and Phillips was a sight to behold as they raced in close quarters for the duration of the race. May would slowly pick his way through the pack and into the third spot ahead of Phillips and a diss-appointed Harris, rounding out the finishers and being reasonably happy with his sixth overall was the 38i machine of Danny Lang.

It needs to be said that the current state of modifiedsprint racing in the deep south is in good hands, in just a short time the quality and pace of the drivers from Invercargill has improved remarkibly, and with a few new guys on the block and still more interest the class looks to be on the way up! I would like to personally thank the guys who travelled down from Christchurch for the event (no silverware this year guys - maybe next year eh?) The Southland (and Chch) drivers for being so approachable and making my "stand-in" job as class rep an easy task. Also a big thanks to Jase at Riverside (and thepits website) for his support of the class and the work he does in promoting speedway in the Southern region. It was great to meet him (albeit very briefly while trying to complete other tasks) and see someone who has a genuine passion for speedway, We look forward to returning to Riverside Speedway in the future and are hopeful that we can do it on a more regular basis. 

Results:

Heat 1: 1st - Lee O'Keefe (18i), 2nd - Shaun Harris (24i) , 3rd - Bradley May (75i)

Heat 2: 1st - Darryl Harris (31c), 2nd - Shaun Harris (24i) , 3rd -  Craig Phillips (17i)

Final: 1st - Shaun Harris (24i), 2nd - Lee O'Keefe (18i) , 3rd - Bradley May (75i)

- 4/02/11 - 5/02/11 Equus Ruapuna Speedway -

- Harris 2 - Stark 1......

Kieran Harris broke the season-long tradition of different feature winners on Friday night as he became the first multiple winner of the season. Harris had shown a clean set of heels all night seeing the checkered flag first on all three outings and was only thwarted from the clean sweep by the decision of the referee. Harris was penalised one position for a pole-line infringement in the second race of the night allowing Alastair Ford to claim the race win. Taking the Kincrome 22c to the front over the course of the feature Harris picked his timing right to clear the opposition and soon obtained a lead that wouldnt be pegged back. Brendan Daly again put in a good show holding the charging Tim George and Darryl Harris at bay until late in the race when both of these drivers worked their way past to claim the final podium spots. It wasnt a race without incident as Nathan Astle spun coming off turn two in front of the pack early in the event, causing cars to scatter in different directions, Tim George was another caught up in this moment an also spun, making his run to second spot a good result.

Heat one would see Kieran Harris storm to the front of the field in no time at all to easily take the race from green to checkered. It was a welcome sight to see the 16c machine of Bill "Wildman" Nelson on the track and putting in some great laps. Nelson held down second place for much of the race before drifting wide on several turns allowing other cars to drive by on the lower lines. Hopefully Nelson will be seen more often in what is one of the oldest cars in the field, and with more seat-time the "wildman" could be one to keep an eye on. With Kieran Harris easily out in front, Nelson's wider lines allowed firstly Nathan Astle and then Tim George through to slot into the second and third spots respectively in the run to the flag.

Time for race two and a comedy of errors, this time Kieran Harris' run to the flag wouldnt be as simple as the first, as he would get held up in a prison bend incident that saw Bill Nelson spin in front of the charging pack. Nathan Astle couldnt avoid the spinning 16c and side-swiped Nelsons car, Darryl Harris was also caught up in the mess and ran into the two stricken cars. This whole incident forced Kieran Harris to take evasive action and slow. Damage was minimal and the incident wasnt deemed serious enough to bring on the orange allowing racing to continue. Astle and Harris were able to regain their composure and continue on, while bill Nelson limped to the infield and out of harms way. The "spin-fest" wasnt over however as a single lap later, race leader Brendan Daly went into the prison with too much pace and spun out in front of Tim George whjo was hot on th heels of the Avon Insurance 33c machine. George was able to avoid any collision and raced into the lead while Daly took to the infield. Not to be outdone Jason Stark was the next to go round in the notoious prison bend, this would bring on the yellow allowing the pack to close up ready for a restart. Tim Georges lead was all but gone, and in a strange decision it was   stripped away from him as the race starter waved the green flag as Alastair Ford crossed the line relegating George to the rear of the pack.Ford set off with Kieran Harris right on his tail and hounding for a way past. the pass was soon forth-coming as he dropped down low heading into the town bend forcing Ford to go higher on the track than he would have liked. Unfortunately Harris dropped a wheel over the pole-line while making this pass and would later be relegated one position back to second. With the first two positions settled (on the track at least) the battle was heating up for the third spot, Darryl Harris had recovered from the earlier incidetn to be challenging Brendan Daly for third. Yet again the notorious turn three would become a factor as Daly drifted wide into some heavy clay allowing Harris to run underneath and into third, Tim George soon followed and moved into fourth.....Not having finished with the modifiedsprint class prison bend reared its head again this time claiming Darryl Harris who spun exiting the turn and allowing Tim George into third spot.

Results: (4/02/11)

Heat 1: 1st - Kieran Harris (22c), 2nd - Tim George (25c) , 3rd - Darryl Harris (31c)

Heat 2: 1st - Alastair Ford (8c), 2nd - Kieran Harris (22c) , 3rd -  Tim George (25c)

Feature: 1st - Kieran Harris (22c), 2nd - Nathan Astle (9c) , 3rd - Tim George (25c)

Best Recorded Laptime: 15.047 - Kieran Harris (22c) - Heat 1

Saturday night would see yet another new name added to the ever expanding list of winners as Jason Stark stormed away from the pack to claim his first Ruapuna feature event. Stark who was piloting the 41c machine of Andre Goldsmith made the most of his front row grid to quickly jump into the lead and drive an almost faultless race to the checkered flag. Behind him Tim George led the charge to try and catch the flying Stark. Kieran Harris was also hungry to progress through the field and was moving forward well, that was until he and Tim George had a coming together in the town bend which ultimately turned the 22c machine around and sent it tumbling onto it's side. The order at the restart was Stark, Brendan Daly, Tim George, Alastair Ford, and Darryl Harris, who by his own admittance was having a rather average weekend. Green flag and Stark controlled the restart well making a small break on the pack, George used the high-line to fly past Daly and set about chasing down the top spot. Further back Darryl Harris completed the pass on Ford, but it was all too late in the race to make any furtehr progression through the field. With the laps quickly counting down the pace and positions seemed to settle with no further changes in the race order taking place. Stark crossed the line well clear of George and Daly to claim his first Feature win much to the delight of his crew. At the feature winners photo-shoot Stark commented that he "doesnt do photo's" and he was right - with camera set and photo taken, later investigation revealed there had been a malfunction with the camera with the photo not even appearing to be present.

Heat one of the night was another round of the Christchurch Modifiedsprint Club Championship and Nathan Astle's competitive streak soon came to the fore as he quickly moved around the front grids front row of Jason Stark and Brendan Daly into first position on the track. Astle looked determined to gain some valuable points, but so to did Darryl Harris who quickly slotted in behind the Tradestaff sponsored machine of Astle and looked to challenge on a few accasions. Kieran Harris had to contend with the remainder of the pack, working his way into third after a few laps and setting out after the 31c of Darryl Harris. Back at the front Astle continued his charge opening up a decent lead on his way to the race win. Second and third also remained unchanged as Kieran Harris was unable to progress past Darryl Harris. Astle's win gave him enough points to clear Darryl Harris by a single point to sit second in the series, it also cut Kiran Harris' lead back to two points...with one round remaining this championship is going down to the line!

In a start similar to the first heat, Tim George quickly fired into the lead of heat two and set about opening up a sizable lead over the chasing pack. Alastair Ford continued his consistant form lapping at a constant pace and holding down the second spot for some time before eventually being caught and passed by the charging Kieran Harris. Nathan Astle's flying start to the night came to an abrupt halt early in the race as machine to limped to the infield and out of contention. Later inspection would reveal an electrical issue that would force Astle out for the remainder of the night. At the front however there was no doubting the winner of the race, George crossed the line well clear of any threat ahead of Kieran Harris, with Alastair Ford filling th third spot.

Results: (5/02/11)

Heat 1: 1st - Nathan Astle (9c), 2nd - Darryl Harris (31c) , 3rd - Kieran Harris (22c)

Heat 2: 1st - Tim George (25c), 2nd - Kieran Harris (22c) , 3rd -  Alastair Ford (8c)

Feature: 1st - Jason Stark (41c), 2nd - Tim George (25c) , 3rd - Brendan Daly (33c)

Best Recorded Laptime: 15.026 - Kieran Harris (22c) - Heat 1

- 21/1/11 - 22/1/11 Equus Ruapuna Speedway -

- FastFord To Feature Win......

Alastair Ford tamed a tricky track and claimed his first feature win since joining the class at the beginning of the season. Heavy overnight rain at Equus Ruapuna Speedway had put the second night of the "Sprintcar Summer Slam" in jeopardy, and only through the determined work of the sprintcar drivers did the meeting go ahead. Needless to say the track surface was a bumpy challenge for the modifiedsprint drivers on hand and laptimes were significantly slower than normal. Leaving his T.Q. at home for the night Linsay Bailey jumped at the chance to compete in Tom Lumsdens 42c machine and progressively built up speed throughout the night, eventually claiming second behind Ford in the feature after a battle with Kieran Harris ended with the two competitors colliding in the Town bend. Harris was later excluded from the results and Darryl Harris awarded with third.

Alastair Ford raced the IBT sponsored Henchcraft to his first Feature win

Earlier in the night, Ford had shown his potential by being first past the line to win the opening heat of the night in a somewhat subdued paced race. All of the drivers had to contend with an exceptionally bumpy and rather gluggy track. The modifiedsprint class was, I guess you could say pioneers as they were the first to take to the track. Laptimes reflected to condition of the surface as they were some 2-3 seconds down on the usual average. James Doyle continued his good run of results managing to hold off Kieran Harris to claim the second spot, while Harris had thrown all caution to the wind putting in the drive of the race to come home third after starting off the rear of the grid.  

Heat two would supply the sizable crowd with one of the most spectacular finishes seen in a while, as Linsay Bailey stormed around the outside of James Doyle right on the finish line to claim the race win. Tim George would have his best race of the night coming home in third place ahead of the ever improving Brendan Daly.

Showing his improvement rookie driver Brendan Daly drove a tidy race holding off the hard charging Kieran Harris to claim his first ever victory in heat three.Like in the opening heat, Harris was made to work hard on the bumpy track coming from deep within the starting grid to chase Daly to the line. Nathan Astle would round out the top three.

Results: (22/1/11)

Heat 1: 1st - Alastair Ford (8c), 2nd - James Doyle (88c) , 3rd - Kieran Harris (22c)

Heat 2: 1st - Linsay Bailey (42c), 2nd - James Doyle (88c) , 3rd -  Tim George (25c)

Heat 3: 1st - Brendan Daly (33c), 2nd - Kieran Harris (22c) , 3rd -  Nathan Astle (9c)

Feature: 1st - Alastair Ford (8c), 2nd -  Linsay Bailey (42c) , 3rd - Darryl Harris (31c)

Best Recorded Laptime: 15.492 - Kieran Harris (22c) - Feature

Night one of the two night event had been in stark contrast, although cold heavy rain had held off enough for the track to be nicely groomed for the nights racing. The class was joined by two of the deep souths hard chargers Craig Philips (17i) and Lee O'Keefe (18i) who had made the long haul up to compete for the night.

Heat one for the night was surely highlighted by the chase to the flag by Darryl Harris as he came from the rear of the field to do battle with Bredan Daly over the last few laps of the race. Daly kept his cool as Harris hounded the rear end of the Avon Insurances sponsored 33c machine, eventually though Harris was able to gain the low-line and force daly to conceed the first position with only a lap to go. Southland based Craig Philips continues to impress in his short time in the class as he raced home in third spot ahead of a hungry looking pack. Unfortunately for Lee O'keefe and the Ruapuna crowd we wouldnt get to see his exceptional speed as mechanical issues put a quick halt to his nights racing.

Heat two and this time it would be the turn of Kieran Harris to make his way to the front of the pack, and his usual hard charging style allowed him to do so with relative ease. James Doyle led home former mini-sprint pilot Jason Stark to claim second spot. Stark looks to be getting comfortable behind the wheel the ex-Richard Bateman machine and is hopeful of getting better results as time goes by.

Onto the feature and it was good to see the Harris duo taking on the challenge and make their way through the pack from the rear of the field, although the fastest off the rear format may not suit some of the drivers so much, it certainly adds to the entertainmnet value for those in the stands. Any victory from the rear should be more rewarding for the driver and I guess more deserved as well. Darryl Harris worked his way to the front in the Smithshire sponsored Henchcraft, showing blistering pace and some great overtaking skills. Likewise, Kieran Harris moved towards the front of the pack in the KinCrome machine but just couldnt catch "the ol' man". Brendan Daly continued his great recent form and managed to come home in a respectable third place. Due to timing issues at Ruapuna, we were unable to be supplied with laptimes for the nights racing.

Results: (21/1/11)

Heat 1: 1st - Darryl Harris (31c), 2nd - Brendan Daly (33c) , 3rd - Craig Philips (17i)

Heat 2: 1st - Kieran Harris (22c), 2nd - James Doyle (88c) , 3rd -  Jason Stark (71c)

Feature: 1st - Darryl Harris (31c), 2nd - Kieran Harris (22c) , 3rd - Brendan Daly (33c)

- 30/12/10 - 1/1/11 Central Motor Speedway -

- O'Keefe Impressive At Cromwell......

Invercargill based Lee O'Keefe had an impressive run over both days of the two day Xmas/New Years meeting at Cromwell's Central Motor Speedway. Piloting the ex Brett Robinson ART chassis, O'Keefe showed that he was more than able to foot it with some of the best that Christchurch had to offer over the two day meeting.

The opening race on night one was a superb battle for supremacy as Tom Lumsden moved quickly through the pack and tried in vain to get past the impressively quick Lee O'Keefe. With these two running in close quarters for the entire race and often running side by side, this was the battle to watch on the track. Further back in the pack the pace settled quickly and Alastair Ford continued his good run to come home in third ahead of Nathan Astle.

With the next race being a reverse grid, it weould be Lee O'Keefe who would have the hard work to do starting at the rear of the pack. Another of the "Southland Squad" Craig Phillips sat in the box seat and at the drop of the green raced into the lead ahead of the 9c machine of Nathan Astle. Further back Tom Lumsden quickly rounded up Jason Stark, and worked over Invercargill's Shaun Harris heading down the back-straight, before diving around the outside to overtake both Harris ans Astle in an impressive move. Likewise O'keefe had the foot down and slotted in behind Astle in fourth place looking to gain further spots as the race continued. Phillips maintained his grasp on the race for a few laps before Lumsden ranged down on him and eventually slid past into the lead. With Lumsden in clear air he began to open the gap on the 17i car, while a little further back Astle and O'keefe began a torrid battle for the last podium spot. As the flag dropped Astle was able to hold the spot behind Phillips and of course the super quick Lumsden. It wasnt all good for Lumsden however as he crossed the line he rapidly caught up with Alastair Ford and as he tried to go high around the outside he clipped the right front wheel of the 8c machine, flicking the rear around and sending the car into a series of violent bounces. Luckily the car stayed on all four wheels, but the incident did cause a fair amount of damage to the 42c machine.

To the final race of the night and after some feverish work in the pits by Lumsdens crew he was back to face the green flag. His two results along with the luck of a coin toss would see him slot into pole position for the last run of the night, alongside him and on the same points would be the 18i machine of O'Keefe. Rolling back through the pack was Phillips alongside Astle, Ford and Harris on row three and Stark alongside the last of the Invercargill racers, Danny Lang. With the green came a drag race to the tight turn one and two, and coming out on top was the 42c machine of Lumsden, O'Keefe slotted in behind and began the chase to the flag. Phillips and Astle quickly raced into a battle for third and raced closely with Astle often poking the front of his car up the inside looking to make a pass. Further back Shaun Harris was leading home the final group of four with Danny Lang, Alastair Ford and Jason Stark in persuit. With a handful of laps remaining Lumsden had stretched his lead over O'Keefe and never looked like being challenged, likewise O'Keefe had pulled away from Phillips in third spot, who was still being hounded by Astle. As they came to the checkered flag the positions remained unchanged, and Lumsden came home the overall winner ahead of O'Keefe and Phillips.

Results: (30/12/10)

Heat 1: 1st - Lee O'Keefe (18i), 2nd - Tom Lumsden (42c) , 3rd - Alastair Ford (8c)

Heat 2: 1st - Tom Lumsden (42c), 2nd - Craig Phillips (17i) , 3rd -  Nathan Astle (9c)

Feature: 1st - Tom Lumsden (42c), 2nd -  Lee O'Keefe (18i) , 3rd - Craig Phillips (17i)

Best Recorded Laptime: 15.368 - Tom Lumsden (42c) - Feature

Night two and the departure of Tom Lumsden, who had headed North to Nelson to contest in the T.Q midget class was nullified as Darryl Harris had made the trip down from Christchurch, along with the addition of long-time Invercargill open-wheeler competitor Bradley May. The class would also be joined albeit breifly by another car from the deep south in the form of the number 11i car (no name was forth-coming) this car would only see around two laps before expiring in a huge plume of smoke. Craig Phillips continued his great run and at the green quickly jumped into the lead before Astle drove past on the inside exiting turn two. froim there Astle wouldnt look back and set out on his way to the flag. Bradley May slotted into third spot amougst a heap of jostling cars and looked comfortable in one of his first outings in modifiedsprint. O'Keefe had the peddle nailed to the floorpan and was quickly carving through the charging pack, finding himself in second spot relagating Phillips and May to third and fourth respectively and setting out after Astle. Darryl Harris had somewhat of a slow start before finding his groove and moving forward eventually finishing in fifth spot after a good battle with Alastair Ford in the dying laps of the race. Kieran Harris had slotted into the 24i car of Shaun Harris for the night but looked to be struggling for pace.

With what can only be discribed as an average first race, Darryl Harris was in with a good shot to make ammends in race two as he lined up on the front row of the grid alongside Invercargill based Danny Lang. At the green Harris made a great start and easily jumped into the lead, Kieran Harris shot past Lang in into second spot relegating Lang to third ahead of O'Keefe. At the tail of the pack a whole gaggle of cars weere fighting for position and at one stage were running three wide through turns three and four. As the race progressed O'Keefe made his way into second and set about chasing down Darryl Harris, likewise Craig Phillips was moving through the pack and had moved into the fourth position behind Danny Lang in his best outing so far. That wouldnt last for long however as just a lap or so later the 38i car would have a coming together with the wall and roll causing race ending damage. Lang would walk away un-injured and later admitted it was 'driver error' that caused the roll-over. The resulting red-light allowed the pack to close up on Darryl Harris for the restart and with the green in ready the line up was Harris, O'Keefe, Kieran Harris, Phillips, Astle, Stark, Ford and May. With the drop of the green O'Keefe made a stab at passing Harris, while likewise Phillips had a stab at O'Keefe heading into turn one, the result allowed harris to make a break as both O'Keefe and Phillips had to back out of the gas momentarily. Kieran Harris was working hard to keep the charging pairing of Astle and Stark at bay, however they soon both slipped by the ailing 24i car - one going high and one going low. With the first two spots finalised third was still up for grabs as Astle rapidly closed in on the 17i car of Phillips and set about making a challenge for the spot. Sadly for Astle he ran out of laps and had to settle for the fourth ahead of Jason Stark.

On to the final race of the meeting for the modifiedsprints and a further retirement from the nights action came from Bradley May in the 75i car, with a preventative mechanical issue. With May's demise the numbers were reduced to seven cars, however the front of the grid was the area to watch as Astle lined up alongside O'Keefe in a continuation of their meeting long battle, tucked in behind them was another quick pairing of Phillips and Harris, further back was Stark and Ford, with Kieran Harris rounding out the grid. Green light! and the battle began, although you wouldnt know it as Astle and O'Keefe kept their formation racing side by side albeit at race pace. O'Keefe would eventually get the break and position his car in front of the 9c to take the lead. Likewise Darryl Harris had his hands full with the deceptively quick Phillips before finally breaking clear and beginning the chase of Astle. With O'Keefe opening up a decent lead the battle for second was the place to watch as Harris began to work over the tailtank of the 9c Henchcraft. Lap after lap Astle kept his position with Harris shadowing his every move, eventually Harris managed to position his car well enough to force Astle to momentarily back off, allowing the 31c to dive underneath and into second spot. With the laps quickly winding down Harris began reeling in the 18i car of O'Keefe and with a lap to go was breathing heavily down on taking first spot. It wasnt to be however as O'Keefe held on to claim the victory ahead of Harris, Astle came home in third ahead of Phillips, Ford and Stark.

Results: (1/01/11)

Heat 1: 1st - Nathan Astle (9c), 2nd - Lee O'Keefe (18i) , 3rd - Craig Phillips (17i)

Heat 2: 1st - Darryl Harris (31c), 2nd - Lee O'Keefe (18i) , 3rd -  Craig Phillips (17i)

Feature: 1st - Lee O'Keefe (18i), 2nd -  Darryl Harris (31c) , 3rd - Nathan Astle (9c)

Best Recorded Laptime: 15.307 - Darryl Harris (42c) - Feature

- 11/12/10 - Equus Ruapuna Speedway -

- Night Of Firsts!......

It was a night of firsts on Saturday night at Equus Ruapuna Speedway. Visiting driver DJ Raw became the first Australian to race in the modifiedsprint class and on a local base rookie driver James Doyle drove a stellar race to claim his first race victory since joining the class at the beginning of the season. On a lighter note another rookie driver Brendan Daly also had a first, as he reported to modifiedsprins.co.nz that he had successfully had his first 'spin' in the class.

Race one on the night was a continuation of the Christchurch Modifiedsprint Club Championship and with Ruapuna's new gridding format coming into play the class put on a spectacle of a race to open the nights racing. Most eyes would have been on the Australian visitor DJ Raw to see how the highly competitive driver would go, however it was quite obvious that the first race would be more of a 'feeling out' of the car than a hard charge. From the green Alastair Ford was thrown into a drag race to the first turn with the hard charging Tim George. George would soon grab the lead as he powered out of turn two and ran from the pack. Ford was able to hold onto the second spot for a couple of laps before the old hand of Darryl Harris caught and passed the 8c machine to move into the second position. Third place had quickly become the battle of the rookies as Ford was joined by Nathan Astle and Brendan Daly who was having his best showing so far. behind this bunch was a somewhat uncharacteristic sight of Keiran Harris and Tom Lumsden who were contending with DJ Raw, Raw would eventually finish the race in the sixth position behind Harris. With a handful of laps remaining third spot was finally decided as Astle slid past to take the spot away from the vastly improving Ford. Astles last gasp move would be pivitol in the overall points standing, giving him enough points to move to the top of the table.

Race two and making the most of his front row grid rookie driver James Doyle would grab the race by the scruff of it's neck and take the Cochranes sponsored machine to the front, from there he would never look back as he screamed around the track to claim his maiden victory in the class. Not to be outdone Raw also got a flyer and followed Doyle slotting into second spot and started towrads chasing down the 88c machine out front. Brendan Daly sat in third, but was feeling the heat of a angry pack behind him and it wasnt long before the Avon Insurance sponsored car was being hounded. The first to get by was the seemingly ever present Tim George who very quickly ranged up on the tail-tank of Raw. From around this point of the race Raw's talent shone through, the failure of two retaining bolts on the front wing had enabled the wing to flip upwards, essentially removing the downforce from the front of the 15au car. Time after time Raw was challenged by George but was able to keep the 25c car behind him. Tom Lumsden was having a much better run in this race and soon inherited fourth spot after Keiran Harris spun in the Prison bend and retired to the infield, it was later reported that the throttle was jamming open on the 22c Henchcraft) Out the front Doyle continued to dominate the race, while the battle behind was really beginning to heat up, Raw and George were being joined by Lumsden and Darryl Harris in the Smithshire sponsored 31c machine. Nathan Astle's form of the previous meeting came to an end as electrical issues forced the Tradestaff car to the infield, further investigation after the race would conclude in ending his nights racing. Further down the pack and Andre Goldsmith was struggling to find the pace that had reaped some good results on opening night, and the 41c looked out of sorts as it chased down the rookie cars of Daly and Ford. At the chequered flag it was Doyle who easily claimed the race win, Raw got a huge hurry up from Lumsden coming off turn four for the final time as Lumsden tried to storm past on the high-side, however Raw did just enough to hold on to second ahead of Lumden, Darryl Harris and George.

Feature time, Kindly brought to us by Brian Humm Contracting, and it looked like a hectic race was on the cards, Raw had been on the improve all night and a few were touting the Aussie as a clean favourite to win. The usual class flyers were by all accounts having very mixed nights - this race could in reality go to anyone. From the green James Doyle once again wanted to make the race his for the taking as he roared into the lead. Andre Goldsmith quickly slotted into second spot and set about defending that position from a charging pack. Two drivers Kieran Harris and Tom Lumsden made supurb starts and very quickly headed towards the front from deep within the pack. Raw held third momentarily before being held up slightly by another car allowing Harris to climb into third spot. Likewise Lumsden was able to pass his team car in the hands of Raw, but only breifly as he struck mechanical issues and quickly retired from the race. Kieran Harris continued to move forward and swept by Goldsmith's The Loons endorsed machine and into second spot and was soon hot on the heels of race leader Doyle. A few laps later and Doyle couldnt hold the charging Harris out any longer as he raced by on the start-finish straight to take the lead he wouldn't give up. Australian ace, Raw had Goldsmith in his sights for third spot and rapidly began closing in on the 41c machine, battles further back saw cars running wheel to wheel to gain position. Things were looking pretty settled until Bredan Daly took his first 'spin' after running in close quarters with the 31c machine of Darryl Harris. This caution period would bunch the pack up and set about an exciting run to the flag, Harris cleared out at the front, but a brave passing execution was about to happen as coming off turn two, Doyle and Goldsmith were joined by Raw to run three wide down the backstraight, Raw dove in late to turn three and managed to seep from fourth to second in one move, even long-time track commentator AJ Batt was impressed by this move...and how couldhe not be, Raw was on the move and although Harris had a handy sized lead the Aussie battler wasn't going to give the race away as he began to slowly inch by inch close the gap. This run however would be brought to a close a few laps from the finish as Doyle lost composure and spun in Prison bend, bringing on another caution period. A little confusion followed as the green was thrown quickly afterward catching all but Harris off guard, the result allowed Harris to get away from the remaining field and easily go on to claim his first feature win of the season. Raw retained his second spot to the line, but Goldsmith came under intence pressure in the form of a late charge from Darryl Harris, it wouldnt quite be enough though as the determined Goldsmith managed to keep the 31c Evacut Henchcraft behind him. Alastair Ford drove a good race to be the next home followed by Tim George.  

The 'Kincrome Kid' Kieran Harris (22c)claimed another feature win..

The Christchurch Modifiedsprint Club would like to thank the following for maiking DJ's visit possible, Wayne and Tom Lumsden - for loan of the car and accomodation. The  C.S.A. - for getting behind and supporting the visit. Brian Humm Contracting - for support of the Feature Event. DJ Raw, Adam Raw and Warwick Singleton  - For taking their time out to come and race with the Modifiedsprint class, we are hopeful that this wont be the last visit that you guys make to New Zealand, and hopefully we can send some of our guys your way later in the season.

Results:

Heat 1: 1st - Tim George (25c), 2nd - Darryl Harris (31c) , 3rd - Nathan Astle (9c)

Heat 2: 1st - James Doyle (88c), 2nd - DJ Raw (15au) , 3rd -  Tom Lumsden (7c)

Feature: 1st - Kieran Harris (22c), 2nd -  DJ Raw (15au) , 3rd - Andre Goldsmith (41c)

Best Recorded Laptime: 14.767 - Daryl Harris (31c) - Heat 1

- 26/11/10 - Ruapuna Speedway -

- Harris Goes Top, Lands On IT - Astle Capatalises!......

It's fair to say that it was a rather sedate start to the 2010/11 season at Ruapuna on Friday night. With a few drivers out of town for varying reasons, a smaller than anticipated field of seven modifiedsprints fronted for the season opener.

On the cards for the night was the chance to fire the first shot in the Christchurch Modifiedsprint Club Championship and Kieran Harris (22c) was fired up to get off to a good start in the defence of the title he claimed last season. However, most eyes would have more than likely been focused on former Black Cap cricketer Nathan Astle (9c) as he finally made his Ruapuna racing debut, How would the much talked about rookie driver go in his newly chosen sport?

Heat 1 for the night was the opening round of the five round championship. Astle had the box seat alongside defending champ Harris (22c) on ther front row, behind them was rookie driver James "Jimmie" Doyle (88c) and Andre Goldsmith (41c) further back again and it was Daryl Harris (31c), Bredan Daly (33c) and rounding out the field was the welcome return of 'the bad luck king' Bill Nelson (16c) At the green Harris fired the first shot and easily lept into the lead, Astle quickly fell back into the clutched of Goldsmith, but was able to retain the spot and begin the chase for the lead. Over the course of the race Harris and Astle would slowly pull away from the remainder of the pack, leaving Daryl Harris to battle with the quick Andre Goldsmith and what a battle it would be as Harris continually looked for a way past the Hang-up Entertainment sponsored 41c machine. This battle was obviously the part of the race to watch as Harris poked and prodded looking for a way past, it wouldnt be forth-coming however as Goldsmith kept his composure and ran home to a respectable third spot. Further back it was a mixed bag of results, Bill Nelson finally shook the hoodoo of past seasons to bring the car home in fifth, ahead of rookie driver Brendan Daly who is still very much coming to grips with the Avon Insurance machine. Doyle on the other hand didnt quite get the start he would have liked as he retired the car to the infield about half way through the race..

With the first round of the Club Championship completed the points table as you would expect is very tight at the top. The next round of the championship is set down for December 11, which is also the night the class will be joined by visiting Aussie Lightning Sprint driver DJ Raw.

Race two and the numbers had dropped to six cars with the retirement of Bill Nelson and the on-going mechanical issues that have plagued this competitor since he joined the class re-surfacing. Ruapuna's policy to reverse the results of the previous race to get the grid paid huge dividends for Daryl Harris, as the small field combined with the retirement of Nelson and Daly electing to run off the back propelled the Smithshire machine to the front of the pack alongside previous race retiree Doyle. Astle and Goldsmith line up in the middle row and Kieran Harris and Daly completed the line up at the rear. The green flag dropped and Harris easily jumped into first spot ahead Doyle who put up a very good chase in second spot for a few laps before drifting wide and allowing the charging pack of Goldsmith, Harris and Astle to get by. Soon after Harris would make a pass around the outside on Goldsmith to move into second place. As was the case in the first race Goldsmith was caught up in a battle to retain the third spot, this time it was with the Tradestaff sponsored machine of Astle, these two had a fierce battle for several laps with astle coming close but not being able to steal the spot away. At the rear of the pack Doyle had faded from his early race charge and Daly continued to get valuable laps under his belt.

Feature time, and with the Harris duo continuing to dominat the heat races, it would have been expected that these two would be battling it out for the winners sash. Astle however had other ideas as his competitive streak came to the fore. Astle made the most of his front row start when the green came on, but was quickly greeted by a challenge when Kieran Harris pulled up alongside him in the town bend after a blinder of a start. Astle kept his composure and kept the front spot after Harris drifted slighty high, Goldsmith once again found himself locked in a battle with Daryl Harris for the third spot. Doyle looked impressive has he kept these two more seasoned drivers in sight and was ready to pounce should one make a slight error. At the front Astle continued to charge leaving the trailing pack in his dust, Harris seemingly had no answer to the 9c machine and with only a handful of laps remaining entered the town bend, drifted slightly wide, spun and proceeded to tip the car over mid-corner. This incident brought about a premature ending to the first feature of the season and also handed Astle his first ever feature win. Daryl Harris, had luckily just managed to sneak past Goldsmith coming off turn four to claim the third spot moments before the race was called.

Kieran Harris (22c) making his exit from the feature..

Results:

Heat 1: 1st - Kieran Harris (22c), 2nd - Nathan Astle (9c) , 3rd - Andre Goldsmith (41c)

Heat 2: 1st - Daryl Harris (31c), 2nd - Kieran Harris (22c) , 3rd -  Andre Goldsmith (41c)

Feature: 1st - Nathan Astle (9c), 2nd -  Kieran Harris (22c) , 3rd - Darryl Harris (31c)

Best Recorded Laptime: 14.928 - Daryl Harris (31c) - Heat 2

- 4/04/10 - Central Motor Speedway, Cromwell -

- Cracker Weekend In Central Otago......

It truely was a noisey weekend around Otago ober the long Easter weekend. Friday night most in the area would have been subject to the constant popping echoing from the hill-sides as the annual Easter-Bunny Hunt took place. Saturday became somewhat sub-dued as over the course of the day a southerly front brought rain which put halt to any racing at Central Motor Speedway, however over the hill at Wanaka I'm sure there was plenty of roaring of plane engines and explosive pyrotechnics to be heard at the famous Warbirds Over Wanaka airshow. With the bad weather putting pay to the Saturday night meeting, things were thrown into an air of un-certainty as far as the modifiedsprints first appearance at Cromwell would go. Sunday however would again have noise echoing through the Otago valleys as along with the running of the South Island Sprintcar championship - the sound of twisting metal would be heard from the demolition derby and capped off with a fireworks display.

Nine cars had lined up to start the night on Saturday, all the cars were off the trailers and a few feverish adjustments were being made throughout the pits before the racing was set to begin. As the start of the meeting approached a daunting looking sky began to close in, and around the time of the grand parade the heavens opened up bringing constant light rain to the track. With the grand parade out of the way, the modifiedsprints were left on the track to give the drivers some hot-laps, or should that be "wet-laps" around a track that was new to all the competitors. As the cars were readying to take the green it was obvious that the water had taken its toll on the now sodden track, and it was soon apparent that this night was going to be touch and go. As soon as the cars hit the track the spinning began - the lightweight racecars unable to keep any real traction or forward momentum going. Eventually the session was called and the inevitable "wet speedway wait" began while the Cromwell club hoped it would clear enough to run the first night of the double header, sadly it wasnt to happen as the rain settled in for the nigth and the meeting was called off.

Sunday morning dawned in a "chalk and cheese" situation - hardly a cloud graced the sky and the ground almost seemed dry. Upon arriving at the track many were surprised at the state of the surface, after so much rain most would have expected to arrive at a mud-bog, however the surface looked prepared and ready to be raced on. Once again in the late afternoon the grand parade took to the track and once cleared the modifiedsprints were at last allowed to put in some laps in anger.The class had been boosted by the arrival of Tom Lumsden, who after racing his T.Q. midget at Nelson on Friday and Saturday had made his way down to race in the modifiedsprint for the day. As is the case at Ruapuna Lumsden along with the Harris duo of Darryl and Kieran looked to be the fastest ones straight out of the box. Anthony Dawson, Craig Johns, Shaun Harris (Invercargill), Tim George, and Keith Brough all looked to be lapping at a similar pace leaving the impression of some close racing in the mind. Invercargill's second driver Danny Lang was simply happy to be getting in some laps in his relatively newly aquired machine. Things wouldn't be so great for Christchurch based driver Andre Goldsmith who would only complete four or so laps before throwing the chain and rolling to a halt on the infield. Work undertaken in the pits before the first race would allow Goldsmith to take to the track, however his race meeting would be short lived as a rattle in the engine forced him to retire from the opening race before taking the green.

With Goldsmith retired from the meeting, nine cars were left to take the green flag for the first race of a high-speed night,and high speed it was with the little pocket rockets screaming their way around the smooth oval. Tom Lumsden would make the most of his grid position and break away from the chasing pack to obtain a commanding lead. Behind him a gaggle of cars were all battling to move forward into the minor spots, this battle would continue for several laps allowing Lumsden to seemingly cruise to the line unchallenged. Eventually the ever-present and fast pairing of Darryl and Kieran Harris would also break free from the pack to race home in second and third respectively. Tim George was the only driver to test out the infamous "turn two" at the Cromwell track when he drifted wide and slammed into the wall doing conciderable damage to the front end of the 25c machine. At the completion of the race all the talk was of a positive note, all the drivers were a-buzz about the track and enjoyed the wide-open pace available to them. This was backed up by extremely fast laptimes with Lumsden posting relatively consistant 15.7sec laps over the course of the race while Darryl Harris claimed the fastest lap at 15.54sec. Taking into account that top sprintcars average around mid 14's and the overall lap record at Cromwell is 14.02 by Jamie Duff in a sprintcar - the modifiedsprints more than proved what they are capable of.

Race two, and after some frantic work by Tim George's pitcrew his car was ready to go again, and the full compliment of nine cars returned to the track to once again do battle. In similar style to race one, Darryl Harris made the most of his starting grid and quickly set about making a break from the hungry pack. A few laps down and it seemed that nothing would stop Harris Snr as he drive the 31c machine hard around the track. Behind him battles were taking place left right and centre as drivers jostled for a better finishing position. Keith Brough was having another of his storming runs reminiscent of last years visit to Westport and managed to move his way into third spot, ahead of him was Kieran Harris one of the classes' hard chargers. Strangely this race seemed to spread out a bit and it wasnt long before Darryl Harris was weaving his way through some lapped traffic, sadly this same lapped traffic would be his undoing as contact between himself and Tim George would see the 31c machine spin to the infield and stall. Unfortunately for modifiedsprints, they tend not to like going backwards and generally any backward motion is extremely harsh on the starter motor, in Harris's case it destroyed the starter motor meaning that harris could not restart the car and finish the race. Tim George would once again return to the pits needing to repair front end componentry. Darryl Harris' misfortune allowed Kieran to strom by into the lead and claim the victory ahead of the flying Keith Brough, with Craig Johns bringing Brett Robinson's 52c machine home in thrid.

On to the feature, and this feature would see all the drivers heading onto the track with their serious "race face" mode installed. Tom Lumsden held the prime spot with one of his main rivals Kieran Harris slotted in the front row beside him - this was going to be an interesting run to the first corner, behind then was the pairing of Anthony Dawson and Keith Brough who had both had a consistant if not spectacular night. Further back again was Craig Johns, Darryl Harris, whose position had been thwarted by the heat two result, Shaun Harris, Tim George and finaly the improving Danny Lang, who had requested to start the night off the back. At the green Lumsden got as slightly better start and by the rime the pack had reached turn one he had obtained the first spot, Kieran Harris however wasnt letting go easily and slotted right in behind the 42c machine chasing hard. Kieth Brough jumped into third and tagged along hoping to capitalise on any errors at the front. With Lumsden at the front and beginning to open up his lead the main attention would turn to the hard charging Darryl Harris, who had the 31c machine well and truely wound up. From the outset be seemed on form and quickly began chasing down the opposition, making passes where-ever possible. As the race progressed Harris continued to move forward picking off firstly Craig Johns, then Anthony Dawson and finally after a lenghty battle Keith Brough to move into the third spot. Once clear of the pack he set about tracking down Kieran and the two slowly progressed to close the gap to the leading Lumsden, however they would never get close enough to pose any type of threat to the 42c car. At the flag Lumsden would hold a handy lead over Kieran Harris, with Darryl Harris charging home strongly to be right on the tail tank of the 22c machine. Keith Brough would round out a strong night with a fourth spot ahead of Anthony Dawson, Craig Johns, Shaun Harris, Tim George and Danny Lang.

With the drop of the flag on the final race a successful night was over, interest from the Cromwell crowd was high and with the exception of Andre Goldsmith all cars would be going home race-worthy.

With Saturday's meeting being rained-off un-certainty ran through the class as the second of the two-day meetings was rescheduled for Monday, after a quick run-around it was discovered that numbers would be substatially down for the Monday show and a "four-by-four" format was proposed. Come Monday morning however, the numbers dropped further down to only three cars and after some discussion between the drivers present as well as the Cromwell club it was decided to cancel the modifiedsprints inclusion in the race programme.

On behalf of the drivers and crews, modifiedsprints would like to extend their thanks to the Cromwell club for the invitation to race at the Easter meeting.

Heat 1: 1st - Tom Lumsden (42c), 2nd - Darryl Harris (31c) , 3rd - Kieran Harris (22c)

Heat 2: 1st - Kieran Harris (22c), 2nd - Keith Brough (26c) , 3rd -  Craig Johns (52c)

Feature: 1st - Tom Lumsden (42c), 2nd -  Kieran Harris (22c) , 3rd - Darryl Harris (31c)

- 13/03/10 - Ruapuna Speedway -

Top End Motors Modifiedsprint Clay Cup

Tom Lumsden drove a faultless Feature event on a perfect track on Saturday night to claim the Top End Motors sponsored Modifiedsprint Clay Cup for the second year running. Lumsden placed consistantly in the three point scoring heats, posting a 2nd, 3rd and 1st to claim 30 points and pole position for the 15 lap feature. Making the most of his top spot on the grid Lumsden instantly jumped to the front of the pack and never looked back, with the only real challenge for the top spot coming from Brett Robinson over the first few laps. Even a couple of caution periods throughout the race couldnt hold back the 42c machine as it screamed to victory. Behind Lumsden, Darryl Harris worked the Smithshire sponsored car forward to challenge Robinson for the second podium spot. A hotly contested battle would take place for a few laps before Harris managed to find his way past and secure the spot. Robinson would race home in third ahead of an impressive fourth spot for rookie driver Tim George who was only taking part in his second meeting in the class.

Earlier in the night the Shands Outdoor Power team of Brett Robinson and Craig Johns each claimed a victory in the first two heats to throw the event wide open as the more favoured drivers seemed to struggle with the hot pace being set.

Notable casualties for the night came in the form of Anthony Dawson, who in previous weeks had proven himself to be a contender, however this night wouldnt be one to remember for the rookie driver as mechanical issues thwarted any challenge Dawson had in mind, with his car grinding to a halt in the final event of the night. Invercargill's Shaun Harris was another to suffer mechanical issues as the front end of the 24i machine collapsed in the first heat if the night. Harris would though, take to the track and complete the nights racing.

Results:

Heat 1: 1st - Craig Johns (17c), 2nd - Tom Lumsden (42c), 3rd - Brett Robinson (52c)

Heat 2: 1st - Brett Robinson (52c),2nd - Kieran Harris (22c), 3rd - Tom Lumsden (42c)

Heat 3: 1st - Tom Lumsden (42c), 2nd - Keith Brough (26c), 3rd - Kieran Harris (22c).

Qualifying Points: Tom Lumsden - 30, Brett Robinson - 28, Kieran Harris - 27, Craig Johns - 23, Darryl Harris - 22, Jason Stark - 17, Keith Brough - 10, Tim George - 8, Anthony Dawson - 6, Rab Anderson - 4, Shaun Harris - 3.

Top End Modifiedsprint Clay Cup Feature: 1st - Tom Lumsden (42c), 2nd - Darryl Harris (31c), 3rd - Brett Robinson (52c)

- 12/12/09 - Ruapuna Speedway -

Santa's Speedway Spectacular

Results from the Santa's Speedway Spectacular meeting held at Xpress Printing House Ruapuna Speedway were as follows:

Heat 1: 1st - Keiran Harris (22c), 2nd - Keith Brough (26c) , 3rd - Brett Robinson (52c)

Heat 2: 1st - Jason Stark (41c), 2nd - Keiran Harris (22c) , 3rd -  Anthony Dawson (8c)

Feature: 1st - Darryl Harris (31c), 2nd -  Brett Robinson (52c) , 3rd - Keith Brough (26c)

- 21/11/09 - Ruapuna Speedway -

War Of The Wings Rnd 1

The Modifiedsprints kicked back into action again at Xpress Printing House Ruapuna Speedway, on a night that would deliver mixed results across the field. Brough who is running strongly after a torrid first season in the new Raceworks chassis made a good break from the pack at the green and led all the way without any major challenge. Again a smaller than expected field of cars lined up to take on each other in the nights racing.

After a blistering hot Nor-westerly wind had sapped moisture out of the Canterbury area over the course of the day a late afternoon Southerly wind change chilled the racefans who had come to witness open-wheel racing at it's best.

Continuing on from the previous meetings success race one would see the hard charging Tom Lumsden (42c) show his intentions for the night as he battled ferociously with Darryl Harris (31c) for the first few laps of heat one before overtaking and stretching the legs on the 42c machine. Try as he may Harris just couldnt seem to hold onto the tail of Lumsden and a handy winning margin soon opened up. Behind Harris and the action was thick and fast as the remainder of the field battled for the third spot, rookie driver Anthony Dawson held down third place in an impressive showing all the while being hounded by Craig Johns (17c) Brett Robinson (52c) and Keiran Harris (22c) over the course of the race. Dawson, who was taking part in only his second competitive meeting kept his cool and raced home to his first top thre position. Further back both Andre Goldsmith (41c) and Keith Brough (26c) looked to be seemingly lacking for pace.

With all the cars gridded and ready to go for race two, things looked tidy as the field roared into life to start the second race - heading into turn one and things came unstuck. With the field bunching up and trying to go into the turn three wide everyone sensed something was going to happen, and it soon did. Kieran Harris (22c) became the meat in a modifiedsprint sandwich, his car bobbling around between Goldsmith's (41c) and Broughs (26c) machines, Robinson (52c) siezed the moment and drove high around the stricken three to sneak into the lead, while Dawson (8c) ran into the rear of the 22c machine sending the front end skyward and damaging the front end of the car before slamming back down to the track surface. The result was substantial damage to the Ellesmere Apiaries sponsored car that would see Dawson relegated to a spectator for the remainder of the night. The rest of the field was able to avoid the drama and set about reforming the grid for another shot at a start. Sadly for Kieran Harris (22c) a similar incident would occur again, this time heading into turn 3 for the first time and Harris's car would cop the brunt of the damage this time around as his front end collapsed and  front wing was ripped off the car after contact with Craig Johns (17c). Another caution was thrown to clear the debris from the track and eventually the race got underway - well kind of anyway. Brett Robinson (52c) held the front spot in the Shands Outdoor Power endorsed car ahead of Brough (26c) and Lumsden (42c) as the green dropped, and he soon set about running away from the chasing pack. Behind him Brough and Lumsden were battling for second spot with Lumsden agressively throwing the car into the corner and eventually making a low pass to fall into the second spot. With a handful of laps under their belt a close fought battle at the rear of the field soon had the Hang-Up Entertainment machine of Andre Goldsmith 41c) spinning to a halt in turn three/four. The very nature of this race was beginning to look like a last man standing challenge and the Ruapuna referees decided for the race to be called with only 5 laps in the books.

Feature time and with the loss of Dawson and Kieran Harris a less than spectacular 6 cars took to the track for the final race of the night. The racing however would be anything but un-spectacular as the last meetings feature winner Tom Lumsden started off the rear of the field and was forced to fight his way through the field if he wanted to claim a podium spot. As the race began the entire field ran in a bunch before Kieth Brough made a small break on the chasing pack. He would soon extend his lead as the other five drivers became involved in the tight-knit war for the minor spots. Leading the charge was Goldsmith (41c) aheaad of Darryl Harris (31c) Johns (17c) and Robinson (52c) - Lumsden looked to be struggling to get into any kind of rythm as the pack jostled for position. It would be a few laps before Lumsden would find a line that worked for him, where he could pick off the opposition and move forward through the pack, his pass to jump into second spot was breath-taking as he flung the 42c machine into turn three at speed, the wing causing the car to pitch hard as he dove below Johns and Goldsmith. Next in his sights was brough who had raced out to a sizable lead. Further back the pack were still searching for an advantage to claw thier way into third spot, Robinson would throw his chance away when he got crossed up going into turn four, losing valuable ground while regaining control and setting off again. With the laps quicly ticking down Lumsden had steadily moved forward and was looking like being able to mount a challenge on Brough for the win, however for Lumsden the race would be over too soon and Brough would come home the victor ahead of Lumsden. Goldsmith (41c) had managed to keep the hungry Harris, and Johns behind him to claim the final podium spot.

Heat 1: 1st - Tom Lumsden (42c), 2nd - Darryl Harris (31c) , 3rd - Anthony Dawson (8c)

Heat 2: 1st - Brett Robinson (52c), 2nd - Tom Lumsden (42c) , 3rd -  Keith Brough (26c)

Feature: 1st - Keith Brough (26c), 2nd -  Tom Lumsden (42c) , 3rd - Andre Goldsmith (41c)

Best Recorded Laptime: 14.9041 - Tom Lumsden (42c) - Heat 2

  - 7/11/09 - Ruapuna Speedway -

Trophy Night

Tom Lumsden (42c) started the new season as if he hadnt ever been out of the seat as he stormed away from the rest of the field to claim the spoils on opening night at Xpress Printing House Ruapuna Speedway. The modifiedsprints returned to the track with a somewhat smaller than anticipated field - however that small field was one of quality with many of the classes hot-shoes fronting for the season opener.

On a brilliant Canterbury evening perfect for racing, eight modifiedsprints fronted to race for the trophies up for grabs. After such a tightly contested dress-rehersal meeting apprehension was high in the modifiedsprint pit area as no-one really knew who was going to be the one to beat. Going on last seasons form it would be a toss-up between the Harris's, Darryl (31c) and Kieren (22c) and Tom Lumsden (42c), but if the previous outing was anyhting to go by anyone could snatch victory tonight!

As is usually the case the modifiedsprints were first on the programme for the night, and it would be this race that would bring about the only real incident for the modifiedsprints on an otherwise trouble-free nights racing. With only a lap to go on the cards the Total Sprintcar Experience sponsored machine of Keith Brough (26c) who had been slowly picking his way towards the front of the field, found himself facing the wrong way in Town Bend before tipping softly over the bring the race to a premature ending. Damage to the 26c machine was minimal, with the top wing coming away a casualty along with damage to the starter motor. After some work in the pits Brough's car was ready to take the start of the next race - albeit, needing a push-start to get underway. At the front of the field Lumsden had fired the first shot racing the Brian Humm Contracting machine to claim the first victory of the season followed home by an impressive looking Brett Robinson in the Shands Outdoor Power 52c machine. Rounding out the top three was the Hang-Up sponsored 41c machine of Andre Goldsmith. One of last years front runners Kieren Harris (22c) was notable by his absence from the front of the field as his car spluttered around at the rear of the field, suffering from machanical issues. Rookie driver Anthony Dawson (8c) showed that he could be one to watch as he drove a competitive and clean race battling with several far more experienced drivers throughout the race.

With race one in the books, crews were hard at work preparing for the next outing, Brough was changing a wing, Kieran Harris was trying to track the engine fault and everyone else was looking for the best setup for a track that was beginnning to slicken off. When the green flag dropped it was the 31c Smithshire machine of Darryl Harris that quickly jumped into the lead and set off looking to claim the win. Brough how-ever had different thoughts and wanted to make ammends for the first race incident working his way past and into the lead. From there he would leave the remainder of the pack to battle out the minor positions as he ran to the flag to claim the win. Lumsden had swallowed up Robinson and Dawson as he moved towards the front in his usual style. With Brough out in front and seemingly out of trouble the rest of the field had paired off and were having torrid battles to claim a better position - Darryl Harris vs Lumsden for third, Robinson Vs Dawson for fifth, Goldsmith, Craig Johns (17c) and Keiren Harris battling for the final spots, with Harris still struggling for performance in the KinCrome endorsed car. At the line Brough (26c) would take the win clearly ahead of Darryl Harris (31c) who had held out the always challenging Lumsden (42c) to take second spot.

Feature time, and unlike most of the other classes running on the night, the modifiedsprints still had the full compliment of cars at their disposal. Lumsden would make the most of his front row grid in this and as soon as the green dropped, he quickly fought of a challenge from Robinson for the lead and set about heading to the flag. Robinson settled quickly into a rythm and never really look like being under threat from Darryl Harris. Kieran Harris had finally sorted out the ailing 22c machine and although looking more racey, never seemed to have the go-forward of last season. This race out of the nights events was surely the least riveting as the cars spread themselves out evenly around the Ruapuna track and ran to the flag. Only a brief caution caused by Keith Brough's exit, when he spun in Town Bend would instill the posibility of any real excitement. For a while the idea of a great battle to the end was forth-coming, however that was soon deflated as realisation that there were only a couple of laps for the racers to get up to speed and maybe make a challenge for position. As the checkered flag dropped Tom Lumsden (42c) claimed the first feature of the season ahead of a consistant Brett Robinson (52c) and Darryl Harris (31c) managed to keep "the boy" at bay to take the final podium spot.

Heat 1: 1st - Tom Lumsden (42c), 2nd - Brett Robinson (52c) , 3rd - Andre Goldsmith (41c)

Heat 2: 1st - Keith Brough (26c), 2nd - Darryl Harris (31c) , 3rd -  Tom Lumsden (42c)

Feature: 1st - Tom Lumsden (42c), 2nd -  Brett Robinson (52c) , 3rd - Darryl Harris (31c)

Best Recorded Laptime: 14.6222 - Tom Lumsden (22c) - Heat 1

- 4/04/09 - Ruapuna Speedway -

Season Finale

An end of season twilight meeting held on arguably one of the nicest nights weather-wise brought down the curtain at the Xpress Printing House Ruapuna Speedway for the 2008/09 season. A few season outcomes hinged on the nights racing with the chance to claim the final "Christchurch Modifiedsprint Clubs" feature winners trophy/sash, and probably more importantly to decide the Ruapuna Speedway Season Points Championship, which was still being hotly contested.

The Modifiedsprints would as usual kick the night into action, being the first race up it allowed the 1000cc rockets to make the most of the smoothly groomed surface and set the pace for a frenetic night at the Templeton based oval. Kieran Harris (22c) set the scene for the night as he scorched his way to an easy victory. Harris blasted the Kincrome sponsored Henchcraft to within three hundredths of a second off the current lap record, and ran away from the chasing pack leading from start to finish. Behind him battle after battle raged to take up the minor positions as Glen Sole (4c) tried to hold off first Darryl Harris (31c) and Tom Lumsden (42c). Sole However was unable to keep theb chargers at bay and they soon both passed the 4c car and set about in a torrid battle for the second place, with Lumsden closing right up on the tailtank of Harris' 31c machine on many occasions. Watching that battle unfold many would have forgotten that Kieran Harris was way out in front running to the flag by himself. With a handful of laps remaining Lumsden was pushing hard for second and gained momentum going through prison bend only to find Darryl Harris running on the piece of track that he wanted, as a result Lumsden got on the brakes and lost ground - allowing the charging duo of Sole and Craig Johns (17c) to gain some valuable ground. Keith Brough (26c) was having his best outing of the season and was keeping good pace with this battling pack. The result however was undeniable as Keiran Harris (22c) went on to win untroubled. Second spot wasn't anywhere near confirmed as the lapped car of Mike O'Donoghue (64c) allowed Lumsden to once again close in on Harris Snr. and have the odd unsuccesful lunge at the second spot - both cars ran side by side to the finish with Harris retaining the spot by a small margin.

Just like Harris (22c) had done in the first race, Craig Johns (17c) repeated the feat in the second heat - easily securing the top spot and running away from the pack, leaving the remaining drivers to niggle over the minor spots. Former sprintcar pilot Jeremy Harley (8c) gave everyone a glimpse of whats to come as he gets more accustomed to the modifiedsprints and quickly slotted into second spot constantly being hounded by the ever present 42c machine of Lumsden. Further down the field the winner of heat one had his hands full tryin go gain advantage over the new-found form of Keith Brough (26c) who was making the Cavalier Floats sponsored ride one of the widest cars on the track. This battle raged for several laps before Harris (22c) finaly got the better of Brough and set about tracking down another casualty. Johns (17c) had the kite string would right out and flew to the chequered flag some distance ahead of Jeremy Harley (8c) and Tom Lumsden (42c)

With the heat races out of the way there was only the Feature event to contest in the 2008/09 season, who would be the final victor for the season? Would the season-long Lumsden/Harris battle produce the finale of the season? Or would a new challenger steal the glory away? It was time to find out.....From the front row Kieran Harris (22c) jumped out and quickly stole the lead, Craig Johns (17c) was determined that the victory wasnt going to be an easy one for Harris should he want it and quickly set about chasing the 22c machine down. Lumsden (42c) was quickly caught up in a hard fought battle with the rapid Glen Sole (4c) and a somewhat bemused Darryl Harris (31c) dropped quickly backwards through the pack, and never really featured in the race. Back at the front, slowly but surely Johns (17c) was reeling in Harris (22c) and soon began his challenge for the lead, Likewise Lumsden (42c) was storming forward gearing up to challenge for a better position. As the laps quickly wound down Johns (17c) seemed to fall off the pace slightly and became a big target for Lumsden (42c) and with this battle ensueing Kieran Harris (22c) was pretty much left to run his own race to claim a well deserved Feature win. Lumsden would eventually gain the upper hand and slot into second after Johns drifted wide exiting turn four with only one lap to go. This result brought down the curtain on yet another successful season for the modifiedsprint class at Ruapuna, and with the class slowly building popularity with drivers and fans alike things are looking good for a stronger 2009/2010 season......        

Heat 1: 1st - Kieran Harris (22c), 2nd - Darryl Harris (31c) , 3rd - Tom Lumsden (42c)

Heat 2: 1st - Craig Johns (17c), 2nd - Jeremy Harley (8c) , 3rd -  Tom Lumsden (42c)

Feature: 1st - Kieran Harris (22c), 2nd -  Tom Lumsden (42c) , 3rd - Craig Johns (17c)

Best Recorded Laptime: 14.375 - Kieran Harris (22c) - Heat 1

14/03/09 - Ruapuna Speedway -

Canterbury Champs

The season long battle for supremacy that has raged throughout the 08/09 season continued on last night as once again Tom Lumsden fought off fierce challenges from Darryl Harris to claim yet another "Christchurch Modifiedsprint Club" feature winners trophy and sash along with the C.S.A sanctioned Canterbury Championship. Adding to the mix last night and not making it an easy task was the return of Craig "Johnzey" Johns and a myriad of other drivers all showing extra pace with a championship up for grabs.

Heat 1: 1st - Tom Lumsden (42c), 2nd - Glen Sole (4c) , 3rd - Darryl Harris (31c)

Heat 2: 1st - Kieran Harris (22c), 2nd - Craig Johns (17c) , 3rd -  Tom Lumsden (42c)

Feature: 1st - Tom Lumsden (42c), 2nd -  Darryl Harris (31c) , 3rd - Craig Johns (17c)

Best Recorded Laptime: 14.740 - Tom Lumsden (42c) - Heat 1

31/01/09 - Ruapuna Speedway -

South Island Sprintcar Champs

Things at the top are really beginning to heat up as the constant battle between Tom Lumsden (42c) and his on track arch-rival Kieran Harris (22c) continue to do battle for on-track supremacy. This on-going battle makes for some great spectator viewing offering up close and fast racing as the upper-hand swaps from one driver to the next from race to race. Saturday night would again prove to be one of those nights where the two hard-chargers would battle all night long and ultimately culminate in an edge-of-your-seat finish to the feature race.

Heat 1 would see nine cars take to the track to start the night after the recent quick-fire succession of meetings has taken its toll mechanically on some of the available cars. Luke Brough (25c) had taken the plunge and decided it was time to take his place within the grids in the Cavalier Floats sponsored car and had drwn a front row starting position alongside longtime racer "Racin" Rob Campbell. (88c) With the track still slightly slippery from a recent watering Campbell struggled to keep his car straight as the pack took the green, however he managed to gain enough control to hold the lead through the first turn and onto the backstraight. Brough on the toher hand had different ideas about this and ran down low snatching the advantage going into turn three and taking the lead. The ever-quick Tom Lumsden (42c) had made his usual good start and worked his way into third battling all the way with the remaining pack. Onto the second lap and Campbell managed to overtake Brough and move into the lead, leaving Lumsden to hound the tailtank of the 25c machine of Brough trying to find a way past. Coming off turn four for the third time Lumsden went low to make an inside pass, the two cars clashed sending the Cavalier Floats car swerving severely towards the wall before bicycling and finally rolling over, landing on its side up by the wall. Unfortunately for Rob Campbell (88c) at about this time his car suffered mechanical issues and was retired to the infield for the remainder of the race. These events handed the race lead to Lumsden and at the restart he quickly set about gaining a substantial lead while a torrid batlle raged behind him for the minor placings between the trio of Brett Robinson (52c) Darryl Harris (31c) and Kieran Harris (22c). Kieran Harris drove hard and eventually worked his way past firstly the 31c Smithshire machine and then the 52c Shands Outdoor Power car of Brett Robinson. Not to beoutdone Darryl Harris improved his position by making a solid pass on Robinson to move into third, however this move would prove to be fuitless as he would retire soon after gifting the spot back to Robinson.

Brough's exit from heat one would see him sidelined for the remainder of the nights racing, and come heat two Glen Sole (4c) would also be missing from the starting line-up with mechanical issues. With the race underway normal transmission for the 08/09 season would resume with Keiran Harris (22c) making the most of his front row grid and taking the Kincrome sponsored ride to a sizable lead. Darryl Harris (31c) would lead the charge to chase down the 22c car as he fought his way into second spot ahead of Robinson (52c) and Lumsden (42c) Campbell was back and looked to be threatening the minor placings until once again the mechanical gremlins set in forcing the Diff Shop 88c machine to the infield. With Robinson and Lumsden locked in a battle for the third spot Darryl Harris was able to move away and safely hold onto the second position for the remainder of the race. With a couple of laps left to run Kieran Harris held a sizable lead over Darryl Harris, but third was far from settled as Lumsden worked over Robinson to take the spot away, eventually Lumsden made the pass driving down low into the town bend. This position however would fail to stay in the grasp of Lumsden as the officials relegated him for cutting the pole-line once again gifting Robinson a third spot.

The feature would see the return of Glen Sole (4c) thanks to Mike O'Donoghue who leant Sole the required parts to get his car mobile again, Campbell however was unable to repair the machanical issue and was sidelined from the race. With fewer cars on the track the legnth of the journey had been reduced to a 10 lap race. What the crowd was about to be subjected to was a scintillating game of cat and mouse that lasted the entire race as Lumsden tried to chase down Kieran Harris.The start was tidy and everyone set off at pace and for the first few laps the entire field could have been covered with a blanket as everyone jostled in close proximity to gain the best position on the track. Kieran Harris (22c) and Tom Lumsden (42c) had both decided to utilise the high-line and had some success as they both moved into first and second respectively. Brett Robinson was having one of those consistant nigths and moved into third spot ahead of Darryl Harris (31c) Glen Sole (4c) and the out of sorts Andre Goldsmith (41c) All eyes however would have been diverted to the titanic battle about to be fought at the front between two of the classes high-flyers, Harris (22c) and Lumsden (42c) Over the course of the race the gap opened and closed as if the two competitors were attached by elastic - Lumsden often looking threatening only to fall back again. With only a handful of laps to go and the battle still raging Richard Bateman (71c) had a scary moment at the rear of the field that saw his car launch up the wall coming off turn two, before spearing across the track to the safety of the infield. Lumsden knew time was running out and gave taking the lead one last serious shot, and with just over a lap to go found himself right on the tail of the 22c machine of Harris. Any slight error from Harris would surely be costly, still he battled on until that error finally came! Going into the prison bend Harris drifted high and opened the door for Lumden, who didnt need another invitation. Lumsden drove down low and into the lead with a single lap to complete. Harris determined as always wasnt going to give the spot away easily and challenged back, but was unable to capitalise, heaving to settle for second spot. Brett Robinson in the meantime was keeping out of trouble and drove home in third to round out s consistant night.

Heat 1: 1st - Tom Lumsden (42c), 2nd - Kieran Harris (22c) , 3rd - Brett Robinson (52c)

Heat 2: 1st - Kieran Harris (22c), 2nd - Darryl Harris (31c) , 3rd -  Brett Robinson (52c)

Feature: 1st - Tom Lumsden (42c), 2nd -  Kieran Harris (22c) , 3rd - Brett Robinson (52c)

Best Recorded Laptime: 15.011 - Kieran Harris (22c) - Heat 2

24/01/09 - Ruapuna Speedway -

South Island T.Q. Midget Champs

Heat 1: 1st - Kieran Harris (22c), 2nd - Tom Lumsden (42c) , 3rd - Rob Campbell (88c)

Heat 2: 1st - Kieran Harris (22c), 2nd - Tom Lumsden (42c) , 3rd - Darryl Harris (31c)

Feature: 1st - Tom Lumsden (42c), 2nd -  Kieran Harris (22c) , 3rd - Darryl Harris (31c)

Best Recorded Laptime: 15.267 - Kieran Harris (22c) - Feature

17/01/09 - Ruapuna Speedway -

Sprintcar Gold Cup

Three nights of racing in quick succession has seen plenty of laps put in by a fair representation of the modifiedsprint class. Those dedicated enough to take to the track for a third time in the space of a week were treated to an ever-changing track over the course of the night, initially smooth, then lumpy and challenging and then finally settled for the feature - who said speedway doesn't offer variety? Without going into too much detail the nights racing would start off with a hiss and a roar as SNZ had to clamp down on a technical infringement within the class - ruling one car out and leaving a row of varying views throughout the modifiedsprint ranks.

Once the dust had settled from that issue (if it has at all) it was time for the drivers to raise some dust of their own 'on the track' Heat one would get off to a flyer of a start, or so you would think as a full course orange was brought on and the cars were forced to regrid in preparation for a restart after Keith Brough (26c) spun in the first corner. Brough retired to the infield, and was soon joined by rookie driver Bill Nelson (16c) who has been plagued by engine issues over the last few meetings - or is it the colour of his car causing the issues? At the restart it would have been fair to say that Andre Goldsmith (41c) took advantage of making a break on the pack and leap into the lead as the remainder of the field were caught off guard. Goldsmith roared off leaving the trailing pack to begin their battle for the minor placings. After a couple of laps the pack began to settle and Kieran Harris (22c) took on the task of chasing down the 41c Hang-up sponsored machine. Darryl Harris (31c) was fighting hard to gain third place with the likes of Glen Sole (4c), Brett Robinson (52c) and the impressively quick Ben Gilmore (17c) Goldsmith looked comfortably at home out front, however Kieran Harris was beginning to loom in preparation of mounting a challenge for the lead spot. With only a couple of laps remaining it all came un-stuck for Goldsmith, a slight error in turn one saw the car half spin allowing Harris to make the most of the misfortune and pull alongside, the two raced side by side down the backstraight before Harris managed to complete the pass around the outside in turn three. While this battle took place, Darryl Harris had managed to tag on to the leading pair and was soon challenging Goldsmith for the second spot as well. I wouldnt be long before the 32c Smithshire machine waould move into the second spot and reatin that position until the flag.

Heat two would see the relative new-comers come to the fore, Ben Gilmore, who is standing in for the injured Craig Johns in the 17c car was alongside Mike O'Donoghue the the Robbie's Ashburton Sponsored ride on the front row. As they took the green Gilmore quickly took the lead spot and set about gaining an advantage over the field, O'Donoghue tried to challenge in the first turn but drifted high on the track before regaining the second spot and continuing the chase. Further back in the field the form drivers knew they had a challenge on their hands should they wish to claim the top spot and Kieran harris led the charge forward, picking off O'donoghue first and then setting out to challenge Gilmore. The race continued in true modifiedsprint fighting spirit and Gilmore used his T.Q.midget racing experience to hold a consistant and fast line making passing a task for the Kincrome Harris machine. The two raced on relative close quarters for the remainder of the race with Harris often looking for a pass but never having the momentum to get there, likewise a similar battle for third was raging strong Darryl Harris was hounding the tailtank of O'Donoghue all the way to the line. As the checkered came out Gilmore (17c) raced home to claim his maiden modifiedsprint race win ahead of Kieran Harris (22c) and the very delighted Mike O'donoghue (64c) rounded out the top three.

Feature time and 9 cars were set to take the green, the grid resembled a family feud with Darryl (31c) and Kieran Harris (22c) firmly locked into the front row, followed up by the hard charging Ben Gilmore (17c) and Andre Goldsmith (41c). The pace picked up and the green came on, and the race was on....although it would be short lived as Darryl Harris  went into turn onme carrying too much speed and proceeded to spin the Evacut machine in front of the charging pack, luckily everyone was able to avoid the stricken car and a full restart was on the cards. Take two and this time things got underway, with both the Harris cars battling and swapping the lead through the first half of the lap. Kieran Harris would finally get the better of "the old man" going into turn three and only just would clinch the lead, Ben Gilmore would get a flyer in the Shands Outdoor Power 17c machine and dispose of Goldsmith, before setting chase on the leading pair. All this close quarters racing would be short lived however as Kieth Brough (26c) looped the Cavalier Floats machine in turn three bringing out another orange light session. Third time lucky,...or was it? Kieran Harris (22c) sat in the prime spot for the restart and quickly set about trying to gain a good lead, however Darryl Harris had a differing opinion and drove hard down low in the town bend to come out in front heading down the backstraight. Further back Gilmore (17c) was getting some pressure from the consistant Brett Robinson (52c) and was only just able to hold on to the third spot. Glen Sole (4c) continues to have a good season and likewise was hassling the rear end of Robinson's car waiting for any chance to get by. Again the race would be interupted as an orange light session reared it ugly head again, brought on by Broughs (26c) second spin. With Brough now retired to the infield the race was set to resume and when it did Robinson (52c) got and absolute scorcher and stormed his way passed Gilmore (17c) into third and set about chasing down the Harris duo, Sole (4c) tagged onto the back of this battle and looked threatening to move toward the front of the field until a trail of white smoke poured from the 4c machine a short time later forcing Sole to the infield and out of the race. Later inspection would reveal that an oil-line had come off forcing oil onto the hot exhaust. At about the same time Kieran Harris turned his car around in turn four allowing the battling duo of Robinson and Gilmore to move into second and third respectively. Not to be outdone Mike O'Donoghue (64c) decided to let the crowd see the sponsors on the inside of the wing and also tunred the car around in turn four - Guess he needed to get a mention in the feature write-up too! Back at the front and Darryl Harris was gone....however the battle royal for the minor spots continued on with Gilmore still unable to find a way past the Hawkin's Placing Services 52c. This would be the battle to watch and as the laps quickly clicked over the 17c machine began to hound the rear of the 52c more and more. On the last corner of the race lapped traffic would eventually be the saviour for Gilmore as Robinson got trapped behind the 84c car of rookie driver Chris Parker allowing Gilmore to power around the outside and into second spot.

Heat 1: 1st - Kieran Harris (22c), 2nd - Darryl Harris (31c) , 3rd - Andre Goldsmith (41c)

Heat 2: 1st - Ben Gilmore (17c), 2nd - Kieran Harris (22c) , 3rd - Mike O'Donoghue (64c)

Feature: 1st - Darryl Harris (31c), 2nd -  Ben Gilmore (17c) , 3rd - Brett Robinson (52c)

Best Recorded Laptime: 15.247 - Kieran Harris (22c) - Heat 2

15/01/09 - Ruapuna Speedway -

North Vs South Sprintcar Challenge

Heat 1: 1st - Kieran Harris (22c), 2nd - Darryl Harris (31c) , 3rd - Tom Lumsden (42c)

Heat 2: 1st - Tom Lumsden (42c), 2nd - Darryl Harris (31c) , 3rd - Brett Robinson (52c)

Feature: 1st - Darryl Harris (31c), 2nd -  Tom Lumsden (42c) , 3rd - Brett Robinson (52c)

Best Recorded Laptime: 14.822 - Darryl Harris (31c) - Feature

10/01/09 - Ruapuna Speedway -

Kaiapoi Automotive Services Ltd Modifiedsprint Clay Cup

Heat 1: 1st - Kieran Harris (22c), 2nd - Glen Sole (4c) , 3rd - Darryl Harris (31c)

Heat 2: 1st - Tom Lumsden (42c), 2nd - Brett Robinson (52c) , 3rd - Darryl Harris (31c)

Heat 3: 1st - Tom Lumsden (42c), 2nd -  Glen Sole (4c) , 3rd - KIeran Harris (22c)

Feature: 1st - Tom Lumsden (42c), 2nd -  Glen Sole (4c) , 3rd - Kieran Harris (22c)

Best Recorded Laptime: 14.593 - Tom Lumsden (42c) - Heat 2

13/12/08 - Ruapuna Speedway -

Santa's Super Spectacular

Harris Racing makes it two!

The second night of action for the 2008/09 season at Ruapuna brought out a good field of 15 cars and produced some quality racing right throughout the ranks over the course of the night. Right from the onset of the meeting it was obvious that a good drivey track had been prepared, and this was backed up with many drivers easily posting quicker laptimes than on opening night. I'm guessing that the weather was also assisting with the tracks surface - no high-twenty degree sun-baking to be had this week, instead a cold easterly rolled across the track pushing patchy cloud cover over the region, allowing the moisture to stay within the confines of the clay surface.

The modifiedsprints were first up on the programme and would easily set the tone for the night putting on an awesome high-speed show that brought many competitors and crew members scuttling out of the pits to witness the on track action.The first race would start with a tightly contested drag race to the first corner between the Evacut car of Darryl Harris and the Shands Outdoor Power car of Craig Johns (17c), with the latter only gaining the advantage as he threw the orange machine into turn 1 closing the door on any challenge that Harris could pose. Right on the tail of these two Andre Goldsmith (41c) began a side by side battle for third with The Cavalier Floats machine of Keith Brough (26c) Goldsmith would soon take the position away from Brough, only to lose it again when he drifted wide heading into turn 3. Back at the front Craig Johns (17c) was slowly but surely extending his lead from the chasing bunch, a lead that would soon be cut back to nothing as a caution came out for the car of Keith Brough (26c) who although still circulating had lost the left-hand side panel off his main wing. As the crash crew retrieved the twisted panel and reset the grid, Brough was sent to the infield deemed to now have a dangerous fitting attached to his car. The restart would see the continuation of a fast paced race, as Johns led the field around to the green followed by Harris, and Tom Lumsden (42c) who was debuting a new car under somewhat controversial circumstances. The flag dropped and the pace picked up, Lumsden went high and drove around the outside of both Harris and Johns to claim the lead over the course of turns 1 and 2, and quickly set about gaining a good sized lead. Further back down the field Kieran Harris (22c) had picked his way through the pack into a competitive fourth placing, and a good close quarters battle was looming between Goldsmith (41c) and the 99c car of William Gardiner. Paul Strudwicke (38c) was showing a great turn of pace and looked to be over the major handling issues that plagued him on opening night. With the laps quickly counting down Lumsden looked to have it sewn up at the front, but as is always the case in motorsport - it's not over till the flag drops, and it wasnt too long before the 42c machine was retired to the infield with major over-heating issues. This handed the lead back to the hard charging Johns in the 17c machine, Kieran Harris (22c) had made great advances through the field, and with a handful of laps to go made a well executed pass on his fathers 31c machine to slot into second, and was looking to close in on Johns however in the end there just werent enough laps in the race.

The Ruapuna surface was holding up well and providing a drivey surface, however a fresh watering of the track made things a little slippery for the modifiedsprints as they took the green in race two. To the credit of all of the drivers they seemed to handle the tricky conditions well, and although there was a bit of fish-tailing down the straights and the odd half-spin in the corners everyone kept their cars off each other and the wall. Tim Millar (77c) was in the box seat and used the low-line on the track to his advantage to easily jump into the top spot, followed by Kieran Harris (22c) William Gardiner (99c) was seemingly enjoying the trickier conditions in the Autobend machine and soon found himself in third position, and looking to challenge Harris. Behind him a whole gaggle of cars were battling for both grip and position on the track, Brett Robinson (52c) lead the charge in the Shands Outdoor Power sponsored ride followed closely by Andre Goldsmith (41c). Heading into turn 3 Gardiners car slewed towards the wall allowing Robinson (52c) to move into third spot. Gardiner was able to continue on without incident, but was obviously struggling in the turns - a later inspection of the car would reveal that the pannard bar (front suspension) had become un-attached causing the front axle torock from side to side - hurting the cars handling. Not long after this incident the orange lights came on for Goldsmith (41c) who had lost control in turn 4 and spun up in front of the chasing pack, luckily for him and the other drivers everyone managed to avoid the car as it sat sideways across the turn. Millar  was still leading in the Mag and Turbo Warehouse 77c machine from Kieran Harris (22c) and Brett Robinson (52c) and at the restart set about trying to gain as much of a lead as possible. The battle for fourth place was really heating up as Gardiner (99c) who was still struggling with handling, now also had his hands full with Craig Johns (17c) sitting right on his tail tank looking for a way past. It wasnt long before Johns powered his way past the ailing 99c taking Darryl Harris (31c) with him on the way. At the front a blanket could have been thrown over the first three cars as they ranged in on each other looking for the slightest advantage Millar (77c) was still holding a slim lead from Kieran Harris (22c) and Brett Robinson (52c), However lapped traffic soon came into play and Millar had to back off slightly coming off turn four allowwing the 22c machine to drag-race past him down the straight and into the lead, not to be outdone Robinson had a big look down the outside coming off turn 2 but just couldnt make the pass stick. With these two battling hard for position over the remaining laps Harris (22c) was able to pull out a fair lead and claim the race win un-challenged. Robinson, who looked to have the better of Millar on several occasions just couldnt make the pass and in the end had to settle for third behind the 77c of Millar.

Feature time and things were about to go rather pear-shaped for the modifiedsprints as they took to the track. With all 15 cars still intact from a furious nights action things looked good, two sudden pre-race retirements of Keith Brough (26c) and Tom Lumsden (42c) should have been an indication of what was on the horizon. Although with the track being in perfect condition who would have thought any different in any case? William Gardiner (99c) had pole with the consistantly fast Darryl Harris (31c) outside him, Brett Robinson (52c) and Tim Millar (77c) made the next row,Kieran Harris (22c) and Craig Johns (17c) rounded out a quality top six spots on the grid. As the green dropped Gardiner (99c) was quickly swamped by the 31c machine of Harris, Tim Millar (77c) drifted way off-line in turn one and fell rapidly back through the field, allowing Robinson, Johns and K. Harris easy positions and the chance to set out after the two leading cars. Kieran Harris (22c) however had the same mis-fortune at the other end of the track, giving Andre Goldsmith (41c) an easy position on the track....from this point on the race got rather ugly. Harris (22c) determined to make the spot back up chased extremely hard and decided to make an outside pass down the backstraight and into turn 3, all was going well until mid corner where Harris's car lost traction and spun right in front of the on-coming Goldsmith (41c) contact was made and the result sent Goldsmiths car into a spectacular end over end roll causing conciderable damage to the 41c machine.

Andre Goldsmith 41c points it skyward as he tumbles out of the Feature

Harris's car didnt come away un-scathed either, as the front end collapsed sending the car spearing out across the track towards the wall in front of the following pack, luckily everyone else managed to avoid both the Goldsmith machine and the Harris machine. For reasons unknown to me to lights only went to an orange situation (maybe reds may have been more in order) and further carnage took place as over on the back straight William Gardiner (99c) slowed for the caution only to be shunted by the 17c car of Craig Johns, who's car launched skyward destroying Gardiners wing, before landing solidly back on the track. Unfortunately for Johns he would sustain an injury from this incident - reports are of a broken collar-bone, and just like that - in a matter of seconds the field was literally cut in half. After some delay the race was set to resume, and the comment came from the tarck announcer "A.J. Batt" that the infield was looking like a "fly cemetary" and because of ther carnage the race would be shortened to a 10 event. Those who were lucky enough to avaoid the carnage were soon gridded up and ready to restart the second feature of the season. Darryl Harris (31c) was out in front with Brett Robinson (52c) looking hungry for a win on his tail, Glen Sole (4c) had capitalised on others mis-fortunes and was sitting in a respectful third place ahead of Tim Millar (77c) and a bunch of the rookies including Richard Bateman (71c) Paul Strudwicke (38c) Bill Nelson (16c) Mike O'Donoghue (64c) and Luke Brough (25c) with the latter group putting on a good display of close racing. Up front and Harris (31c) had it in the bag, as he pulled out a sizable margin over the chasing Robinson (52c) whoa had also pulled out a similar sized advantage over Sole (4c). Tim Millar's challenge for a podium spot was all but extinguished as he retired the 77c machine to the infield with a few laps remaining on the board. The chequered flag was soon produced and Darryl Harris blasted his was past it to claim a deserved feature victory, Robinson (52c) came home in second and Sole rounded out the podium with a respectful third.

Two in a row for Harris Racing - 31c Darryl Harris claimed victory at Ruapuna's second meeting.

Heat 1: 1st - Craig Johns (17c), 2nd - Kieran Harris (22c) , 3rd - Darryl Harris (31c)

Heat 2: 1st - Kieran Harris (22c), 2nd - Tim Millar (77c) , 3rd - Brett Robinson (52c)

Feature: 1st - Darryl Harris (31c), 2nd -  Brett Robinson (52c) , 3rd - Glen Sole (4c)

Best Recorded Laptime: 14.725 - Tom Lumsden (42c) - Heat 1

29/11/08 - Ellesmere Raceway -

Twilight Meeting

Lumsden's domination continues!

Ellesmere Raceway roared into life with the sound of open-wheelers at Saturday evenings twilight meeting. The hot Canturbury weather obviously brought the crowd out, and they were treated to some high-speed and in in the case of the midgets high-flying action. The modifiedsprints were once again on the programme for the evening and a fairly strong representation of eight cars showed at the Leeston based track to show what these cars are capable of. With temperatures ranging up in the high 20's the track was surely going to need a fair amount of water laid on it to keep dust down and create a drivey track. - The Ellesmere track-crew delivered on both fronts, although the surface was slightly lumpy and to quote some drivers challenging! Never the less the drivers took to the track and gave it their all scorching their way around the clay oval lap after lap. 

Unfortunately only seven cars took to the track for the first race after a work related injury to Tim Millar (77c) prevented him from debuting the ex Jamie Duff machine at the meeting, this however was countered by the inclusion of two new drivers to the class - rookie driver Bill Nelson (16c) who has recently aquired the ex Tim Millar Henchcraft, and T.Q. midget rising hotshoe Gareth Bindon, who was invited to run the 99c machine of William Gardiner for the meeting.

Race 1 would see Craig Johns (17c) break the stranglehold of race victories that local racer Tom Lumsden (42c) continually racks up at the Ellesmere track. Utilising the low line to his full advantage Johns hugged the pole line around most of the track closing in in on the leading pair of Andre Goldsmith (41c) and Brett Robinson (52c) as the race progressed. Goldsmith and Robinson had been battling in close quarters since the green had dropped, until Johns powered underneath firstly the car of Robinson and then the leading car of Goldsmith. Never one to give up the chase Tom Lumsden (42c) was also chasing hard and followed Johns through the pack into third spot, but just run out of laps to snatch second.

Race 2 would see a return to normality as Tom Lumsden (42c) powered away from the pack after making an impressive start. Determined not to make it easy for Lumsden,  the remainder of the field was chasing hard, led by Craig Johns (17c). However no-one was able to make any impression on the 42c machine as Lumsden roared around the track seemingly un-aware of the rough track underneath him. This start would all be in vain however as the orange flag came out before the completion of the first lap for the spun up 26c car of Keith Brough. A complete restart was called for and after a few laps to sort out their grid positions the race was set to resume. From the green Lumsden again got the better start and set about opening up a good lead, Johns (17c) was again in second and chasing hard, with Brett Robinson (52c) on his heels. From here on in to the chequred flag nothing would really change as Lumsden maintained a sizable lead over the remaining drivers. Unfortunately with less than a lap to complete, Robinson's chase was over as he retired to the infield with minor electrical issues. This allowed Andre Goldsmith (41c) to move into third ahead of Gareth Bindon (99c) who was seemingly enjoying the new challenge of having a wing over his head. New driver Bill Nelson (16c) certainly wasnt lacking for pace in his first outing not losing touch with the field however to most observers he seemingly had an ambition to take to the armco railing coming off the pit bend - luckily for him no contact was made and he made it through the race unscathed.  

Tom Lumsden continues to dominate at Ellesmere Raceway

The final race of the day for the modifiedsprints was the feature, the field had been down-sized with the withdrawal of two competitors, Kieth Brough (26c) was out due to handling issues, and rookie driver Bill Nelson (16c) decided to call it quites for the day while his car was still intact. The Ellesmere track had just had a coating of much needed water, and as a result the modifiedsprints had to do several laps of wheel-packing before the race would get underway. When the green was waved a spectacular drag race to the first turn was on the cards between Lumsden (42c) and Johns (17c) and they didnt dissappoint as they ran side by side to the first turn, Johns (17c) was the first to blink - probably due to the moisture that was still on the circuit, and as a result Lumsden powered his way around the highline and into the lead. Behind these two a supreme battle for third was underway between Goldsmith (41c) and Robinson (52c). At the tail of the field Gareth Bindon (99c) was keeping in touch in the somewhat flat sounding gardiner machine. With Lumsden in control at the front and Johns seemingly unable to make any impact on the 42c cars lead attention turned to third spot where the battle was still raging for the minor spot. Lap after lap, Goldsmith and Robinson ran side by side often visually swapping positions, yet it was only in the last lap or so that Robinson managed to grasp the third spot for himself. Yet again Lumsden went on to claim another race victory at the track now jokingly known as "Lumsden Park" by the drivers. The challenge has now been set to find a driver that can beat the flying local on his home turf, The question is....How long will we have to wait?

Heat 1: 1st - Craig Johns (17c), 2nd - Andre Goldsmith (41c) , 3rd - Tom Lumsden (42c)

Heat 2: 1st - Tom Lumsden (42c), 2nd - Craig Johns (17c) , 3rd - Andre Goldsmith (41c)

Feature: 1st - Tom Lumsden (42c), 2nd - Craig Johns (17c)  , 3rd - Brett Robinson (52c)

15/11/08 - Ruapuna Speedway -

Opening Night

Harris Takes first spoils!

The  2008/09 season roared into life at the Xpress Ruapuna Speedway on a hot and blustery Saturday night, however before a racing wheel was turned the arena came to a complete silence to mark the passing of one of New Zealand speedways characters and racing legends - Noel "Goodie" Goodwin. A well presented and obviously highly emotional statement about "Goodie" was read by track announcer A.J. Batt, many would have used this time to reflect on their contact or memories of this racer who had given so much to the speedway and in particular sprintcar scene.

With that respectful moment out of the way it was time for the racing to begin. The modifiedsprints had shown in good numbers with 15 of the winged pocket rockets ready for a night of hard and fast on-track action, however their wait would be long as their first race was a fair way down the schedule. With a hot and dry northerly wind whipping across the Canterbury plains it was soon obvious that the track was going to be dry and slick, and by time the first race arrived that was pretty much the case.

A marble draw had decided the line-up for heat one, with the rookies just about needing their own draw this season taking their obligatory positions off the rear of the pack. Brett Robinson in the Shands Outdoor Power sponsored 52c car had drawn the first pole position of the the 2008/09 season, and with the Kinchrome machine of Kieran Harris (22c) alongside a good start was going to be important. Coming to the green however Harris got the slightest advantage and come the first corner, slotted into the leading role. Robinson tucked in behind him in second and a flying Tim Millar (77c) quickly gave chase in third spot. Into prison bend for the first time and Harris would throw it all away as he spun mid corner, sending the other competitors scrambling around him trying to avoid anycontact and bringing out the first orange of the night. A full restart was called for and as the green flag dropped it was a replay of the previous start, Harris quickly jumped into the lead followed closely by Robinson, third however was a different story as Andre Goldsmith made a brilliant start in the Hang Up Entertainment 41c. Behind him Tim Millar led a hard charging gaggle of cars who were all racing in close quarters. The slick track was obviously keeping laptimes down and was also challenging the drivers as Robinson found himself facing the wrong way after spiining exiting turn 4 a couple of laps later. Another restart and Harris again led the pack away from Goldsmith and Millar, Glen Sole (4c) was having a ripper of a race and was snapping on the heels of a top three finish ahead of Darryl Harris (31c) Craig Johns (17c) Tom Lumsden and William Gardiner (99c) Further back the rookie field were coping well with the tricky conditions and putting in some laptimes comparable with the more seasoned drivers. As the race progressed Miller slid passed Goldsmith to take up the second position and set about chasing down the leading car. However, any chance of making an attack on Harris would be short lived as the orange light came on calling an early finish to the race. Looking towards the town bend would reveal the reason for the races end. Exiting turn two was the crumpled wreckage of rookie driver Luke Brough's (25c) Cavalier Floats endorsed ride, which had taken a tumble. With the race called at that point the final results were, Kieran Harris (22c) - first followed home by Tim Millar (77c) with Andre Goldsmith (41c) rounding out the top three.

Heat 1 casualty - the 25c car of Luke Brough

Heat two would be an inverted grid from the marble draw of the first race, the modifiedsprints had lost three competitors for the start of this one, those being Luke Brough (25c) due to his roll-over, Keith Brough (26c) - dropped chain and William Gardiner (99c) - engine issues. A quick but much needed sprinkling of water on the track had made things a little more doubious for the start of this heat. At the Green Tom Lumsden (42c) got a blinder of a start and quickly took a sizable lead. Behind him Craig Johns (17c) was caught out by the slippery surface and drifted wide riding up the wall, however he was able to continue on without any issues. This allowed Darryl Harris (31c) to quickly obtain second place and set about mounting a challenge for the lead. Tim Millar (77c) would also get another respectable start and fall into third place, behind them the remainder of the field were all jostling for a better on-track position. With a couple of laps in the books, rookie to the class Mike O'Donoghue (64c) became a casualty of the wet and slick surface as he came spinning to a halt in turn 2, he was however able to restart the car and get back underway just afraction too late as the orange light was triggered. The orange light period of course was a blessing for the chasing pack as they were all allowed to close up on the leading car of Lumsden. Another restart and Lumsden again flew into action opening up a good lead in the space of the first lap. behind him frantic action would see Millar spin to the infield sending a huge plume of dust skyward and also allowing Kieran harris into the third spot, Millar was however able to continue on in the race and wouldfinally come home in fourth. At the front Lumsden (42c) was well in control as he weaved his way through some of the lapped traffic to take the checkered flag, Darryl Harris (31c) claimed second and Kieran Harris took a well deserved third spot.

A quick turn around of only one race between heat two and the feature really threw the cat amongst the pidgeons, with the class rep and a hefty band of helpers unable to organise the points to determine the starting grid - this wasnt helped by the results coming through a bit slower than normal and needing to be ratified before being released. To the credit of the modifiedsprint drivers they went out onto the track blindly, yet still managed to grid up without any issues or arguments over their grid position, whats more they were up and racing within a lap or two of taking to the track!  Kieran Harris (22c) had claimed pole position, alongside him was Tim Millar (77c) followed by Darryl Harris (31c) and Andre Goldsmith rounding out the top 4. The green Flag dropped and with it came a closely fought drag race to the first turn, Harris (22c) would sneak into the lead my the narrowest of margins as Miller got a little sidewys. Further back in the pack Tom Lumsden (42c) got his usual blinder of a start in the Cridge Seeds sponsored machine, and utilising the high-line on the track drove right around the outside of the battling duo of Darryl Harris (31c) and Goldsmith (41c) easily slotting into third. Lumsden looked extremely racey and shortly after completing the first lap moved into second place after making a well executed inside pass on Millar (77c) he then had his sights set on the leading car of Harris. Glen Sole drove his 4c machine  into a torrid race-long battle for fourth with Harris (31c) and Goldsmith (41c) but was unable to capitalise on his running position. Not to be outdone Brett Robinson (52c) and Craig Johns (17c) also tagged into this battle making for some bunched and close quarters racing, to the credit of these guys they all kept it clean and there were no casualties in the flag to flag race. At the front Harris (22c) was well in control, and was holding a sizable lead over Lumsden, back the same distance and Millar (77c) was running hot trying hard to chase down the preceeding cars. From this point to the flag no-one was able to make any impact on the positions they had obtained and as they crossed the line it was Kieran Harris (22c) who would claim the first feature win of the season, followed by a hard charging Tom Lumsden (42c) and Tim Millar (77c)

The conclusion of the meeting saw some dis-array through-out the class, and after a quick de-breif with some SNZ officials about the grid issues, it was deemed that the results would stand - pending any protests. No protests were forthcoming however and all placings were confirmed. After some further deliberation within the modifiedsprint club it was decided to also go ahead with the Christchurch Modifiedsprint Club modifiedsprint Feature winners presentation that has been put in place for the 2008/09 season.

Opening night Feature winner - 22c Kieran Harris with his Feature Winners Trophy and Sash.

Heat 1: 1st - Kieran Harris (22c), 2nd - Tim Millar (77c) , 3rd - Andre Goldsmith (41c)

Heat 2: 1st - Tom Lumsden (42c), 2nd - Darryl Harris (31c) , 3rd - Kieran Harris (22c)

Feature: 1st - Kieran Harris (22c), 2nd -  Tom Lumsden (42c) , 3rd - Tim Millar (77c)

Best Recorded Laptime: 15.328 - Tom Lumsden (42c) - Feature

26/10/08 - Oxford Speedway -

North Canterbury Championships

"From Dust Till Gloom....." Oxford Speedway hosted the Modifiedsprints for the first time as part of their annual 2-day North Canterbury Championship meeting held over the Saturday and Sunday of Labour weekend. A smaller than expected field of 6 cars turned out to add some open-wheeler action to the programme of events, with a couple more drivers scheduled to show for Sundays races......

Saturday - day one began a bit overcast but soon cleared to reveal a typical sunny Canterbury day, however the warmth of the day was somewhat nulled by a cold southerly wind that threatened to bring rain and even snow to the Canterbury region later in the day - that's if you believe our trusty New Zealand weather fore-casters. With this in mind I'm sure that the Oxford track crew probably kept the water application to a minimum and over the course of the first few races it was obvious that the sun was drying the surface out quickly turning the track into a dust-bowl. The water truck was soon introduced to help keep the surface from forming in the spectator area and neighbouring paddocks.

Unfortunately for the modifiedsprints heat one of their championship was held in the dusty conditions, making spectating slightly difficult as dust billowed from the open wheelers into the southerly wind and across the bulk of the crowd on hand. Heat One would see new driver to the class Paul Strudwicke (38c) on pole in his Ashburton Signs and Graphics sponsored machine, with Darryl "Chopper" Harris (31c) alongside him in the Evacut car. Behind them was Kieran Harris (22c), Craig "Johnzy" Johns (17c), Brett Robinson (52c) and rounding out the field Andre Goldsmith (41c). Strudwicke would get an absolute blinder of a start and easily lead the pack into turn one for the first time, Darryl Harris slotted into second place with Johns right on his rear bumper in third, while the remainder of the pack jostled for position. Strudwicke looked to be in control in the clear air for a few laps until he went slightly high in turns 3-4 scrubbing off a fair amount of speed and opening the door for Darryl Harris to swoop down low and into the lead. Kieran Harris in the meantime had spun to the infield allowing Robinson and Goldsmith to pass by, while Johns had to spin the Bairds Collision Centre car to avoid Harris. Fortunately these two were able to re-join the race without bringing out a caution, although a good distance behind the other racers. As the race progressed Harris (31c) was able to extend his lead and would go on to win the heat unchallenged. Strudwicke would come home a commendable second in only his second outing in the car, with Robinson rounding out the top three.

31c Darryl "Chopper" Harris showed good pace throughout the day and claimed victory in heat one.

Heat two would be started with an inverted grid from the first heat, and with some water on the track things were starting to look a bit drivier for the 1000cc motorcycle engined class. Brett Robinson (52c) was the first to take advantage of the surface and lept the Shands Outdoor Power machine into the lead ahead of Andre Goldsmith (41c) with a hard charging Kieran Harris (22c) looking racey taking a slightly higher line than most of the other drivers. Heading into turn three for the first time Harris (22c) would make the pass of the day as he successfully pulled off a dive from wide on the track to down by the poleline between the two cars of Robinson and Goldsmith and jumped into the lead. Robinson managed to maintain second as Goldsmith also had a small look up the inside, but seemed to lose a fair amount of drive coming off turn 3. Johns (17c) and Darryl Harris (31c) were keeping in touch with the group while Strudwicke (38c) was seemingly struggling to keep on the pace. As the race progressed Harris, like his father in the race before continued to extend his lead over the chasing Robinson and would go on to easily claim the second victory of the day for the Harris Racing Team. Brett Robinson (52c) maintained second spot for the duration of the race while behind him Andre Goldsmith (41c) was having a major fight to keep hold of third place ahead of the aggressive looking Darryl Harris (31c). Harris would eventually sling-shot past the 41c car coming off turn 4 and slot comfortably into the third place, where he would remain until the checkered flag was waved.

With the format of the Championship being two heats run on the Saturday and the final run on the Sunday - todays championship heats were over and the remaining race for the day was going to be a dash for cash. The weather was starting to look a bit ominous on the horizon with banks of cloud beginning to roll in and the Southerly wind had upped it's tempo - further dropping the temperature.

The field for the Dash for Cash would be reduced by one car as Paul Strudwicke retired from any further action due to mechanical issues obtained towards the end of the previous race. Winner of heat one Darryl Harris (31c) had drawn grid two and would surely have gone in as race favourite to take out the victory, however he was surrounded by 4 other drivers determined to make the victory theirs. As the revs grew and the cars exited turn 4 to take the green flag Harris (31c) and Craig Johns (17c) began a drag race to turn 1, Harris having the wider line was able to obtain more speed heading into the turn and swept into the lead ahead of Johns (17c) and the Hang Up Entertainment machine of Andre Goldsmith (41c). Kieran Harris (22c) settled into fourth and was soon hassling the tailtank of Goldsmith (41c) looking for a way past, Brett Robinson (52c) not wanting to be left out was also trying to join in the battle for third place. Going into turn 3, Harris (22c) made a dive down low in the Kincrome sponsored henchcraft to pass Goldsmith (41c) only to run out of room, the result saw the 22c machine bicycle after hitting a rut and then make minor contact that allowed Goldsmith to continue on in third spot. Back at the front of the field Darryl Harris (31c) was continuing to dominate with a sizable advantage over Craig Johns (17c) who was putting in some consistantly quick laps of his own. Yet again the battle for third was heating up with the three remaining competitors running in a close-knit bunch. Eventually Harris (22c) would claim the third spot, and Brett Robinson (52c) would gain another position as Goldsmith (41c) had a small off-track excursion. The positions would remain this way to the flag, and end a successful day at the track for the Harris Racing Team.

Two of the classes hard chargers 17c - Craig "Johnzy" Johns, and 22c - Kieran "Kezza" Harris

Sunday - day two dawned and those ominous clouds from the previous day had wreacked havoc around the Canterbury area with, bitterly cold southerlies, rain hail and even some snow on the foothills. Early reports were that the weather was fine at the Oxford track and that the racing was scheduled to go ahead. Unfortunately on nearing the rural country track, it was obvious things were going to be doubtful as wave after wave of sleet-laced showers poured down on the region. The days racing was soon put on hold as the Oxford Club and all the competitors waited patiently in the cold blustery conditions, hoping that a break in the weather was on the horizon. Sadly it wasnt to be, the weather wasnt playing along to the clubs wishes and the track was becoming water-logged. In the end there was no other option but to cancel the days racing. This would mean that the two heats from day one of the championship would decide the outcome, and it was one that was a close affair with only one point seperating first and second place, something that surely would have made for a fiercely fought final race. Not surprisingly Darryl Harris (31c) had taken out the championship in the Patience and Nicholson (NZ) Ltd machine ahead of the Hawkins Placing sponsored 52c car of Brett Robinson. Kieran Harris (22c) was third on the podium, and fourth went to Paul Strudwicke (38c)

North Canterbury Championship Place-getters, from left:4th - Paul Strudwicke, 3rd - Kieran Harris, 2nd - Brett Robinson, 1st - Darryl Harris

Thanks must go out to all involved at the Oxford Speedway Club for the invitation to be part of your championship weekend and for supporting the class throughout the weekend, www.modifiedsprints.co.nz and the Modifiedsprint club hope that the class put on a worthy display of open-wheel racing, and thank the many people who supported the class over the weekend. Also to the guys at Smithshire - Thank you for your sponsorship of the Modifiedsprint championship, and finally to Danny Mayson at Xpress Printing House for supplying the modifiedsprints with some promotional posters to hand out over the course of the weekend.......all this support is greatfully appreciated by the drivers and club.

25/04/08 - Ellesmere Raceway -

Ellesmere Raceway 25th Anniversary Meeting

A good sized crowd was on hand to witness some fast and hard fought racing at Ellesmere Raceways 25th Anniversary meeting held on Friday April 25th. A reasonable sized field of modifiedsprints were on hand to help celebrate the occasion and in the process put on an exciting display of fast racing. Making their long awaited return to the track were the Shands Outdoor Power machine of Brett Robinson (52c) and the "in your face" blue coloured machine of local driver William Gardiner (99c) both of these drivers had pretty successful days with Gardiner performing well in the two heats before making an early retirement in the feature as a precautionary measure, Robinson on the other hand would finish the day with some good results - well his car would anyway, as one of his pitcrew put in some very quick laps in throughout the day. Tom Lumsden (42c) was on hand in the Cridge Seeds sponsored car and drove hard and fast all day claiming a victory in the final and placing well in the heats. Rookie driver Tim Millar (77c) who has impressed at recent meetings was also on hand and seemed to be on the pace until an on-track coming together with one of the two mini-sprints present would eventually cut his day short. Andre Goldsmith would round out the class regulars and would put in some consistant laps throughout the day in his Hang UP sponsored machine.

Making their debuts in the modifiedsprint class on the day were two competitors at different ends of the age spectrum. Young Jesse Jamieson stepped into the Concut sponsored car usually peddled by his father Mark Jamieson, and didn't embarrass himself as he showed plenty of pace and tidy lines to finish the day with some good consistent results. Meanwhile at the other end of the spectrum, former minisprint driver Richard Bateman was behind the wheel of Keith Bough's 26c machine for the day, his outcome would be a completely different story. After showing a great deal of promise in the early heats, Bateman fell victim in the feature to one of the most spectacular crashes seen in the class for quite some time, while having a good battle for position with Jason Stark in his minisprint the two made contact coming off the pitbend sending Batemans car skyward and into a series of violent somersaults. Bateman was lucky enough to walk away from the incident, although the 26c machine came away looking worse-for-wear.

As is usually the case at Ellesmere, theres always a chance for pitcrew or potential new drivers to get a few "after meeting" laps to see what these pocket rockets are capable of, and this meeting would be no different with a couple of cars heading out onto the track. Modifiedsprints.co.nz would like to extend their thanks to the Ellesmere Club for allowing this to happen.

Heat 1: 1st - Tom Lumsden (42c), 2nd - Brett Robinson (52c) , 3rd - Andre Goldsmith (41c)

Heat 2: 1st - Jason Stark (minisprint 45c), 2nd - Brett Robinson (52c) , 3rd - William Gardiner (99c)

Feature: 1st - Tom Lumsden (42c), 2nd -  Andre Goldsmith (41c) , 3rd - Jesse Jamieson (19c)

The next meeting for the Modifiedsprints at Ellesmere on May 11th is sure to be a hotly contested one, with the running of The CTRA South Island Modified/minisprint Championship.....check out www.ellesmereraceway.co.nr for more details on this meeting.

19/04/08 - 07/08 Season Championship Points  -

The season at Ruapuna is complete and the points for the season-long championship have been added up. Congratulations to Matt Honeywell (64c) for claiming the season points championship ahead of the hard charging Keiran Harris (22c) and  Keith Brough (26c)

12/04/08 - Powerbuilt Ruapuna Speedway  -

Mark Jamieson (19c) finished the 07/08 season in style at Ruapuna Powerbuilt Speedway by easily claiming victory in the last feature of the season on saturday Night. Starting from the optimum position on the front row Jamieson jumped out to an early lead in the Concut sponsored machine and never looked like being challenged for the top spot. Behind him an early battle raged for the minor spots between Matt Honeywell (64c) Keiran Harris (22c) Tom Lumsden (42c) and Darryl Harris (31c) before Keiran Harris forced Honeywell wide in the prison bend and slotted easily into second spot, Lumsden followed Harris through and rounded out the top three after seeing off some challenges from Darryl Harris in the Smithshire sponsored vehicle.

Earlier in the night Keith Brough (26c) drove a fine race to claim victory in what was easily the best race of the night. Matt Honeywell (64c) chased hard in the Sky Farmers sponsored car, probing both high and low throughout the course of the race. Not to be out done, Tom Lumsden (42c) and Mark Jamieson (19c) were close on hand and ready to pounce should the others make any mistakes. Kyle Mayson (98c) made a breif last gasp appearance and looked to be back in the groove of things finishing the first heat in a respectable position, however the car had some issues during the race and an investigation in the pits after the race soon put an end to Maysons appearance when and attempt to remove a faulty sparkplug soon turned it into "just a plug" when the top portion of the plug virtually fell off leaving the rest seated firmly in the block.

Keiran Harris (22c) excelled in the second heat of the night, muscling his Evacut sponsored ride as only he can to a fine win ahead of the consistantly quick Jamieson (19c) and Honeywell (64c) Team tactics seemingly came to the fore as "The ol' man" Darryl Harris (31c) spun up late in the race bringing out a caution period - unfortunately for Darryl at the time of his spin he was running a very repectable third in the race. From the restart Keiran harris retained the lead and led the remaining four laps to the checkered flag.

Matt Honeywell (64c) was the other winner of the night claiming the third heat ahead of  Jamieson (19c) and Lumsden (42c) in a quick 2.39 dash to the flag. A good start saw Honeywell gain a hefty lead over the pack, and even a late race incident that had the 64c car do a complete 360 degree spin after making contact with another car couldn't stop the Rakaia based driver from taking the win.

Heat 1: 1st - Keith Brough (26c), 2nd - Matt Honeywell (64c) , 3rd - Tom Lumsden (42c)

Heat 2: 1st - Keiran Harris (22c), 2nd - Mark Jamieson (19c) , 3rd - Matt Honeywell (64c)

Heat 3: 1st - Matt Honeywell (64c), 2nd -  Mark Jamieson (19c) , 3rd - Tom Lumsden (42c)

Feature: 1st - Mark Jamieson (19c), 2nd - Kieran Harris (22c) , 3rd - Tom Lumsden (42c)

  6/04/08 - Ellesmere Raceway  -

Ellesmere Raceway got off to a flyer under sunny conditions on Sunday afternoon, sadly a smaller than anticipated turn out of only 3 modifiedsprints turned up to put in some laps at the country track. Never the less the day was enjoyed by those present, and the laid back approach to the days racing seemed to strike a chord with the drivers present. The modifiedsprints joined ranks with the mini-sprints to give the overall class a total of 7 cars on the track and the end result was some fiercely contested races with the mini-sprints making the most of thier "hometrack" advantage and taking the challenge to the modifiedsprints. Andre Goldsmith (41c) and Keith Brough (26c) both had great runs in the earlier part of the day and claimed a well earned victory each. Meanwhile Tom Lumsden was seemingly plagued by engine woes for the first couple of races, this would change however and a great display of hard driving would be the result in the next race as a close fight between Lumsden and Jason Stark (mini-sprint 45c) raged for most of the race until Lumsden finally found a way past to take a victory. A bonus race was added to the days racing and after another great up front battle Lumsden would eventually use the highline around the Ellesmere track to jump into the lead and then proceed to leave the battling pack in his dust.

With the atmosphere of the day being more of a social day than that of serious competition results didnt really count for much, but those who turned up seemed pretty keen to return again for the next Ellesmere meeting on Friday,  April 25th - It's hoped that a few more cars will also come out to play at the 25th Anniversary Meeting.  

5/04/08 - Powerbuilt Ruapuna Speedway  -

Rookie driver Tim Millar drove an excellent race to claim his first ever race victory at Ruapuna on Saturday Night (April 6th) Millar led the race from start to finish in a longer than usual Feature event that was contested over a hefty 20 laps. Even a caution period toward the tail end of the race couldnt stop Millar from driving the 77c machine home to vistory just ahead of a heel-snapping Mark Jamieson in the 19c machine.Paul Denson drove the wheels off the 45c mini-sprint to finish in a well deserved third place.

Millar, who is in his first year of competition at Ruapuna had the box seat at the start of the feature event and when the green flag dropped got an excellent start and left the chasing pack behind. While the others continiued to battle for placings Millar kept the pace up and slowly extended his lead until a late race caution caused by a spun out car in the prison bend allowed the pack to close up on his tail. But yet again a great start saw Millar obtain a hefty lead and victory looked a certainty, however Mark Jamieson (19c) had a different opinion about that and slowly started catching the lead car. As the race came to a close Jamieson was becoming a big threat and was carrying a lot more speed into the entry of the turns. The white flag came out and with this Jamieson was hot on Millars heels and could have very easily snatched the lead had the 77c machine missed a beat, that wasnt to be the however as Millar held his nerve and crossed to claim the victory.

Heat 1: 1st - Tom Lumsden (42c), 2nd - Mark Jamieson (19c) , 3rd - Darryl Harris (31c)

Heat 2: 1st - Matt Honeywell (64c), 2nd - Tom Lumsden (42c) , 3rd - Mark Jamieson (19c)

Feature: 1st - Tim Millar (77c), 2nd - Mark Jamieson (19c) , 3rd - Paul Denson (mini-sprint 45c)

29/03/08 - Powerbuilt Ruapuna Speedway  -

The second night of the Midget double feature had similar conditions to that of Thursday nights meeting. A nice warm night for racing - well at least until about the mid-point of the meeting when a dry southerly blasted across the stadium lowering the temperature somewhat and a track prepared in very similar fashion as well.

A good field of 11 modifiedsprints were present for the nights racing and were bolsted by 2 of the few remaining mini-sprints in the South Island. The grid was set for heat one, Keith Brough (26c) was in the box seat on pole with hard charger Matt Honeywell (64c) alongside ready to make the most of the drivey track. As soon as the green flag dropped Honeywell lept into the lead and set about gaining a good advantage, behind him Brough tried to fend off a challenge from Rachel Melrose (7c) but couldnt hold her out as she made a powerful pass around the outside going through turns 1-2. Brough settled into third and prepared for the next challenge that would come from Mark Jamieson (19c) This battle would last for a few laps before Jamieson would sneak past Brough heading into turn 3. Further down the pack things were looking pretty hectic as the likes of Tom Lumsden (42c) Keiren Harris (22c) Chris Haskell (31c) and Tim Millar (77c) were having their own torrid battle for the minor placings. Harris would win the battle on the track but would later be relegated by the SNZ officials, handing the spot over to Lumsden. Back at the front Honeywell was still holding the lead with a handy gap back to Melrose who was trying hard to catch the Skyfarmers machine. Time however would be on the side of Honeywell and he would go on to claim the win from Melrose (7c) with Jamieson taking out third some distance behind.

As a general rule you can tell the state of a track by the laptimes, going by that if heat one had a good track then heat two's surface must've been even better as most drivers posted their fastest laptime for the night in this heat. Making the most of a clear and smooth track Tom Lumsden (42c) would get a great start in the Cridge Seeds sponsored car and would build himself a handy lead early in the race.Likewise Glen Sole (4c) made an excellent start and overtook the 84c car of Nelson's Paul Russ, who would have a solid run in this race. With Lumsden and Sole making a break for it, the remainder of the field set about creating a mammoth battle for the minor placings. Russ drove extremely well for a few laps before Harris and Haskell managed to dive down the inside and drop him back to fifth in the race. Not wishing to give anything away Melrose and Jamieson soon followed as Russ got offline in the prison bend. Lumsden meanwhile was still holding a good lead over the chasing pack, next was Sole who was now about to have a serious attack from a hard charging trio of  Harris, Haskell and Melrose. Melrose would eventually get past and claim the minor glory as did Haskell who would claim the third spot.

Feature time and the Ruapuna track was holding up immaculately well, a cushion had been formed by the other classes (midgets in particular) about two thirds of the way up the track - would anyone be game enough to try and use it to their advantage? As the flag dropped Matt Honeywell (64c) made the most of his front row grid and by the first turn was heading the chasing pack. Behind him was a mad scramble to gain a better track position with a bunch of the top performers running nose to tail filling out the minor placings. Over the next few laps Rachel Melrose (7c) slowly but surely caught up to the 64c car of Honeywell and looked like mounting an attack for the lead spot at any moment. Mark Jamieson (19c) showed that he is getting to grips with the new machinery at his disposal and was in third and keeping pace with the leaders, behind him the young American visitor Chris Haskell (31c) was making great inroads towards the front of the pack and was soon challenging Jamieson for third. Unfortunately his challenge would come to an end soon after as he made a dive down the inside going into prison bend, making contact with Jamieson turning him around and bringing out the first orange of the race. Being the type of race incident that it was Jamieson was re-instated into third and Haskell was relegated to the rear of the field ending his challenge. At the restart Honeywell (64c) again kept his cool and position at the front of the pack holding out a hard charging Melrose (7c) and Jamieson (19c), Tom Lumsden (42c) tagged himself onto the lead bunch and a small gap grew between them and the remaining field. As the laps counted down the pace was still frenetic but sadly the top four spread themselves out somewhat taking away any real spectacle for the remainder of the race. 

Matt Honeywell (64c) went on to win heat one from the front row.

Heat 1: 1st - Matt Honeywell (64c), 2nd - Rachel Melrose (7c) , 3rd - Mark Jamieson (19c)

Heat 2: 1st - Tom Lumsden (42c), 2nd - Rachel Melrose (7c) , 3rd - Chris Haskell (31c)

Feature: 1st - Matt Honeywell (64c), 2nd - Rachel Melrose (7c) , 3rd - Mark Jamieson (19c)

27/03/08 - Powerbuilt Ruapuna Speedway  -

Night one of a relative "double-header" took place on a perfect night for speedway, warm conditions had been present in Canterbury for the day and they didnt look like changing for the entirety of the nights racing. The Modifiedsprints were the first class to get a run on a superbly groomed Ruapuna racetrack and most seemed to relish in the smooth surface on offer. From the outset Rachel Melrose (7c) took full advantage of her front row spot and as soon as the green flag dropped set about gaining the lead and leaving the pack behind. Trying his best to hunt down the Melrose Motorsports car was the 22c machine of Kieran Harris who flew through the field from his mid-pack starting position to jump into a very handy second place, followed closely by The Shands Outdoor Power car of Brett Robinson (52c) Behind these three a whole gaggle of cars were battling hard for on-track position. As the race progressed further the field began to spread out taking away any real racing as such, with the exception of a few cars who were racing closely. One of the better battles was between the 31c Smithshire car of Darryl Harris and the 26c Cavalier Floats machine of season rookie Keith Brough, who has been slowly improving over the season. Harris would hound Brough all the way to the finish but was unable to make any gain up the finishing order.  Matt Honeywell (64c) was also showing a good turn of speed and had slowly been reeling in Robinson over the course of the race, but like Harris was also unable to claim a better finishing position.

Race two would be almost be a carbon copy of the first race, Ruapuna's sometimes risky surface was holding up well and provided the class with another top-notch surface for the race. Just like Melrose had in the first race, returning driver Mark Jamieson (in the seat of the 19c machine vacated by Jamie Duff) took full advantage of a front row spot and quickly claimed the top spot heading into turn one for the first time. Behind him a good battle was gearing up between 42c Tom Lumsden, 31c Darryl Harris and 41c Andre Goldsmith. Goldsmith would soon be the benefactor and slot safely into the second spot, while Lumsden took a highline and managed to slingshot ahead of Harris into the third spot. A midpack incident in turn 3 would see the Accessman sponsored machine of Glen Sole (4c) retire to the infield with some minor damage. The race was able to continue on without the caution being brought on but the incident had bunched up the remainder of the field making for a breif moment of close quarters racing. Back at the front and Jamieson had cleared out to an unasailable lead, Goldsmith, Lumsden, Harris had now been joined in battle by Matt Honeywell who was looking to sneak into the top three. Rounding turn 4 for the final time Honeywell would make light contact with Harris that would see him spin around and lift the front end off the ground before stalling sideways across the start/finish straight. Luckily for him and the other competitors everyone managed to navigate their way past the stricken Skyfarmers machine and finish the race.

Race 3 would turn out to be a bonus race with the headline class (midgets) needing more time to prepare for their final few races, No complaints were forthcoming from the modifiedsprint guys/gal they were enjoying the nights racing and had run two races so far without any cautions. Again in this race the 7c car of rachel Melrose would get a good start and claim the top spot, behind her Matt Honeywell (64c) and Darryl Harris (31c) settled in for what looked to be a great looming battle, however you would sense that Honeywell was having an off night as he made an un-characteristic error in turn 3 and 4 that would see him spin onto the infeild, and Harris would run high allowing Tom Lumsden (42c) into the second spot. Mark Jamieson (19c) was absolutely flying in the bright yellow Concut machine as he tried to run the highline and he would soon slot into the third spot behind Lumsden. From this point on very little changed in the race order with the field once again spreading out quite evenly around the track. Melrose (7c) easily claimed the victory by around a quarter of a lap ahead of Lumsden (42c) and Jamieson (19c)

In slight confusion the Feature would be run for a second time after the previous race had been slotted in and also called the feature. The result of this one would again be similar with Rachel Melrose (7c) jumping out to an early lead and never looking back. Behind her things would be a little different this time around as Keiran Harris (22c) and Matt Honeywell (64c) ran side by side for close to a lap before Harris managed to get his nose in front in turn 3. Lumsden (42c) was again charging hard as he always does and was looking to move forward through the pack, his cause helped out slightly by a failure in the rear of Glen Sole's (4c) machine that sent him spinning around exiting turn 4, this would bring out the modifiedsprints first caution for the night as Sole was unable to get his car clear of the track. At the restart Melrose (7c) used track position and her pace setting skills to her advantage and made a break on the pack.Harris (22c) again tried his hardest to keep in touch with the number 7c machine, while behind him Lumsden (42c) launched an all out assault on Honeywell (64c) but was initially unable to get past. It wasnt long though before Honeywell made another of his un-characteristic errors and drifted high in the prison bend allowing the Southbridge youngster to go by. Meanwhile Brett Robinson (52c) had struck some problems and drifted high on the track grinding to a halt bringing out the second orange spell for the night. At the restart with only a handfull of laps left Melrose seemingly had the race in the bag and Harris seemed pretty happy with the second spot, Honeywell however wanted the third spot in the feature and set about hounding Lumsden, the two of them running nose to tail for several laps before Honeywell drifted wide in the Town bend allowing Lumsden to get away cleanly to claim third.

Heat 1: 1st - Rachel Melrose (7c), 2nd - Kieran Harris (22c) , 3rd - Brett Robinson (52c)

Heat 2: 1st - Mark Jamieson (19c), 2nd - Andre Goldsmith (41c) , 3rd - Tom Lumsden (42c)

Heat 3: 1st - Rachel Melrose (7c), 2nd -  Tom Lumsden (42c) , 3rd - Mark Jamieson (19c)

Feature: 1st - Rachel Melrose (7c), 2nd - Kieran Harris (22c) , 3rd - Tom Lumsden (42c)

8/03/08 - Powerbuilt Ruapuna Speedway  -

Rememberance Champs are well installed around most speedway tracks throughout the country, they are run as a mark of respect to the many past competitors amd to the often under-appreciated officials and crews of the speedway community. Ruapuna added their Rememberance Champs to the calendar this season and as part of the meeting had some of the machines from years gone by on display or doing laps of honour as well.

Modifiedsprints.co.nz wasnt able to take in this meeting, and didnt recieve any form of meeting review, so is only able to supply the race results for the nights races.

Heat 1: 1st - Kieran Harris (22c), 2nd - Chris Haskell (31c) , 3rd - Brett Robinson (52c)

Heat 2: 1st - Matt Honeywell (64c), 2nd - Mark Jamieson (19c) , 3rd - Chris Haskell (31c)

Heat 3: 1st - Chris Haskell (31c), 2nd -  Tom Lumsden (42c) , 3rd - Matt Honeywell (64c)

Feature: 1st - Tom Lumsden (42c), 2nd - Mark Jamieson (19c) , 3rd - Matt Honeywell (64c)

14/02/08 - Powerbuilt Ruapuna Speedway  -

Thursday February 14th might have been a night for romance but not for the modifiedsprint class. In fact the match-making efforts of a few drivers would leave a less than romantic look to several cars and leave a rather lonely few cars to attack the feature event for the night. A reasonable field of cars were on hand for a mid-week meeting with 9 modifiedsprints and the lone mini-sprint of Paul Denson (45c) making up the numbers.

Heat one of the four races of the night would get underway at a great pace, making a great start to the night and continuing to shine in every modifiedsprint outing was Jamie Duff (19c) who got an absolute blinder of a start.  A whole pack of cars were trying to chase down the bright yellow Concut machine including Tom Lumsden (42c) who crept past Chris Haskell (31c) and Matt Honeywell (64c) into second place heading into turn 3. A lap later and Haskell (31c) drifted wide exiting turn 4 allowing a charging Honeywell (64c) to race into the third spot. At about the mid point of the race the caution would come on as Duff spun his car to avoid the turned around Glen Sole (4c) car that was stricken exiting turn 2. Duff was allowed to restart from his position at the front of the pack and from the green ran home to the flag pretty much unchallenged. The major benefactor from the incident was the Smithshire sponsored machine of Chris Haskell (31c) who managed to pick off a few positions after the restart to run home on second, followed by Tom Lumsden (42c)

If heat one was about the chase, then heat two was surely a case of "kiss and tell" and it wouldnt be long before it took place. From his front row starting position Kieran Harris (22c) would get a good start and lead a battling pack into turn one for the first time. Right behind him Brett Robinson (52c) and Matt Honeywell (64c) were dicing for the second spot which Honeywell would claim heading into turn 1, however his time in this spot would be short lived as he got caught out by a rut and bicycled, heading towards the wall at high speed. Honeywell managed to wrestle the Skyfarmers sponsored machine to safety and carried on in the race, only dropping a couple of positions in the process. This allowed Robinson to jump into second place and begin the task of chasing down Harris, hot on his heels however was the flying Jamie Duff (19c) and the equally fast Chris Haskell (31c). Duff is surely carving out a reputation for himself as a hard charger in both the modifiedsprints and the v8 powered sprintcar divisions at Ruapuna and the proof of this was evident when he made a storming run around the outside of Robinson to move into the second spot. Haskell would also soon pass Robinson who is seemingly having a low point in his season. With the running order being Harris (22c) Duff (19c) and Haskell (31c) and the later duo charging extremely hard it wasnt long before Harris's lead was in jeopardy. Duff lined up Harris coming off turn 2 and took a dive down the inside heading into turn 3 making a rather easy pass in the end as Harris had drifted wide. From there most would have expected Duff to run away from the pack but a sudden change was about to unfold on the following lap.   Duff drifted a bit higher than normal entering turn 3 and lost control of the Concut machine spinning out in front of the chasing cars, Harris went high and avoided the stricken 19c, Haskell on the other hand was fiercely commited to making the turn and had no time or anywhere to go but head on into Duff's car. The hit was solid ripping the front wings off both cars and sending them flying through the air, Duffs car would bounce around and land on it wheels, while Haskell's machine would tumble onto its side. Both cars sustained extensive front end damage from the incident that would see them sidelined for the remiander of the night. Once the carnage was cleared from the track the remaining depleted field lined up for a final dash to the line, Harris (22c) still headed the pack with Honeywell (64c) in second and Tom Lumdsne (42c) running in third. From the green Harris again jumped out to a good lead and looked to have the race all sewn up, that was until an error exiting turn 4 allowed Honeywell to drive by into the lead. Lumsden would also have a look at passing, but was unable to do so and had to settle with third spot behind Harris and race winner Honeywell.

"Kiss and tell" between Jamie Duff and Chris Haskell on Valentines night, resulted in two damaged cars.

By all accounts heat 3 would be a simple and un-interupted race to the flag, Lumsden (42c) would have the box seat off the front row alongside the Shands Outdoor Power sponsored car of Robinson (52c) and from the green would obtain a lead he wouldnt give up. Robinson however had a solid challenge from Honeywell to contend with for the early part of the race and the duo diced and battled hard for a few laps before Honeywell got the better of Robinson. Honeywell would then look at chasing down Lumsden but would never pose any threat as the laps quicky wound down. Kieran Harris has been putting in some great performances over recent times and with this in mind it wouldnt be long before he was hot on the tail of the 52c car of Robinson and challenging for the final podium spot, in the end it seemed all too easy as he took the low line into turn three and passed Robinson without incident.

Feature time and time for the final fling of the night, and what a fling it would be. The front row was quite possibly the place to watch with two of the modifiedsprints consistantly fast drivers in the form of Matt Honeywell (64c) and Tom Lumsden (42c) sitting side by side, behind them and ready to pounce on any mistake was the pairing of Brett Robinson (64c) and Kieran Harris (22c). From the green it was obvious that this feature could well be the race for the night with Honeywell and Lumsden setting off at great pace running side by side though turns 1-2 making light contact as they went. The close quarters racing would continue as they fired down the backstraight with Honeywell grabbing the slightest of advantages to lead the race. Heading into turn 3 for the first time and this on-track matchup was about to turn ugly as Honeywell approached using the high line and Lumsden went low, the end result was contact between the two that saw Honeywells car lurch forward off the ground and land awkwardly sideways before leaping once again into a very violent series of highspeed flips. Lumsdens car fell onto it's side after the front end collapsed and his car turned sharply right. Thankfully both drivers were able to walk away from the incident unharmed, thier cars however did look alittle worse for wear. After yet another session of cleaning up some modifiedsprint carnage the feature was set to be re-run albeit with a very thin looking field of four modifiedprints and one mini-sprint. This time Keiran Harris (22c) would have the box seat running up front, with season rookie Keith Brough (26c) alongside him.Tthe mini-sprint of Paul Denson (45c) who consistantly challenges the modifiedsprint guys was running next on the grid , with rookie driver Tim Millar (77c) and Glen Sole (4c) rounding out the starters. Greenligth and the class's resident stuntdriver (see previous reviews) Harris, grabbed a handy lead from the remaining 4 cars, Keith Brough slotted into second but was under constant attack from Paul Denson in the mini-sprint. Glen Sole (4c) was getting a hard time from Tim Millar (77c) who ironicly is campaigning Soles old car. Harris seemed easily in control of the race and had opened up a wide gap as Denson moved past Brough into second spot. With three laps in the books the Accessman car of Glen Sole (4c) crawled to the infield and out of the race with mechanical issues further reducing the number of competitors on track. From there on in Harris just had to keep himself composed and run to the flag, He did this without any incident and won the feature easily by around 5 seconds from the 45c mini-sprint of Paul Denson and the Cavalier Floats sponsored car of Keith Brough (26c) Tim Millar followed closely behind and given a couple more laps may have just crept past Brough to claim the third spot.   

Heat 1: 1st - Jamie Duff (19c), 2nd - Chris Haskell (31c) , 3rd - Tom Lumsden (42c)

Heat 2: 1st - Matt Honeywell (64c), 2nd - Kieran Harris (22c) , 3rd - Tom Lumsden (42c)

Heat 3: 1st - Tom Lumsden (42c), 2nd -  Matt Honeywell (64c) , 3rd - Kieran Harris (22c)

Feature: 1st - Kieran Harris (22c), 2nd - Paul Denson (mini-sprint 45c) , 3rd - Keith Brough (26c)

9/02/08 - Powerbuilt Ruapuna Speedway  -

* 2008 Canterbury Champs *

Saturday night saw the running of the Canterbury Championships for all the car classes at Ruapuna  and for the modifiedsprints it would be a night of full on action for the 12 racers that were on hand to take part. It wouldn't be a championship event without some form of controversy and as you'd expect this was forthcoming during the night, more on that later though.

Gearing up for Heat one

Heat one would see the cars take to a pretty well groomed and drivey track and this was confirmed by all drivers posting their fastest laps for the night in this heat. On the front row and making for an exciting start would be two drivers who have performed well over the last couple of seasons, those being Rachel Melrose (7c) and the last meetings feature winner Kyle Mayson (98c) From the start however, Melrose would get the jump and take the lead, while Mayson was left to fight hard to retain the second spot with challenges coming thick and fast from Jamie Duff (19c) and Andre Goldsmith (41c) Behind them the remainder of the field were also in a hard fought struggle to sort out positions. Unlike to remaining races for the night heat one would be relatively trouble free as all cars completed the 15 lap event. Rachel Melrose (7c) would be the victor, with Kyle Mayson (98c) continuing his fine form from the previous meeting taking the Xpress Printing House car to second, and Jamie Duff (19c) running home a fine third.

If heat one ran smoothly, then heat 2 was going to be stark contrast, the cars arrived on the track just after it had been heavily doused by the water truck. After a few laps of "wheel packing" the order was given for the cars to grid up and get ready to run....although even to the average Joe it was pretty obvious that a start was further away than the officials had hoped for. With cars sliding all over the place, including going sideways down the straights and unable to get any traction on the still water soaked track the race start would need to be delayed for a few more laps. Even when the race did get underway many cars skewed wide in turns one and two, where they met a rutted surface, Kieran Harris (22c) surely had the fright of his life when the car launched up onto two wheels and bicycled around the entire corner before flopping back on all fours and continuing on, was it luck or pure skill that saved what seemed like an imminent rollover from occurring? It took a few laps for everyone to get accustomed to the slippery surface and by that time most of the race was over. Following on from the domination in heat one Rachel Melrose (7c) had the Melrose Motorsports machine dialled in and headed the pack. A caution period would soon slow the field as a hard charging Kyle Mayson (98c) would tangle with rookie driver Tim Millar (77c) and the two would spin off to the infield, the strangeness of the race would continue with Keith Brough (26c) who was trying to avoid the incident went wide and drifted into the wall, launching the car into a slow roll-over. Somehow Broughs Cavalier Floats sponsored machine would land on it's wheels and he would continue on in the race! Mayson and Millar would be un-attached on the infield and Mayson would also return to the race.

Maysons return wouldn't last long however, as not long after the restart he too would fall to the dreaded bicycle trick, only on this occasion unlike Harris's earlier exploits Maysons car would suffer damage to the rear end that would ultimately sent him into the wall exiting turn four and ending his racing for the night. As the race progressed from this point on things seemed to settle down and the track began to dry out enough for some tidier racing to take place. Those benefitting the most from others errors were Tom Lumsden (42c) who seems to be getting to grips with his new car, and Kieran Harris (22c) who had made a great recovery from his earlier stunt driving exploits. The form driver of the season to date Matt Honeywell (64c) was having an unusually quite night by his standards, however this would play right into his hands for the final "winner takes all race" for the championship. Keeping her composure at the front of the field Rachel Melrose would race home to claim her second win from two starts for the night, Tom Lumsden (42c) would have been well pleased with his second placing and Keiran Harris (22c) would clinch third from a chasing Honeywell.

Entering the pits after this heat and it was easy to see that there was some tension in the air with a number of damaged cars and some unhappy drivers, with most venting thier anger toward the awful track conditions that they were expected to race on. 

With the drama of heat two out of the way it was down to the final to decide who would claim the Canterbury Championship Title for this season. There would however be some drama for the final with title favourite Rachel Melrose (7c) being shut out of the race after the gates were closed before her car was fully prepared for the race.  Andre Goldsmith (41c) and Glen Sole (4c) were in the box seat on the front row after the top six qualifiers had their positions inverted for the feature. Taking the green Goldsmith (41c) and Sole (4c) ran side by side into turn one but were soon overtaken by a brilliant piece of driving by Matt Honeywell (64c)  who split the two and drove into the lead from his second row starting point. Goldsmith (41c) would take second ahead of Sole (4c) and Kieran Harris (22c) would slot into fourth ready to make a challenge for third place heading into turn 3-4. This he did going out wide to overtake the Accessman car of Sole (4c) unfortunately for Harris he mis-judged his overtaking manoeuvre and rode up on the right rear of Sole launching the front end skyward and sending him off towards the wall at high speed.It seems that Luck was well and truely on the side of Harris for the night when he managed to slide the car away from the wall and carry on in the race without any indication that anything had happened at all. Back at the front Honeywell was making a break on the chasing field but Lumsden wasnt going to give up and kept putting in laps of similar pace. Darryl Harris (31c) had his Smithshire car hounding Goldsmith (41c) to take reigns of the third spot, Goldsmith however seemed reluctant to give the spot away easily. With only a few laps to go Goldsmith (41c) would relinquish the spot when his car came to a standstill in the town bend bringing out the caution. This would allow Lumsden to close right up on Honeywell for a last gasp attack at taking the title, behind them although a lap down was Tim Millar (77c) and Darryl Harris (31c) who had now taken the third spot. Once the stricken Melrose Motorsports car of Goldsmith was removed to the infield the race was set to resume. And what an interesting restart it would be, the front runners all bunched up and made their run to the green. At this point Tim Millar (77c) decided he wanted a much closer look at the starters box and after spearing right, rode high up the wall and was lucky not to have a major incident, he managed to get the car under control and retired to the infield. A later investigation revealled that it wasnt a motion of his doing, a single bolt on the front axle had sheared off allowing the front end to spin over and turn the car right - a scary moment i'm sure for any driver let alone one in his second meeting.

While this was going on the battle for the lead was fierce with Lumsden catching and then dropping back several times throughout the remaining laps, in the end Honeywell (64c) would manage to come home a clear winner from Lumsden (42c) with Darryl Harris (31c) taking a well deserved 3rd.

Heat 1: 1st - Rachel Melrose (7c), 2nd - Kyle Mayson (98c) , 3rd - Jamie Duff (19c)

Heat 2: 1st - Rachel Melrose (7c), 2nd - Tom Lumsden (42c) , 3rd - Kieran Harris (22c)

Heat 3: 1st - Matt Honeywell (64c), 2nd - Tom Lumsden (42c) , 3rd - Darryl Harris (31c)

Championship Placings: 1st - Matt Honeywell (64c), 2nd - Tom Lumsden (42c) , 3rd - Darryl Harris (31c)

2/02/08 - Top Of The South Speedway, Nelson  -

A less than ideal field made their second appearance at nelson's "Top Of The South" Speedway on Saturday night, Four cars was hardly going to be worthy of putting on any real show of racing, and pretty much ended up just being a demonstration run for the good sized crowd. The four cars on hand were the 52c car of Brett Robinson, Tom Lumsden (42c) Jamie Duff (19c) and local driver Paul Russ (84c)

The first demonstration run for the night was pretty early on in the night, and with the track still a bit greasy it was going to be more a case of getting a position and holding onto it more than challenging to move forward. Lumsden (42c) and Russ (84c) shared the front row, while Duff (19c) and Robinson (52c) sat in behind reday to pounce. On the start Lumsden (42c) made a great start and took the lead heading into the first turn. Behind him Russ (84c) Robinson (52c) and Duff (19c) fell into line and began the chase. Things soon resembled a freight train as passing was minimal, or maybe risky was more the term as stepping out of line would have the car pushing high up on the greasy surface. Toward the end of the race Duff (19c) decided to try and be brave and going into turn 3 biffed the car in hard underneath Russ (84c) the result however had Duff spinning onto the infield. With such a small field Duff (19c) was allowed to restart and the race soon got back underway. On the restart Lumsden (42c) managed to maintain his spot at the front although he seemed to be struggling a little in only the second outing in this car. Robinson seemed content to follow Lumsden home and never really challenged too hard. Duff on the other hand wanted to claim the third spot and in a move very similar to the previous caution causing one took his chance in turn 3 attacking hard down low and forcing Russ to drift wide, Duff was able to power through to sneak in for the third spot.

In stark contrast to the first run, heat two would be an altogether different affair. There would be no freight-train in this one as Duff (19c) easily took the lead and stormed off into the distance. Behind him the race order soon settled into place with Robinson (52c)  Lumsden (42c) and Russ (84c) also spreading themselves out negating any form of a race for the minor positions. Duff (19c) who was also piloting in the sprintcar division was having a barn-storming night and showed this with a highly aggressive drive that would see the left side panel of the main wing blow-out at around the mid-point of the race, however the damage was minimal and didnt seem to slow the youngster at all as he drove all the wat to the flag pushing the Henchcraft chassis hard. Robinson (52c) would again have to settle for second spot while Lumsden would come home in third.

If there was ever one saving grace for the night it would have to be the fact that all four cars made it to the last race of the night - four was never going to be spectacular, but any less would've been a non-event! Between races Lumsden had been working franticly to try and find a setup to his suiting on the 42c machine, however a slight oversight would soon put end to any challenge he was going to pose to the other drivers as after a couple of seemingly on the pace laps he retired to the infield with a left rear tyre issue. Back on the track Duff (19c) was continuing his fine form for the night as he skipped out to a handy lead, Russ (84c) was having a great run in second place and would retain that spot at the completion of the race. Robinson (52c) rounded out the finishers coming home in third place and like evryone else probably pretty happy with the nights racing and more-so happy to bring the car home undamaged.

Heat 1: 1st - Tom Lumsden (42c), 2nd - Brett Robinson (52c) , 3rd - Jamie Duff (19c)

Heat 2: 1st - Jamie Duff (19c), 2nd - Brett Robinson (52c) , 3rd - Tom Lumsden (42c)

Heat 3: 1st - Jamie Duff (19c), 2nd - Paul Russ (84c) , 3rd - Brett Robinson (52c)

Thanks must go to the Nelson club for allowing the smaller than expected numbers to run, and a big thanks to those who did travel  to Nelson to put on a show for the local speedway fans.

26/01/08 - Powerbuilt Ruapuna Speedway  -

Kyle Mayson's (98c) last minute change of heart seems to have paid off after a successful nights racing at Powerbuilt Ruapuna Speedway. Mayson who initially was set to sit out this season and help former modifiedsprint driver Danny Mayson (97c) make the transition into the sprintcars decided to rebuild and race his brothers old car after he had sold his old car to Keith Brough (26c).

In a somewhat controversial heat one Mayson broke away early from the pack and never looked like he would be threatened. While most drivers struggled to come to grips with a pole-line puddle in turns one and two, Mayson worked a higher line and seemingly avoided the worst of the moisture. Further down the pack battles were taking place for the minor spots with Kieran Harris (22c) Matt Honeywell (64c) and Chris Haskell (31c) who was driving the Smithshire car of Darryl Harris for the night were all chasing hard. As the laps counted down Harris (22c) began reeling in the Xpress Printing House car of Mayson, who had caught up to lapped traffic and was soon in a position to challenge for the lead......and what a finish it would be! Coming off turn four for the final time the pair came up on Jamie Duff (17c) and almost seemed undecided which way to go, Mayson went high around the outside brushing the wall in the process while Harris went low and powered under the 17c car. At the line neither car could be separated as they crossed the line side by side. The final decision would come down to the track officials and would be announced with Kyle Mayson (98c) taking the win and Keiran Harris (22c) claiming second, and Matt Honeywell (64c) would put in yet another consistant showing to claim third. However, news would soon come through that the race order had been reversed with the win going to Harris ahead of Mayson. In yet another twist all printed results still had Mayson as the winner, surely a surefire way to spark some fire into the competitors...

....And that it did, Mayson (98c) was on fire in the second heat as he worked his way from the rear of the field up to 5th overall. Normal tranmission for the season had resumed at the front of the pack with a worthy battle between Honeywell (64c) Haskell (31c) and Brett Robinson (52c). Kieran Harris (22c) was once again in the mix proving that his run in the first heat wasnt a fluke and putting on a great show of driving in what could be concidered his best outing since joining the class early last season. Further down the field Glen Sole (4c) looked to be struggling for pace after a mid-week rebuild after last weekends on track incident, and both Keith Brough (26c) and Tom Lumsden were battling with their newly purchased machines. In the end Honeywell (64c) wouldclaim another victory to add to his growing tally, Chris Haskell (31c) would power home in second and Brett Robinson would round out the top three.

The controversy surrounding the result of heat one, would actually assist Mayson (98c) when it came to the feature by giving him a better starting position, and he would use that advantage to the max. Just like in heat one he would break away from the pack and run cleanly to the checkered flag to claim his first feature win. Brett Robinson (52c) would chase hard and manage to close in on the 98c machine at about the mid-race point only to be caught out by some slow traffic allowing Mayson to open up the lead again. Rounding out a night he should well be proud of Kieran Harris (22c) would drive an exceptional race to come home in third place ahead of one of the season's standout performers Matt Honeywell (64c) Glen Sole (4c) would lead home Lumsden (42c) Brough (26c) and a struggling and off the pace Haskell (31c)

* Due to the confusion over heat one, modifiedsprints.co.nz is listing Mayson and Harris as 1st equal

Heat 1: 1st = Kieran Harris (22c), Kyle Mayson (98c) , 3rd - Matt Honeywell (64c)

Heat 2: 1st - Matt Honeywell (64c), 2nd - Chris Haskell (31c) , 3rd - Brett Robinson (52c)

Heat 3: 1st - Kyle Mayson (98c), 2nd - Brett Robinson (52c) , 3rd - Kieran Harris (22c)

19/01/08 - Powerbuilt Ruapuna Speedway  -

Laptimes can say alot about the track conditions and with the fastest lap of the night being 16.0937sec set by Rachel Melrose in the feature, it was pretty obvious that the Modifiedsprints were dancing on glass for the second week running. As with the previous week the track surface had been baked under a cloudless Canterbury day and had also been groomed to suit the Solo's and Sidecars that were contesting their Canterbury Championships. 10 Modifiedsprints were on hand and were joined by 3 mini-sprints for the nights action, and what a night it would be.....

A last minute change to the programme saw the modifiedsprint drivers rushing to get ready and into their cars to run the opening race of the night. From the outset the Ruapuna surface was obviously slick and would catch a fair few drivers out over the course of the race. From the green it was going to be tricky for anyone to pull off a spectacular pass as most drivers battled the track more than each other. Heat 1 was about to show everyone how the rest of the night would pan out as afr as the racing went, with Kieran Harris (22c) the first to spin on the slippery surface, William Gardiner in the 99c took evasive action and spun safely to a stop some distance from the stricken Harris and was able to restart, Harris retired to the infield and would soon be joined by a number of other competitors. On the restart Craig Broomhall (23c) got off to a good start and soon had a good lead, however the chasing pack weren't going to let him have an easy victory and were pretty much breathing down his neck all the way. Gardiner was soon joining Harris, Paul Russ (84c) and 2 of the mini-sprints on the infield when he lost control going into turn 3 and spun out, although he managed to keep mobile he pulled to the safety of the infield. Brett Robinson (52c) also un-characteristicly pulled infield and out of the race at a similar stage of the race. Worse was yet to come how-ever as the biggest casualty of the night was about to rear its ugly head....Tom Lumsden (42c) had seemingly got over the gremlins of past meetings and in recent times had been putting on a good show of hard and determined driving. Coming off turn 2 on the 7th lap the car lost power and coasted to the infield with fire billowing from under the bonnet. On returning to the pits the damage was all to obvious as parts of the engine that should be on the inside were clearly visible on the outside, this has been a savage blow for the Southbridge racer who enjoys his racing and always performs well. With all this drama going on the remaining cars had sorted themselves out and Broomhall had remained at the point of the field, all he had to do was keep the car going the right way and a maiden victory would be his. The laps trickled down and Broomhall managed to come home in first place, however he later admitted that he had a few "hairy" moments in the late stages of the race. The Accessman sponsored machine of Glen Sole (4c) came home in second followed by Matt Honeywell (64c) with Rachel Melrose (7c) and Keith Brough (26c) being the only other drivers to finish.

With only half of the field finishing the first race of the night there was plenty of action in the pits as drivers and crew thought about how to tame the track and get maximum grip from the dusty track. Lumsden was obviously distraught about the destroyed engine and was soon loading the car on to the trailer, his night well and truely over and a lot of uncertainty about the remainder of the season.

Heat two would not be a good one for two drivers in this race, William Gardiner (99c) would probably come off worst after he collided heavily with Glen Sole's (4c) stricken racecar at about the half ay stage of the race. Gardiners car hit the front end of Sole after ha had spun out in turn 3 and was sent tumbling over doing considerable damage to the 99c machine and destroying the front axle of the 4c machine. Strangely this all took place under the orange and made for a less than enjoyable time in the pits afterwards. As with the previous heat this race would have a high attrition rate with only half of the field completing the race, with Sole (4c) Gardiner (99c) Keith Brough (26c) and Brett Robinson (52c) again making an un-charateristic trip to the infield. On track and the cars were chasing each other like a freight train, with the track being slick down low and extremely dusty and slippery up top passing was at a premium for the drivers and all most could do was follow the car in front and wait for them to make a mistake. Matt Honeywell (64c) wouldnt make any errors however and drove to the checkered flag without too much hassle, Rachel Melrose would bring the Melrose Motorsports entry home in second and out of town driver Paul Russ (84c) drove exceptionly well to round out the top three.

William Gardiner (left) gets attended to after contact with Glen Sole (top right)

With so many casulaties throughout the night things looked a bit bare when the remaining 7 cars took their grids for the feature. Again the freight train like formation took effect once the green was given and only the brave dared to attempt a pass. Rachel Melrose (7c) had the lead and like so many times before wouldnt be easy to get by although the chasing pack were determined to do so. Leading this charge was Matt Honeywell (64c) Kieran Harris (22c) wasnt giving up easy either as he powered the Evacut sponsored car into third place and set his sights on the two cars ahead. Brett Robinson (52c) was having a far better run in the feature and at this stage was still going strong. Further back still Paul Russ (84c) and Craig Broomhall (23c) were having a torrid battle with each other, one that would last right to the end of the race with Russ claiming that victory by a fraction of a second. Back at the front and Melrose (7c) was well and truely in control as she drove to yet another feature win at Ruapuna gaining a lead of some 3 seconds in the process. Honeywell (64c) completed a consistant evening to claim a second in the feature to go along with his 1st and 3rd in the previous heats. Robinson in the meantime had put a pass on Harris to sneak into third place near the end of the race. I

Heat 1: 1st - Craig Broomhall (23c) , 2nd - Glen Sole (4c) , 3rd - Matt Honeywell (64c)

Heat 2: 1st - Matt Honeywell (64c), 2nd - Rachel Melrose (7c) , 3rd - Paul Russ (84c)

Heat 3: 1st - Rachel Melrose (7c), 2nd - Matt Honeywell (64c) , 3rd - Brett Robinson (52c)

12/01/08 - Powerbuilt Ruapuna Speedway  - 

Being the first class up for the nights racing the modifiedsprints arrived ontrack to a well groomed and smooth track and quickly formed into a dummy grid just past the pitgate and proceeded to stop and cut their engines. Under most situations this would seem rather unusual and many in the crowd may have seemed bemused by the happenings, the reason however was one of a saddened nature. Most would have been aware of the loss of New Zealand legend Sir Edmund Hillary, but many may have been unaware of the loss of someone closer to the speedway community. 19 year old sprintcar racer Andrew Edwards (71m) tragicly died from injuries sustained in a sprintcar race at Baypark Speedway (Mount Maunganui) on January 1st, the Edwards family was and still is well respected within the Mini-sprint class (which runs alongside the modifiedsprints at Ruapuna) A minutes silence was held to remember and respect these two New Zealanders who will both be greatly missed.
With that sombre moment out of the way it was time for the racing to get underway, a decent field of 14 cars was ready to get the first green flag of the night. With the track being flat and well groomed and many of the drivers putting in very close laptimes so far this season this race could well have been anyone's. Chris Haskell (1USA) however had different ideas and was certainly the one to watch as he cut his way through a competitive pack to make his way to the front in his usual spectacular "no hold barred" style. Once in front Haskell never looked back and ran to the flag unhindered. Behind the 1USA machine battles were raging throughout the field. Darryl Harris (31c) was having a great run in the Smiths Hire sponsored Henchcraft and after leading for several laps fell to second once Haskell went past, Harris would hold this position from a hard-charging Tom Lumsden (42c) who finally seems to have found some stability in Cridge Seeds sponsored machine. Back further and a whole gaggle of cars were bunched up fighting for the minor placings, amoungst them was former champion Reon Taylor (23c) who was behind the wheel of Craig Broomhall's car again (could this be the return of "The Rocket" in the making?) Glen Sole (4c) and making his welcome return to the class after some in-decision the 98c machine of Kyle Mayson. Race one would end without too much incident with Haskell (1USA), Harris (31c) and Lumsden (42c) filling the top three places.

Heat two however would be a different matter, with the track being constantly baked (the commentators announcing that the temperature was still in the high 20's) and windswept it was starting to slick off and sadly for the big crowd was becoming dusty, making viewing awkward to say the least. These track conditions would catch a few drivers out over the remainder of the night. Going into turn one for the first time and Haskell (1 USA) would be the first of many cought out by the dry/slick conditions as he slowly spun up in front of the Accessman machine of Sole (4c) the two cars collided causing enough damage to Haskells car to send him to the infield and out of heat two. Even with the track slicking off the field was still setting a pretty good pace, Keith Brough (26c) was well and truely on the case as he blasted into the lead on the restart and led for several laps before the hard chasing and far more experienced pack reeled him in. At about the mid-point of the race Kieran Harris (22c) would lose control and spin out on turn four bringing out the caution, luckily for Harris the car sustained no damage and he was able to start the nights feature race. From the restart Matt Honeywell (64c) had the lead from Lumsden (42c) and Taylor (23c) had fought his way up to third. This is how the cars would cross the line, with Honeywell pulling out a fair lead while Lumsden and Taylor fought to claim second and third.

With a dusty and slick track to contend with the feature was surely going to be a race of car control and patience. A few cars had suffered damge that would see them sidelined for the feature including Kyle Mayson (98c) who had issues with the rear-end of the car, and Chris Haskell (1USA) However Haskell was present in the 84c car of Paul Russ (who had been busy also running the rally car demonstrations as well) Haskell didnt seem comfortable in this car however and didnt really feature in the race. Going from the previous two races there were a few drivers who really were in contention for the feature win, Honeywell (64c) Taylor (23c) Robinson (52c) and Lumsden (42c) had all been the standout performers for the night, Brough (26c) Harris (31c) and Sole (4c) had all had varying results throughout the night but were putting in good enough laps to sneak a podium position should the guys at the front have issues. Heading into turn one for the first time and things looked like they were going to come unstuck for the field as the drivers jockeyed for position running 2-3 cars wide down the field, luckily everyone made it through the turn and racing continued on without incident. A few laps in and Lumsden (42c) would be retire from the race with front end issues. A fair few of the drivers were struggling to come to grips with the track and would often be on the verge of spinning out, and end up cutting the corner as they tried to correct their errors. Honeywell, Taylor, Brough and Robinson somehow seemed to have the track mastered and put in some tidy laps and battled well throughout the mid-race point. Brough's (26c) major downfall was a small error that saw him go wide going into turn 1, this allowed Honeywell, Taylor and Robinson to run to the flag without any hinderance.

Heat 1: 1st - Chris Haskell (1USA) , 2nd - Darryl Harris (31c) , 3rd - Tom Lumsden (42c)

Heat 2: 1st - Matt Honeywell (64c), 2nd - Tom Lumsden (42c) , 3rd - Reon Taylor (23c)

Heat 3: 1st - Matt Honeywell (64c), 2nd - Reon Taylor (23c) , 3rd - Brett Robinson (52c)

29/12/07 - Top Of The South Speedway, Nelson - 

A last minute invite from Nelson's Top Of The South Speedway was the modifiedsprints make their first out of town trip for the 07/08 season. A total of 11 cars made the trip up with 8 modifiedsprints and 3 mini-sprints making up the field. Reports from the drivers was of a positive note toward the Nelson track and most are itching to return to the sun-baked open track on the outskirts of Nelson city.

A great night of fast foot to the floor racing was witnessed by the Nelson locals, with only a couple of orange light situations interupting a relatively incident free night, those being brought out for Paul Russ (84c) who was struggling with fuel issues with his newly reconditioned engine and for Stuart Alderidge in his mini-sprint when he obtained a flat tyre in one of the heats.

Tom Lumsden (42c) made a welcome return to form and by the looks enjoyed the Nelson track claiming his first win for the season, other wins were taken by Chris Haskell (1USA) and Brett Robinson (52c). Rachel Melrose (7c) and Glen Sole (4c) were the other drivers to feature in the top placings for the night. Racing was of a fast pace with some extremely tight racing on display over the three heats. The other drivers to make the trip were, Craig Broomhall (23c) Keith Brough (26c) and local Paul Russ (84c) the mini-sprint class was represented by Paul Denson (45c) Andrew Alderidge (23c) and Blair Low (42c) all of the drivers enjoyed the challenge of a new surface and track shape and are hopeful of returning in the near future.

The fastest lap for the night was a scorching 12.903 sec by Chris Haskell (1USA) to put this into context Kevin Freeman was putting in some practice laps and could only muster a 12.7 sec lap on the night......

Heat 1: 1st - Chris Haskell (1USA) , 2nd - Rachel Melrose (7c) , 3rd - Brett Robinson (52c)

Heat 2: 1st - Tom Lumsden (42c), 2nd - Chris Haskell (1USA) , 3rd - Glen Sole (4c)

Heat 3: 1st - Brett Robinson (52c), 2nd - Rachel Melrose (7c) , 3rd - Chris Haskell (1USA)

15/12/07 - Powerbuilt Ruapuna Speedway - 

Only two weeks into the 07/08 season and the Modifiedsprints continue to produce fast and furious racing. Along with that comes extra risk on the track and yet again as you'll read the attrition rate was high throughout the night. It was good to see the return of the 42c car of Tom Lumsden after a long wait on parts, however it seems that the ever continuing gremlins are still present as Lumsden failed to see the chequered flag in any heat. Also making an impromptu return was past New Zealand Modifiedsprint champion Reon Taylor behind the wheel of Craig Broomhalls 23c Henchcraft.

It wouldnt be long before the chaos would begin as a decent field of cars took their places on the grid for the first race of the night. With the green flag came a mad dash for the first corner with most navigating the smooth track with ease. Glen Sole (4c) however wouldnt manage to see the exit of turn two as he came across a crossed up car and had nowhere to go but up and over the front of the partially spun car. Sole's Accessman sponsored machine rolled heavily ripping the main wing from the car and doing enough damage to the front and rear ends to end his nights racing. On the restart ex mini-sprint driver Andre Goldsmith (42c) in the Melrose Motorsports car usually driven by Phillipa Melrose, would grab a handy lead while the others all battled for minor positions. Darryl Harris (31c) and Kieran Harris (22c) were having a great family battle, to see who would come out on top with Keith Brough (26c), and Charles Gardiner (99c) chasing hard. A few laps later the rear stays on the main wing of Darryl Harris (31c) would collapse downward creating a rather strange looking areodynamics package, yet he would continue on seeminly un-aware of the issue above him.Charles Gardiner was again behind the wheel of his brothers car was picking his way through the field into contention for the top placing when he got held up behind Brough, went wide and spun out in the prison bend bringing out the caution. With the caution came the call by the referees to remove Darryl Harris from the track after deeming his wing to be too dangerous under racing conditions.

At the second restart a big move by Chris Haskell (1USA) would see him race toward the front of the field. and after a few laps Haskell would show his agressive flair to take the lead and build a lead he wouldnt give up. Goldsmith drove smoothly to come home a well deserved second with Kieran Harris rounding out the top three.

Race two would seem somewaht sedate in comparison as most drivers styed on all fours and pretty much stayed out of trouble. Haskell would once again claim the victory giving him two wins for the night and making him the one to beat. Brett Robinson would cross the line in second but would later be dropped a spot allowing Charles Gardiner to claim the second spot ahead of the Shands Outdoor Power sponsored machine of Robinson. Reon Taylor looked to be getting to grips with the 23c car after a few seasons out of the sport and came home a respectable 4th ahead of Goldsmith and the ever consistant Brough.

Haskells form for the night would have him down as odds on favourite going into the Feature event and most would have been wondering who would be the next one home, however a seemingly un-characteristic spin from the visiting American driver early in the race would bring out the caution and send him to the rear of the field making a feature win a task. Never one to give up easily Haskell set out on the restart and looked to be really on the pace reeling in the pack easily until he spun again in turn two and was then removed to the infield by the officials - not exactly how he would have hoped to finish the night. With Haskell out of the picture the feature win was anyones and with the drop of the green they all raced off setting a good pace. Some good battles were building throughout the entire pack until lap nine, when Steven Duff (19c) made a spectacular ending to the race as he rode the right rear of Brough and somersaulted heavily into the turn four wall. There was a long delay as Duff remained in the car and the ambulance was brought onto the track. Duff needed no medical assistance and was reported to be fine after the incident. At this stage the feature was called with the result going in favour of Brett Robinson (52c) followed by a great result for the Evacut sponsored car of Keiran Harris (22c)  and yet another podium spot for Charles Gardiner (99c) who had battled hard without having a front wing on the car.

Heat 1: 1st - Chris Haskell (1USA) , 2nd - Andre Goldsmith (41c) , 3rd - Kieran Harris (22c)

Heat 2: 1st - Chris Haskell (1USA), 2nd - Charles Gardiner (99c) , 3rd - Brett Robinson (52c)

Heat 3: 1st - Brett Robinson (52c), 2nd - Kieran Harris (22c) , 3rd - Charles Gardiner (99c)

08/12/07 - Powerbuilt Ruapuna Speedway - Trophy Challenge

After a weeks delay due to a rainout the 2007/08 season roared into life for the modifiedsprints last night. A good sized field of 16 cars, including a few mini-sprints were on hand for the rescheduled trophy challenge. American driver Chris Haskell, the first of Ruapuna's international drivers for the season was on hand and many were keen to see how this young charge would go on the Ruapuna track.

A full grid of drivers took their place on the track for the first outing of 2007/08, from a spectators point the view was nothing short of spectacular as the Canterbury sun gleamed off the winged cars and anticipation grew as the green flag approached. The green dropped and the modifiedsprint season screamed into life, however as is usually the case with open wheel racing it would be too long before things came crashing down as a spinning Darryl Harris (31c) was collected hard by Kieran Harris (22c) The Evacut sponsored machine of K.Harris jumped skyward and landed hard, bouncing to a stop on turn three. Luckily both cars remained on their wheels, but it was a major blow to the father and son team who had struggled to get their cars back together over the off-season. From the restart it was evident that the flying American, Chris Haskell meant business as he showed the aggressive style we have become accustomed to from international drivers took the lead and began to build a small lead over the chasing pack. His charge however would become somewhat short lived as he brushed the wall while avoiding another ontrack incident between Steven Duff (19c) and Andre Goldsmith (21C) with Goldsmith tumbling out of the nights racing with extensive damage to the Melrose Motorsports car. The result for Haskell was a rear-end issue that would force him to the infield soon after. From there on in things seemed to settle somewhat and stablemate driver Rachel Melrose (7c) was able to hold on for the remaining laps to claim the victory from Brett Robinson (52c) and a late charge from William Gardiner (99c) saw him make a great pass around the outside of Glen Sole's Accessman sponsored machine to claim third. Nelson's Paul Russ (84c) would be yet another victim in this race as he pulled the car to the infield on the last lap with night ending engine problems.

With the field almost cut in half after the high attrition of race 1, race 2 was going to be less of a spectacle, or so one would think! An epic battle that would last for pretty much the entirety of the race was about to take place on the track and it was only for second place. Matt Honywell (64c) had one of his customary fast runs to easily claim the top spot and run away from the field to take a relatively hassle free win. Behind him however would be where the action would take place, Two drivers Chris Haskell (1USA) and Brett Robinson (52c) would lock into an intriguing battle to finish second. These two would run nose to tail, side by side and trade positions on several occasions before Haskell slid under Robinson coming off turn four late in the race to make the second spot his own. Glen Sole (4c) continued to have a consistant night in his newly aquired Henchcraft, while Charles Gardiner (99c) who had jumped into his brothers car to run the remainder of the night came home a respectable 5th in his first open wheel outing and seemed at home in the class, surprisingly he found the Modifiedsprint a harder task than his usual production saloon that he runs at Woodford Glen throughout the season.

Before the night was over the modifiedsprint feature would need to be decided, and with the mixed bag of results throughout the night so far this race could well have been anyones for the taking. Chris Haskell (1USA) was determined to make an impression and claim his first Feature win at Ruapuna and being off the front row it seemed the task would be so much easier. However the other drivers were of the same opinion and were determined to be first across the line as well. At the green Haskell did grab the top spot, and slowly crept away from the chasing field to claim the win by around 2 seconds.Glen Sole (4c) would keep Haskell in sight but wouldnt mount a real challenge wouldve been happy with second place. Charles Gardiner (99c) slowly picked his way through the pack coming from near the rear of the field up to a top three spot. Brett Robinson (52c) Rachel Melrose( 7c) and Matt Honeywell (64c) seemed somewhat off the pace in this race but did have a good battle between themselves throughout the race.Rookie driver - 26c Keith Brough had managed to stay out of all the trouble throughout the night and should have been pleased to finish the night with the car intact especially seeing as this was his first ever speedway meeting, likewise for Steven Duff (19c), who has the "gas it and go" traits of his father Steve Duff Snr looks spectacular as he flings the the car around the Ruapuna bullring. The only other finisher in the feature was the 23c Car of Craig Broomhall who seemed to struggle all night with setup issues on his recently obtained Henchcraft.

Heat 1: 1st - Rachel Melrose (7c), 2nd - Brett Robinson (52c) , 3rd - William Gardiner (99c)

Heat 2: 1st - Matt Honeywell (64c), 2nd - Chris Haskell (1USA) , 3rd - Brett Robinson (52c)

Heat 3: 1st - Chris Haskell (1USA), 2nd - Glen Sole (4c) , 3rd - Charles Gardiner (99c)

Overall Results/ Trophy Winners: 1st - Chris Haskell (1USA), 2nd - Glen Sole (4c) , 3rd - Charles Gardiner (99c)

2006/07 results:

29/04/07 - Ashburton Speedway - N.Z. Mini-Stock Title

Consistant rain had forced Ashburton to cancel Saturdays racing, and first impressions on Sunday would have made racing borderline. However the day was clear enough and some wheel-packing by a few saloons soon turned what looked like a heavily ploughed paddock into a surface suitable to race on.

The modifiedsprints were on the support card for the New Zealand mini-stock title that is contested annually at the Canterbury track. a couple of late withdrawls from the dyas racing harmed numbers slightly for the day. A relatively good field of six cars, consisting of four modifiedsprints and two mini-sprints fronted to show the crowd what these open-wheel classes are capable of.

Track conditions for race one were probably not the best for the modifiedsprints with the track being slightly rough and still rather sticky, as a result laptimes looked to be slower than the usual pace expected from these machines. Rachel Melrose (7c) in her DME sponsored car seemed to come to grips with the track the quickest and took out a rather easy win, followed home by Tom Lumsden (42c) in his Cridge Seeds sponsored machine. Third spot was taken out by the flying mini-sprint of former midget-car driver Paul Denson (45c)

As the day progressed the track settled and the modifiedsprints were able to put on a high speed display. In race two Rachel Melrose (7c) would continue on with her good run for the day and claim another first place with a tidy and fast paced drive. Trouble struck for both Matt Honeywell (64c) and Tom Lumsden (42c) as they were heading down the backstraight of the track and both cars went to the infield in perfect synchronicity almost looking like they were fighting over the same part of the infield as they went off. Denson again proved that he could be a real threat in future meetings coming home a strong second ahead of fellow mini-sprint driver Brian Morris (21c)

Race three would see numbers reduced further as Lumsdens continuing engine issues would again see the end of the days racing for the 42c machine. The race would give us a new winner for the day with an impressive display by Matt Honeywell (64c) taking the Skyfarmers sponsored car to the chequered flag in first place. Melrose (7c) on the other hand was unable to capitalise in this race and was held to a third placing after a torrid battle with the improving Craig Broomhall (20c) who showed plenty of speed and held a tidy line that gave Melrose few options to pass.

At various stages of the day it was announced that most classes could get upto six races for the day, mostly due to the two days of racing being compacted into one, However the modifiedsprints would only run four before the cars were loaded up. In the final race of the day Brian Morris (21c) in his mini-sprint got a good clean start and while the remaining field jostled between themselves for a better finishing position he ran off to an unassailable lead. Rachel Melrose (7c) chased hard in the final few laps but in the end had to settle for second place, with Broomhall (20c) coming home in a respectable third place.

Heat 1: 1st - Rachel Melrose (7c), 2nd - Tom Lumsden (42c) , 3rd - Paul Denson  (mini-sprint 45c)

Heat 2: 1st - Rachel Melrose (7c), 2nd - Paul Denson (mini-sprint 45c), 3rd - Brian Morris (mini-sprint 21c)

Heat 3: 1st - Matt Honeywell (64c), 2nd - Craig Broomhall (20c), 3rd - Rachel Melrose (7c)

Heat 4: 1st - Brian Morris (mini-sprint 21c), 2nd - Rachel Melrose (7c), 3rd - Craig Broomhall (20c)

23/04/07 - Ellesmere Raceway

Fewer cars than expected turned up at Ellesmere Raceway on a cool and overcast Sunday afternoon of racing. Tom Lumsden (42c) Craig Broomhall (20c) and Kyle Mayson who was behind the wheel of his brothers machine, made the trip for a day of racing on the fast Ellesmere track. With numbers being low in both the modified and mini-sprints the classes would be combined as they have been all season at Ruapuna, even so only 6 cars would take to the track.

Mayson (97c) making his return to the track after a lengthy break, was lucky to even make the track after a pre meeting mechanical issue nearly closed his campaign for the day. However a quick trip into Hornby to get some required parts would ensure that Mayson would take to the track for the day.

The drama's werent over for the day as Craig Broomhall would find out in race one. At the green Tom Lumsden would get a good start and would never look back, behind him Mayson was chasing hard and never looked like he had been out of the drivers seat. On about lap three Broomhall's race would come to an end as he exited turn four the chain let go, and the number 20c machine rolled to the infield. back on track Mayson was easily keeping pace with the flying 42c machine of Lumsden, however he would fail to gain any ground before the checkered flag. Back in the pits after the race a crew of many keen helpers rallied together to help Broomhall get his car back together for the next race, however their efforts were in vain as the required parts to repair the broken chain coulsnt be obtained.

In race two the roles would be reversed as Mayson (97c) showed great race-pace to see off any possible challenge from Lumsden (42c) the remaining top three position would end up being a hard fought battle between two of the remaining mini-sprints, in the end Glen Borrie (36c) would hold a tidy line and hold out a hard charging Paul Denson (45c). Keeping in tune with everyone elses bad luck for the day Tom Lumsden would be struck down after this heat with an oil leak that would see some quick engine repairs take place before the final race.

Race three would see a strange set of circumstances control the outcome of the race, the faster modifiedsprints decided to handi-cap themselves by half a lap and all was going well with Denson (mini-sprint 45c) controlling the race until a caution came out for an incident involving Borrie (mini-sprint 36c) While the orange flag was out Denson caught up to the tail of   Lumsden, and Mayson and sat behind them as if he was in third place. The race went back to green soon after and Lumsden got a good start, catching Mayson somewhat un-aware. Denson, who was in theory leading chased in vain and the positions didnt alter from that point.

Heat 1: 1st - Tom Lumsden (42c), 2nd - Kyle Mayson (97c) , 3rd -  (c)

Heat 2: 1st - Kyle Mayson (97c), 2nd - Tom Lumsden (42c), 3rd - Glen Borrie (mini-sprint 36c)

Heat 3: 1st - Paul Denson (mini-sprint 45c), 2nd - Tom Lumsden (42c), 3rd - Kyle Mayson (97c)

03/03/07 - Powerbuilt Ruapuna Speedway, "Daikin South Pacific Modifiedsprint Championship"

Two championships in the space of two weeks and they both had one thing in common - both required a run-off to decide the winner of the title.

It only seemed fitting that the 06/07 Ruapuna season would come to an end with the running of the "Daikin South Pacific Modifiedsprint Championship". With the class being of a regional nature, there are no glamour SNZ titles to be contested, so any club based, or in this case sponsored titles are highly prized and hardly fought for by the drivers.

Grant Dacombe (23c) made a welcome return in the number 23c Melrose Motorsports car for the night, it seems however that his return may have been a brief one with reports that Grant wont be behind the wheel of a modifiedsprint next season.

From the green flag the pace was fast and Matt Honeywell (64c) and William Gardiner (99c) set off on a battle that would last for most of the race. Dacombe was chasing hard and was soon right behind the battling duo with only a handful of laps remaining. At this stage of the race luck it seemed would be on the side of Dacombe as he made the most of some in-decision by Honeywell and Gardiner when they encountered some lapped traffic. Dacombe seized the opportunity and dove down low making the pass to claim the lead and ultimately the victory.On the subject of luck, it seems that Tom Lumsden (42c) can only attract continual bad luck after a resonably good showing early in the race would turn into a retirement with engine issues a lap before the chequered flag would drop.

Making up for a dismal performance in heat one that saw him slip from grid four to finish a relative distant 8th position, Danny Mayson (97c) would get an absolute flyer of a start in heat two, and never looked like being challenged. That was until lap three when Glen Sole (4c) drifted his Accessman car wide going into turn three and proceeded to spin out on the heavier surface that was up high. Paul Denson driving the 45c mini-sprint for the night was following close behind and slammed into the front of Soles car forcing both of them to sit out the remainder of the race on the infield. Joining them on the infield was Tom Lumsden as the nightmare continued on for both him and his crew. At the restart Mayson (97c) controlled the speed coming off turn four to take the green and soon had a relatively good lead in hand, however as the race progressed the 64c car of Matt Honeywell would begin to loom up on the leading car of Mayson. With only a handful of laps remaining the orange would again come into the equation after Scott Millar (driving Craig Broomhall's number 20 car) spun out  and failed to get the car underway again. The final four laps would prove to be an intense battle as a line of cars now had a good opportunity to improve their finishing positions. Mayson (97c) however didnt seem phased at all by the added pressure and drove cleanly to the finish line to pick up the win, close behind and in hot persuit was Matt Honeywell (64c) and Brett Robinson (52c).

Heat three soon rolled around and the field was somewhat depleated as Sole (4c) was unable to repair the damage from the previous race, and Millar (20c) was also sidelined along with all the participating mini-sprint competitors. This wouldnt in anyway detract from the on-track action, as this race would be a record breaker, as Rachel Melrose powered the Durable Medical Equipment sponsored 7c car to both a 15 lap race record of 3:45.5594 and also claimed a new outright lap record of 14:3430 seconds. Nothing should be taken away from that achievement, but it is some kind of feat in its own right that the race actually went the full distance without a caution which seems to be something of a rarity these days. With Melrose setting such a scorching pace it's no surprise that the victory was a convincing seven seconds clear of her nearest rival in the form of Grant Dacombe (23c) Dacombe in turn had a somewhat different race as he was hounded throughout its entirety by a hard charging Brett Robinson (52c) Darryl Harris in the Kincrome sponsored 31c machine put in another good performance for the night coming home fourth and maintaining his consistancy for the night. As for Tom Lumsden (42c) you guessed it, again he succumbed to the ongoing issues of his car and retired to the infield.

With the points all totalled up it was time yet again for another Modifiedsprint title to be decided by means of a run-off. Tonights candidates would be the hard charging Sky Farmers sponsored 64c car of Matt Honeywell, and the returning and equally hard charging Grant Dacombe (23c) Unlike the previous weeks run-off their would be no heroic comeback in this run-off as Honeywell (64c) blasted away from the start with Dacombe hot on his heals. Unfotunately a real challenge was never forth-coming, but had Honeywell slipped up Dacombe was ready to take advantage. With this victory Matt Honeywell claimed the "Daikin South Pacific Modifiedsprint Championship" Dacombe would finish the event in second place, and Brett Robinson (52c) would round out the top three. Rachel Melrose would sneak into fourth place courtesy of the final heat victory, and proving that consistancy pays off Darryl Harris (31c) would claim a well deserved fifth overall.

So far the night had already seen most of the drivers complete 45 laps of hard racing, but it wouldnt end there. In addition to the 3 heats of the Diakin Championship there was also a Feature to be decided adding another 12 laps to the total for the nights action. Only seven cars would make the start of the feature, with William Gardiner (99c) side-lining himself with overheating issues after the final heat of the championship. Tom Lumsden (42c) again took to the track in hope that the issues would finally subside for at least one race and that would prove to be the case as the engine never missed a beat from green to chequered flags. A feild of hard chargers would try to chase down the flying Lumsden without success, although Rachel Melrose would get the closest and finish in second spot a fraction of a second behind. Danny Mayson (97c) completed the season by coming home in third and went home satisfied with finishing the season with a straight car after suffering two big incidents earlier in the season.

Daikin South Pacific Champs Heat 1: 1st - Grant Dacombe (23c), 2nd - Matt Honeywell (64c) , 3rd - William Gardiner (99c)

Daikin South Pacific Champs Heat 2: 1st - Danny Mayson (97c), 2nd - Matt Honeywell (64c), 3rd - Brett Robinson (52c)

Daikin South Pacific Champs Heat 3: 1st - Rachel Melrose (7c), 2nd - Grant Dacombe (23c), 3rd - Brett Robinson (52c)

Run-off:  1st - Matt Honeywell (64c), 2nd - Grant Dacombe (23c)

Daikin South Pacific Champs Results:  1st - Matt Honeywell (64c), 2nd - Grant Dacombe (23c), 3rd - Brett Robinson (52c)

Feature:  1st - Tom Lumsden (42c), 2nd - Rachel Melrose (7c), 3rd - Danny Mayson (97c)

25/02/07 - Powerbuilt Ruapuna Speedway,

What a difference 24 hours can make! Last night Kieren Harris (22c) was wrapped at coming home third overall in the Canterbury Modifiedsprint Champs, tonight he would be counting his losses as an opening race incident would see him sidelined for the night after taking a heavy shunt and roll-over into the turn four wall. The good news was that Harris was able to walk away from the incident without any major injuries, except for a few reported headaches the following day.

The newly crowned Canterbury Champion, Ryan O'Conner (36c) was back again and looking to follow up the previous nights results with another attack on the locals. Again he would prove to be a rising talent on the New Zealand speedway scene as he took victory in both heat one and also the nights Feature, and was only just held out by William Gardiner (99c) in heat two by a fraction of a second.

Danny Mayson (97c) had a good night with a hat-trick of 3rd placings throughout the night, while Darryl Harris (31c) in the Kincrome sponsored car put in another great performance and seems to be getting closer to the front of the pack with every outing at Ruapuna.

Heat 1: 1st - Ryan O'Conner (36c), 2nd - Daryl Harris (31c) , 3rd - Danny Mayson (97c)

Heat 2: 1st - William Gardiner (99c), 2nd - Ryan O'Conner (36c), 3rd - Danny Mayson (97c)

Feature: 1st - Ryan O'onner (36c), 2nd - Rachel Melrose (7c), 3rd - Danny Mayson (97c)

24/02/07 - Powerbuilt Ruapuna Speedway,

Current National T.Q champion Ryan O'Conner claimed yet another title to add to his growing list by winning the Canterbury Modifiedsprint Championship held at Ruapuna on Saturday night. An absolutely stunning run-off for first place between O'Conner, and Rob Campbell saw Campbell grab the lead early in the four lap race. However O'Conner never gave up and often challenged for the lead, trying to pass the aggressive Campbell down low on several occasions without success. On lap three Campbell seemingly had it in the bag as he managed to pull out a small lead, O'Conner though had other ideas and was soon tailing Campbell again. Coming off turn four for the final time O'Conner went low and seemed to find a faster line sneaking home in a very close finish to claim the title. Anyone who missed this duel quite possibly missed one of the best run-offs contested at the Ruapuna track.

Earlier in the night Rachel Melrose (7c) gave an indication of what to expect for the night setting a blistering pace to take out the first heat, while throughout the rest of the pack the action was hectic, and closely contested. Kieren Harris put on one of his better performances in the Evacut sponsored number 22 car to claim second spot and hold out a charging Ryan O'Conner (36c) my a small margin.

Proving that it wasnt any fluke, Harris again featured in the second heat putting on another strong race to come home in third place behind Danny Mayson (97c) With Matt Honeywell claiming a tidy victory. O'Conner would struggle in traffic and would battle hard in this heat but could only manage to get up to 6th place. With most drivers having a mixed bag of results the championship was well and truely anyones at this stage.

With the scene set, all the contenders lined up for one last shot at their chance to claim the title. At the green Rob Campbell would do what he does best and drive the 88c machine aggressively making his way to the front of the pack, a fast chasing pack was not far behind with Honeywell (64c) Glen Sole (4c) and William Gardiner (99c) amongst the action. Honeywell seemed to have one hand on the trophy until lap three, when entering turn three he drifted wide, hooked a rutt and flipped the car over ending his title chase. Paul Russ (84c) from Nelson also struck difficulty at this stage of the race and pulled to the infield. At the restert Campbell (88c) would resume where he left off and race away to victory, being chased all the way by O'Conner (36c), and Gardiner (99c) but never giving up the first place.

Heat 1: 1st - Rachel Melrose (7c), 2nd - Kieren Harris (22c) , 3rd - Ryan O'Conner (36c)

Heat 2: 1st - Matt Honeywell (64c), 2nd - Danny Mayson (97c), 3rd - Kieren Harris (22c)

Feature: 1st - Rob Campbell (88c), 2nd - Ryan O'Conner (36c), 3rd - William Gardiner (99c)

Run-off:  1st - Ryan O'Conner (36c), 2nd - Rob Campbell (88c)

Canterbury Champs Results:  1st - Ryan O'Conner (36c), 2nd - Rob Campbell (88c), 3rd - Kieren Harris (22c)

10/02/07 - Powerbuilt Ruapuna Speedway,

Two guest drivers would make appearances in the Modifiedsprints, those being Jamie Duff who was behind the wheel of Craig Broomhall's number 20 car, and newly crowned T.Q champion Ryan O'Conner who was piloting a car from the Melrose Motorsports stable.

Jamie Duff had an absolute scorcher of a run in the first heat and never looked like being caught by the following pack, however about midway through the race the car started blowing blue smoke out of the exhaust and although Duff claimed an easy victory the number 20 car was retired for the night with mechanical issues.

Ryan O'Conner as you would imagine looked somewhat uncomfortable at the beginning of the night, but was certainly on the case towards the end of the night, turning in some exceptionally quick laps in the feature, however he wouldnt do enough to claim any top three placings for the night.

Heat 1: 1st - Jamie Duff (20c), 2nd - Glen Sole (4c) , 3rd - Darryl Harris (31c)

Heat 2: 1st - Rachel Melrose (7c), 2nd - Glen Sole (4c), 3rd - Brett Robinson (52c)

Feature: 1st - Rachel Melrose (7c), 2nd - Brett Robinson (52c), 3rd - Glen Sole (4c)

6/02/07 - Powerbuilt Ruapuna Speedway,

Just a couple of days after the T.Q nationals at Greymouth, the Modifiedsprints were in action at Ruapuna as support for the T.Q Masters event. A track that turned slick early in the nights proceedings would be the surface that the drivers would have to combat throughout the night. After the two International Midget nights and the "grouped draws" this night would see the return to the all in racing format, and as a result would lead to some close racing throughout the entire night. 

Heat 1: 1st - Glen Sole (4c), 2nd - Daryl Harris (31c) , 3rd - Matt Honeywell (64c)

Heat 2: 1st - Rachel Melrose (7c), 2nd - Matt Honeywell (64c), 3rd - Glen Sole (4c)

Feature: 1st - Rachel Melrose (7c), 2nd - Glen Sole (4c), 3rd - Matt Honeywell (64c)

27/01/07 - Powerbuilt Ruapuna Speedway, "Double Whammy!"

With two nights of hard racing so close together it was a case of hectic times for all invloved with the modifiedsprints, this night would be one to forget especially for two drivers within the ranks. Again the class was running as support for the International Midget Test Series, the Southern 50 lapper also for the midgets, and was utilising the three group format.

Heat one, and it was soon apparent that the pace was going to be quick for the night, with all drivers putting in laps under or around the 15.5sec mark throughout the heat. Matt Honeywell (64c) has come on strongly pacewise over the last few meetings, and on this night he was quick from the start as he led the field home with a comfortable win, William Gardiner (99c) chased hard to come home second ahead of a gaining Rachel Melrose (7c)

With Heat two about to be run and all the cars in the dummy grid, the class took the first part of it's double whammy for the night. On the track Philippa Melrose took a huge roll-over while competing in the T.Q class. A long delay in removing Melrose from the car obviously put a lot of concern throughout both the T.Q and Modifiedsprint ranks, the end result would see Philippa sidelined for the remainder of the season with a broken collarbone. To add insult to this injury was the fact that she was only a few days out from contesting the National T.Q title at Greymouth. Hopefully the recovery is going well for Philippa.

Just to show that the heat one pace wasnt a one-off, the next heat would be run at a similar pace. This time it would be the sister car to Honeywell's (the ex Forsey team) that would be driven to the flag in a clean and quick fashion by another improving driver, Brett Robinson (52c) Danny Mayson (97c) who was just happy to be back on the track turned on a great show of speed to try and chase down the Shands Outdoor Power Centre sponsored machine of Robinson, but in the end just couldnt get close enough to pose any kind of threat. Matt Honeywell continued his great form for the night to claim another top three position, finishing third. Tom Lumsden again suffered from the engine woes that plague his 42c car and retired from the race with a handful of laps left to run.

After some quick work by his crew Tom Lumsden (42c) was back and ready to take the start of heat three and soon had a handy lead at his disposal, that was until about midway through the race when yet again he suffered from engine woes and was soon caught and passed by the chasing pack. Soon after being passed for the lead he would retire to the infield. On the track Rachel Melrose (7c) in the Melrose Motorsports car had moved to the front of the pack, and wouldnt give up the win to anyone. Darryl Harris (31c) brought the Smiths Hire car home for a well deserved second, ahead of the flying 99c car in the hands of William Gardiner.

Feature time and the second part of the double whammy was just around the corner as an icident coming off turn four to take the green flag would soon end in carnage for Danny Mayson in his Xpress Printing House sponsored machine. Mayson would be clipped by another car and sent spearing across the track rolling in front of the following pack, cars scattered to avoid the tumbling 97 car and all got away relatively unharmed except for the mini-sprint of Jason Stark (45c) who punted the side of maysons car rolling him over again. Mayson clambered from his decidedly bent car un-injured, except for his pride and wallet! With a slightly depleted field grouped for the restart this feature could have been anyones for the taking and a close battle would follow to see who the victor would be. In the end the podium would be filled with relative new-comers with Matt Honeywell (64c) taking the top podium spot, William gardiner (99c) coming home second and Brett Robinson claiming third.  

Heat 1: 1st - Matt Honeywell (64c), 2nd - William Gardiner (99c) , 3rd - Rachel Melrose (7c)

Heat 2: 1st - Brett Robinson (52c), 2nd - Danny Mayson (97c), 3rd - Matt Honeywell (64c)

Heat 3: 1st - Rachel Melrose (7c), 2nd - Darryl Harris (31c), 3rd - William Gardiner (99c)

Feature: 1st - Matt Honeywell (64c), 2nd - William Gardiner (99c), 3rd - Brett Robinson (52c)

25/01/07 - Powerbuilt Ruapuna Speedway, "Split Em Up, Mix Em Up And Race!"

International Midgets were the draw-card for the Thursday night meeting of the double header at Powerbuilt Speedway and with that in mind most drivers would have had a fair indication that the track would be a fairly well groomed surface for them to race on. The Modifiedsprints were as always present in numbers to act as a support class and were boosted by several mini-sprints as well.

Something new for the class would be the introduction of a three group qualifying format, this entailed the entrants being devided into three groups for the night, they would then get to race against each other group once throughout the night. Points from these two "heats" would then be accumulated to get the drivers starting position for the feature....confused? Well some drivers seemed more bemused than confused and more often than not they would be asking "Am I in this race, or not?" As far as Modifiedsprints.co.nz is aware no-one missed out on thier scheduled races or ended up on the track when they shouldnt have been.

Race one would see the debut of Craig Broomhall in the number 20c car, and also the return of Danny Mayson (97c) who was returning after a lengthy rebuild from an opening night incident. Rob Campbell (88c) would pretty much dominate this race as he drove a fast and clean race from the start, and was never going to be caught by the chasing pack. Matt Honeywell (64c) has come to grips well with the ex Karen Forsey machine and came home in second place ahead of a hard charging Rachel Melrose (7c)

In race two Rachel Melrose would come away the quickest on the track in the number 7c Melrose Motorsports sponsored machine and would easily claim another victory for the season. Craig Broomhall (20c) would drive even beyond his own expectations (or so it would seem in the pits afterwards) to claim a well deserved second place in only his second time out in the car, and was congratulated by many in the pits after the race was over. Third place was taken out by the ever consistant Matt Honeywell (64c)

By this stage of the night the track was becoming a bit of a mixed bag, a smooth and slick line around the pole had formed and up high was loose and slightly lumpy. Taking this into account Philippa Melrose (21c) used all her racing experience to utilise the track the best she could as she easily claimed the victory in race three. William Gardiner (99c) chased hard for most of the race, but was unable to match the pace of the 21c machine. Darryl Harris (31c) put in one of his best drives to come home in third place.

Feature time, and it was back to the usual "all in" format, although a few were missing due to incidents, or mechanical failures throughout the night. 10 cars took the starters flag, and all but one would finish, as Glen Sole (4c) would retire the Accessman sponsored car on lap six of the fifteen lap race. At the end of it all Rachel Melrose (7c) claimed the feature win, followed home by Matt Honeywell (64c) and a "happy-to-finish-the-night" Danny Mayson (97c) would round out the top three.

Results:

Heat 1: 1st - Rob Campbell (88c), 2nd - Matt Honeywell (64c) , 3rd - Rachel Melrose (7c)

Heat 2: 1st - Rachel Melrose (7c), 2nd - Craig Broomhall (20c), 3rd - Matt Honeywell (64c)

Heat 3: 1st - Philippa Melrose (21c), 2nd - William Gardiner (99c), 3rd - Darryl Harris (31c)

Feature: 1st - Rachel Melrose (7c), 2nd - Matt Honeywell (64c), 3rd - Danny Mayson (97c)

6/01/07 - Powerbuilt Ruapuna Speedway, "Slick Driving On A Slick Track!"

Racing on a track that was prepared with the Solo's and Sidecars in mind proved to be something of an interesting exercise for all involved at the first meeting of 2007 at Ruapuna. A dry and tricky slick track greeted the drivers and caught almost everyone out at some stage throughout the night, Car setups or clean driving would in the end benefit those who got it right.

The opening race would give drivers their first taste of what was going to be on offer for the night ahead and it wasnt long before the first victim fell to the tricky conditions, William Gardiner (99c) in the XPH Racing was the unlucky one when he tangled with a spinning Darryl Harris (31c) the result was a knurfbar that was bent onto the right rear, prohibiting the rear axle from turning. Harris however was able to get his machine restarted and continue on without any major damage. At the end of a race that saw a fair bit of sliding and somewhat eratic driving by most Rob Campbell (88c) would once again claim a victory to add to his increasing total for the season, Rachel Melrose (7c) would come home second followed by Tom Lumsden (42c) No doubt the track conditions left a few crews and drivers scratching their heads as to what adjustments to make before the next race.

Race two, and from the green it looked like Jamie Duff, (driving the number 20c Melrose machine for the night) was going to be the one to chase down, well that was until lap two when coming off turn two he went wide, rode up the wall and flopped the car onto its side. Although there was no obvious damage to the car Duff was pushed to the infield and would take no further part in the race. From the restart this race would belong to Rachel Melrose (7c) in the Melrose Motorsports sponsored car as she raced to the finishline to claim the win. Glen Sole (4c) would chase hard but was unable to take the lead, and would have to settle for second ahead of Brett Robinson (52c)

The nights feature was surely one of the tightest finishes seen at Ruapuna for quite some time with the race times for first and second being 6:38.3166 to 6:38.3215 respectively. While all drivers were struggling for grip on the slick surface, two drivers seemed to be in a class of their own and in an intense battle for the win of the race. Glen Sole (4c) and Phillipa Melrose (21c) raced nose to tail for a great part of the race. Sole was holding a tight and consistant line making it extremely hard for Melrose to get her car in front, coming off turn four for the final time Melrose ducked down low to try and sneak through on the inside but just didnt have enough drive off the ice-like surface to effect the pass.Sole took his Accessman sponsored car to the checkered flag and a well deserved feature win for the night, followed closely by Phillipa Melrose (21c) and Rachel Melrose drove her way to third place.

Results:

Heat 1: 1st - Rob Campbell (88c), 2nd - Rachel Melrose (7c) , 3rd - Tom Lumsden (42c)

Heat 2: 1st - Rachel Melrose (7c), 2nd - Glen Sole (4c), 3rd - Brett Robinson (52c)

Feature: 1st - Glen Sole (4c), 2nd - Phillipa Melrose (21c), 3rd - Rachel Melrose (7c)

16/12/06 - Powerbuilt Ruapuna Speedway, "Speed And Mangled Metal!"

Finally a night that could fianlly be classed as summer! A big crowd was on hand to witness the $20,000 Powerbuilt Sprintcar Classic and was also subjected to some spectacular racing from the Modifiedsprints as well. For the third time out, class numbers were consistant, which seems to be a strong point for the class.

The racing much like the bigger winged counterpart class, the sprintcars would end up being fiercely and closely contested with most drivers putting in very similar laptimes at one point or another throughout the evening.

Brett Robinson (52c) continues to impress and put on a great display of controlled driving to claim victory in the opening heat of the night. Rookie of the year for the 05/06 season Tom Lumsden (42c) is also continuing to improve and is beginning to iron out out the engine issues that have plagued the Cridge Seeds sponsored machine in the past, Lumsden would chase hard but would have to settle for second place, Grant Dacombe (23c) would round out the top three. Nelsons Paul Russ (84c) seemed to struggle for pace in his first outing at the Ruapuna track and will surely look to improve as he gets to grips with the sometimes tricky track surface.

After a few races by the sprintcars the track surface was beginning to settle and in heat two for the Modifiedsprints, Kyle Mayson (98c) would use both this and his front row starting point to maximum advantage as he and XPH Racing team mate William Gardiner (99c) would race from green to checkered flags without any real challenge from other drivers. The Melrose Motorspost machine in the hands of Phillipa Melrose (21c) would race through the pack to take out third place. From this race on however Maysons fortunes would take a severe change for the worse.

12 cars were set to take the flag for the third heat and as mentioned before Kyle Maysons (98c) fortunes were soon to take a turn for the worse, coming off turn four and just about to take the green Maysons left rear wheel parted company with the car, luckily for Mayson and possibly everyone else around him no-one was up to speed. Mayson was able to safely retire to the infield without any real damage to the car, and all other starters were able to take the restart. Once the race was underway, the Melrose sisters soon found themselves at the head of the field and battling it out for the win. Rachel Melrose (36c) would in the end claim line honours over Phillipa Melrose (21c) while the previous meetings standout performer Rob Campbell (88c) would take out a well deserved third place in a somewhat shortened race after Tom Lumsden (42c) spun out and was collected heavily by William Gardiner (99c) Both drivers walked away un-injured from this incident, but were both forced to retire for the rest of the night with damage to their cars.

Feature time and with the field depleated slightly by the nights events only nine cars were left to take the green in what would again be an incident shortened event. The feature would last only six of the sheduled fifteen laps after a spectacular car-wrecking flip by Kyle Mayson (98c) brought out the red light. Maysons car flipped several times after contact between Rachel Melrose (36c) and Mayson as they were exiting turn four readying for a restart after a previous orange light situation. Mayson was un-injured in the crash, but the car looked worse for wear with tha chassis being broken in several places. Melrose was able to restart but was later relegated for her part in the incident. With the race being called due to this Phillipa Melrose (21c) would be declared the winner, with Brett Robinson (52c) and Glen Sole (4c) taking out second and third respectively.

Results:

Heat 1: 1st - Brett Robinson (52c), 2nd - Tom Lumsden (42c), 3rd - Grant Dacombe (23c)

Heat 2: 1st - Kyle Mayson (98c), 2nd - William Gardiner (99c), 3rd - Phillipa Melrose (21c)

Heat 3: 1st - Rachel Melrose (36c), 2nd - Phillipa Melrose (21c), 3rd - Rob Campbell (88c)

Feature: 1st - Phillipa Melrose (21c), 2nd - Brett Robinson (52c), 3rd - Glen Sole (4c)

2/12/06 - Powerbuilt Ruapuna Speedway, "Winds, Wins, And Battered Wings!"

For the second week running, anyone who attended Ruapuna speedway on Saturday night would have to brave a bone-chilling easterly wind if they wanted to see any open wheel action, and unfortunately only a small crowd did brave the elements.

Two casualties of the previous weekends racing, in the form of Mark Jamieson, and Danny Mayson were sidelined for the night but a good turn out of cars was still present for the night. Philippa Melrose was also missing from the nights line-up for unknown reasons.

On the track, and Rob Campbell's (88c) season just keeps getting stronger in his Diff Shop sponsored machine, as a haul of top placings would go his way throughout the night. Others however would have their seasons turn around on a night of carnage caused by a tricky and rough track.

Heat One, Tom Lumsden (42c) would drive his usually troubled car to a solid victory, as has been seen in the past when Lumsdens car goes, its and absolute flyer! Rookie driver Brett Robinson (52c) chased hard and drove sensiblyl to claim a well deserved 2nd place showing all that he is a real contender in the Modifiedsprints class. On the flipside of these two drivers, the more experienced Rob Campbell (88c) kept both Lumsden, and Robinson honest as he chased them home in third place. The Accessman sponsored machine of ex solo racer Glen Sole (4c) wouldnt see the race out as it rolled to a stop on lap four after the right rear suspension collapsed on the heavy track conditions. Compounding this Sole also had engine issues at the same time that would see smoke billowing from under the bonnet ending his nights racing earlier than expected.

With the track beginning to rutt up Heat Two would be controlled by the experience of Rob Campbell (88c) as he raced his way to yet another race victory for the season. Tom Lumsden (42c) wasnt going to let Campbell claim an easy victory however and cahsed extremely hard eventually crossing the line three tenths of a second behind the 88c car. The big mover for this race would be the 98c car of Kyle Mayson who picked and weaved his way through the pack to go from the rear of the field to claim a well deserved third place. Keiren Harris (22c) would be the unfortunate one in this race, and would be forced to retire from the night after hitting a rutt and bending the steering arm and damaging the chain as well.

Heat Three, and again like the week before the class would be turned on its head......literally! The Xpress Printing House sponsored machine of Kyle Mayson (98c) would get a flyer of a start, and looked like he would be pretty much unstoppable, that was until lap three when his radiator mountings dislodged creating a short in the electrics. The rest of the field closed in rapidly as the car worsened and kept getting surges of power, as he turned into turn three the car shorted out blowing the fuse and losing all power. At the very same time the car also hooked a rutt in the track and lurched upward bouncing on the right rear before rolling over. Team mate and hard charger William Gardiner (99c) wasnt too far behind and had nowhere to go to avoid the tumbling Mayson, the resulting contact would totally destroy both the front and top wing on Gardiners car. Maysons car also suffered wing damage and after an attempt to ready the car for the Feature was finally retired when firther damage was found. When racing resumed Rachel Melrose (36c) raced to the front and never gave up the win. Brett Robinson (52c) continued his fine run to come home second, and must surely be rewarded with his first win soon. The 88c car of Rob Campbell would round out the top three.

Next up was the Feature held over twelve laps, those who were brave enough to have battled through the extremely cold wind were subjected to a great race worthy of being a feature by anyones standards. A rather depleated field of only eight cars would take the green flag for the race and all was going smoothly until lap four when Brett Robinson (52c) tripped up on a rutt in a similar spot to that of Mayson in the previous race. The result was the same....another battered wing to add to the growing collection for the season. From the restart the small crowd would be subjected to a great display of driving as Rob Campbell (88c) was challenged time and time again for the lead and eventual victory of the Feature by Tom Lumsden (42c) The two would race side by side pretty much for the remainder of the race, while behind them the Melrose Motorsports machine of Grant Dacombe (23c) was continuously closing the gap, and was easily in reach to attack if either Lumsden, or Campbell made an error. As all three crossed the line Campbell would claim line honours and cap off an extremely successful nights racing, followed closely by both Lumsden, and Dacombe with the gap between first and third being a small five tenths of a second. Matt Honeywell (64c) Rachel Melrose (36c) and Darryl Harris (31c) would be the only other drivers to take the checkered flag.

Results:

Heat 1: 1st - Tom Lumsden (52c), 2nd - Brett Robinson (52c), 3rd - Rob Campbell (88c)

Heat 2: 1st - Rob Campbell (88c), 2nd - Tom Lumsden (42c), 3rd - Kyle Mayson (98c)

Heat 3: 1st - Rachel Melrose (36c), 2nd - Brett Robinson (52c), 3rd - Rob Campbell (23c)

Feature: 1st - Rob Campbell (88c), 2nd - Tom Lumsden (42c), 3rd - Grant Dacombe (23c)

26/11/06 - Powerbuilt Ruapuna Speedway, Opening Night:

After the previous weekends false start for the 06/07 season, racing finally got underway at Ruapuna. Warm weather (for the start of the night anyway) greeted the 14 strong field of Modifiedsprints that were present for their first Competitive run at Ruapuna.

The opening race of the night was picture perfect as all 14 cars gridded up in preparation for the green flag. Once it was dropped Rachel Melrose (36c) set out to make a statement by leaving the remainder of the pack in her dust, The Melrose Motorsports car seemingly not missing a beat after the troubles of both Ellesmere, and Blenheim a few weeks earlier. Further back a number of cars were battling for positions, and putting on a good display of wheel to wheel racing on a track that looked to be rather tricky to master. The RBR car of Mark Jamieson (17c) also seemed to be on the pace,and Mark would have to battle hard with Philippa Melrose (21c) to keep his second place secure. Tom Lumsden (42c) looked to be having a continuation of his fuel problems as he pulled to the infield at about the mid-race point. Rookie drivers Matt Honeywell (64c), and Brett Robinson (52c) must have been satisfied to have completed their first race, and come home with the cars still intact after such a fast race.

Onto heat two, and William Gardiner (99c) would continue on with his short rollorcoaster career so far as he stormed away from the field creating a handy lead that he wouldnt give up to anyone. The remaining pack were chasing hard, and battling out the minor positions however. At about mid-race Glen Sole (4c) in his Accessman sponsored machine began to reel in an ailing Gardiner, who was suffering from a minor mechanical issue, however Sole in the end was unable to put up any real challenge to the flying 99c machine, and would have to settle for second place. Grant Dacombe would come home in a strong third place, not too far behind Sole.

Heat Three, things were about to take a turn for the Modifiedsprints as Danny Mayson (97c) would become a victim of an ontrack incident after contact with Philippa Melrose (21c) that would see his car launch skyward before landing heavily and rolling over, ending his nights racing and bringing the race to a premature ending on lap nine. Racewise however, Rob Campbell (88c) looked unstoppable as he used his experience to navigate his way around the Ruapuna track. Tom Lumsden was giving chase but didnt seem to be gaining on Cambell's machine. Grant Dacombe (23c) was also giving chase. Lap five would see a caution period in the race when Philippa Melrose (21c) spun in the town bend in front of the chasing pack, Keiren Harris (22c) Mark Jamieson (17c) and Darryl Harris (31c) had nowhere to go and and while trying to avoid Melrose made contact, retiring all three from the race. At the restart Campbell resumed where he had left off and would take the win on lap nine after the Mayson incident.

The feature would see a slightly depleted line-up take to the track with Danny Mayson (97c), Mark Jamieson (17c), Darryl Harris (31c) and son, Keiren Harris (22c) all unable to take to the track. 15 laps was always going to be a test for both drivers and machinery alike after already doing up to 36 laps already for the night and  by the end of the race four more cars would be sitting on the infield. Philippa Melrose (21c) in her Melrose Motorsports car would cap off a mixed night by easily claiming the feature win, while rookie driver Brett Robinson (52c) would come home a creditable second after Rob Campbell (88c) got relagated to third place for a racing infringement, Tom Lumsden (42c), Grant Dacombe (23c) and Kyle Mayson (98c) were the only other drivers to complete the nights racing.

Results:

Heat 1: 1st - Rachel Melrose (36c), 2nd - Mark Jamieson (17c), 3rd - Philippa Melrose (21c)

Heat 2: 1st - William Gardiner (99c), 2nd - Glen Sole (4c), 3rd - Grant Dacombe (23c)

Heat 3: 1st - Rob Campbell (88c), 2nd - Tom Lumsden (42c), 3rd - Grant Dacombe (23c)

Feature: 1st - Phillipa Melrose (21c), 2nd - Brett Robinson (52c), 3rd - Rob Campbell (88c)

The Modifiedsprints are back racing again this weekend at Ruapuna, come along early and have a look over the cars before the meeting starts.

*Photos:Matt Mackenzie

21/10/06 - Eastern States Speedway, Blenheim - 25th Anniversary Meeting:

Blenheim was the scene for the Modified Sprints first away meeting of the season. The meeting was not only Blenheim's 06/07 season opener, but was also a celebration of 25 years of racing for the Eastern States Club. A windy and somewhat dubious looking day greeted the drivers as they arrived at the track, however the weather gods played along and kept the rain away until the early hours of Sunday morning.

Seven Modified Sprints made the journey North, and would be joined by one lone Mini-Sprint in the form of Andre Goldsmith also up from Christchurch. For some of the drivers this would be their first visit to the Eastern States track (and a few had never even seen the track before) The night would be a night of firsts fo the class - First meeting for the united Modified Sprint/Mini-sprint category, first time in a modified sprint for local driver Paul Russ, and also a couple of first time race wins for two of the competitors.

In a continuation from the Ellesmere meeting the weekend before Rachel Melrose would again have issues with her car, but was lucky enough to have a spare car on hand to continue on for the nights racing.

Heat One, Kyle Mayson would make a statement by winning his first ever modified sprint race on a track that he had never been on before as he ran away from the field until late in the race when he got caught up behind some troubled competitors, allowing his brother Danny Mayson to catch up but never giving him the chance to pass. Phillipa Melrose would round out the top three in a very fast paced race. William Gardiner suffered severely with a battery issue that saw his car splutter around the Eastern States track at a slower than usual pace, and the mini-sprint of Andre Goldsmith suffered from a fuel pump issue forcing him to retire from the race.

Heat Two, and another first would occur, William Gardiner put the first race niggles behind him to work his way through the field making some excellent passes on the way to claim his first ever race victory. Danny Mayson would take out second place after struggling for enough pace to keep William at bay. Tom Lumsden who was suffering from clutch issues drove well to claim third place. Andre Goldsmith showed great form in bringing home the mini-sprint in fourth place, setting up what could be an interesting season for the combined class.

Heat Three, the track had slickened off for this one making for an interesting race as drivers struggled to find the best line around the track. Rachel Melrose found a line that suited her very early and sprinted away from the field to take a lead she would never give up. Danny Mayson was chasing hard and in the end would settle for a trio of second places for the night. Kyle Mayson would drive well to bring his car home in third place for this heat, showing that he intends to be near the front of the pack for this coming season. Local and first time modified sprint driver Paul Russ looked to be getting to grips with the new challenge at hand and was running well with the pack, we all look forward to seeing Paul in the car again soon.

With the points for the three rounds tallied up the overall results were:

1st: Danny Mayson

2nd: Kyle Mayson

3rd: Rachel Melrose

Overall the meeting was a success for those who attended with many positive comments about the track being spoken, The Modified Sprints look forward to returning again in January 07, to once again show the Blenheim crowd what these cars are capable of. Thanks must go out to the Eastern States Club for inviting the class to run at their track. 

15/10/06 - Ellesmere Raceway Review - Ellesmere Champs:

Hot, windy and Dusty summed up the day At Ellesmere Raceway on Sunday October 15. Six cars fronted for the running of the Ellesmere Champs, and there were a few nervous drivers, hoping that off season rebuilds would last out the day before they head of to Blenhiem the following weekend.

With recent experience from America, Phillipa Melrose had two excellent wins for the first two heats of the Ellesmere Champs and looked to be unbeatable, However heat three would have a different outcome, and she could only manage a third behind a fast Danny Mayson, and Tom Lumsden. Those results however would still be enough to win the day.

Sister Rachel Melrose on the other hand did not have the same fortune and although she was able to finish every race, her car was plagued by engine issues all day. Tom Lumsden was suffering the same fate with an engine that just didnt want to perform, until the third heat, where he had a storming run, and showed the potential of both the car and driver to come home a creditable 2nd in the heat. Both Rachael and Tom would end up outside the podium spots with their bad run.

The new look Xpress Print House team cars were on form and going into the final heat these three drivers were all tied on points making for an interesting final.Danny Mayson would be the victor claiming a deserved win in the final heat and having an overall consistant day to clinch second in the champs from brother Kyle, who also had a trouble-free and consistant day and finish third overall. William Gardiner's day came undone on the last lap of the final heat as he had an unfortunate spin, gifting the third overall place to Kyle.

Results:

1st: Phillipa Melrose

2nd: Danny Mayson

3rd: Kyle Mayson

Modifiedsprints.co.nz, and the drivers would like to extend their thanks to Ellesmere Raceway for the chance to race at their track.

The drivers now look to Blenheim this Saturday, where they will be on show at the Eastern States 25th Anniversary Meeting.

  2005/06 Canterbury Champs:

The Modifiedsprint Canterbury champs are contested for throughout the season, with all drivers acculmulating points towards their final season total. Drivers with the (R) beside their name are Rookie drivers for the season.

1st: Karen Forsey 374pts

2nd: Philippa Melrose 324pts

3rd: Rachel Melrose 317pts

4th: Glen Sole 249pts

5th: Grant Dacombe 247pts

6th: Reon Taylor 237pts

7th: Danny Mayson 230pts

8th: Mark Jamieson 229pts

9th: Rob Campbell 226pts

10th: Vernon McHaffie 214pts

11th: Tom Lumsden 202pts (R)

12th: Kyle Mayson 191pts (R)

13th: Darryl Harris 89pts

14th: William Gardener 64pts (R)

15th: Ryan Stone 35pts

16th: Glen Smith 12pts

  2005/06 Ruapuna Speedway Awards:

New drivers to the class are eligable for the "Rookie Of The Year" award, and all drivers are eligable for the "Best Presented car" award, winners for the 2005/06 season were as follows.

Rookie Of The Year: Tom Lumsden - Car Number 6c

Best Presented Car: Danny Mayson -Express Printing House sponsored Car Number 97c