Saturday night at speedway ends with a “bang”

On Saturday night, Huntly Speedway held their annual fireworks display, with thousands of fans in attendance to watch the action on the track, and in the sky as the night darkened.

Fireworks night for any speedway in the country is always a big one as fans flock from all over the region. This in turn helps speedways out with an annual boost for any financial burden they may carry.

Huntly Speedway has certainly had their fair share of setbacks in recent times. Last season alone they had to delay multiple events due to rain, including the New Zealand Superstocks and Modified champs, as well as the annual Superstock Teams event. The number of fans in attendance this weekend would have been a welcome sight for racers and club officials alike.

With five different classes racing throughout the evening (Superstocks, Stockcars, Ministocks, Production Saloons and Modifieds) there was plenty of action on the track.

While all classes were scheduled for 3 races each, most actually got 4 (and some 5) with the club having very few stoppages throughout the night.

The Ministock racing was clean, the first two races were won by Auckland based Peanuckle Rawiri, the first coming on the final corner after the leader at the the time Kasey Running got held up by a couple of back-markers, with the second coming much easier after a near front place grid draw. The rest of the races were won by Rotorua based driver Cohen Wright and a first ever win in heat four for Huntly local Jamiee Burley, after Wright was pulled from the race with only a straight to go.

When the 26 strong field of stockcars hit the track, it was carnage. While some drivers went for the flag, others just tried to hit anything that moved. The local Huntly based drivers put on a show claiming all five victories. Michael Rowe picked up the first heat, before Jayden Dreadon-Manning picked up the next one, heat three and four were won by Larry Henderson who had a very successful night, before Matthew Shaw won the “All-in” race at the end.

Other drivers who were competitive on the night were locals Brett Aikin, Samuel Murray and William Whyte, with all three narrowly missing out on victories.

The Modifieds were the only class that had a small field with only six cars fronting, current New Zealand champion Brad Lane wasn’t piloting his car with an illness, so up stepped father and a former champion driver in his own right Scott. The other Lane car was raced by Jordan Hunter, with regular driver Samantha Lane in Australia on holiday. Aucklander Jamie Fox was the only out of town car there, but showed his quality early picking up heat one, Brett Parsons picked up heat two, with both Scott and Fox on his tale the whole way. Cody Hata won the third race, which started pretty eventful with both him and Scott Lane rubbing wheels before the light went green, but once the action started got the lead into turn one and never looked back. The final race of the night was won by Scott Lane, who I’m sure was on the phone straight to Brad once the race had concluded, Lane showed pace all night and showed even with a few years out of the car, still had that need for speed.

Picking a winner in a Production Saloon race, is like trying to pick the correct ball in the lottery, multiple cars picked up wins, but in other races struggled to stay on pace. The first heat was won by Vaughan Glidden before Peter Craddock, Mark Levin and Brian Jackson got wins respectfully.

The last class of the night was the Superstocks, with some drivers having an eye on the Superstock teams event in two weeks time, it made for some interesting racing. Heat one was taken out by Mark Dunn by a country mile, before Rotorua based driver Paul Vazey secured heat two. Heat three quickly turned into a teams event after Kihikihi driver Darryl Williams got off to an early lead, Robbie Mabey was the one chasing him down and eventually got the win, after some help from some team mates in Logan Nicolson-Mabey and Luke Irvine provided some blocking on the rampant Williams. Heat four was a much more tame race with Wanganui driver Dylan Marshall picking up the victory, a much needed boost for him as earlier in the week he was named in the Wanganui Warriors coming to Huntly in a couple of weeks time.

The next event for Huntly Speedway is the Pollock Cranes Superstock teams invitational on the 18th of November, with eight teams entered from around the North Island competing in it. With local heroes the Waikato Wanderers, the defending champs the Auckland All-Stars, Rotorua Rebels, Wanganui Warriors, Kihikihi Kings, Baypark Busters, Gisborne Giants and the Gisborne Giants development team all battling it out to take the first teams event of the new speedway season. The Palmerston Panthers were entered, but have had to pull out due to numbers.

Racing will begin at 6pm, with gates opening at 3pm. The event will also be livestreamed as well, with The Pits Media being on hand to capture the spectacle that is teams racing.

For more information head to the Huntly Speedway website here

If you were after the live stream, head on over to The Pits Media Facebook page here, and follow the prompts.