Speedway packs out stadium for fireworks display

Huntly Speedway commentator and journalism student Gabriel Bowen, reports the latest from Huntly Speedway.

If you have never experienced Auckland’s peak hour traffic before, you weren’t too far off it after you left Huntly Speedway after their fireworks spectacular event on Saturday night.

The event, which usually hosts over 4,000 patrons every year, was no different this time around. With crowds coming in as late as 7pm, an hour after the start time.

While the gates to the public weren’t expected to open till around 4pm, they had to be swung open earlier due to heavy conjestion on the main road which hampered traffic flow and forced competitors, volunteers and spectators long and lengthy delays to get into the facility.

Talking to a few regular people who attend speedway, the consensus was that this was the biggest crowd that they have ever seen for a fireworks display.

Although schedueled for later in the night, the fireworks went off earlier than expected, due to a nasty crash to Wayne Belk in the Saloon grade during their third and final race.

The usual “OOO’s” and “Ahh’s” were in full force during the display which was forced into two parts, after a technical issue delayed all the fireworks going off during the first stoppage of the night.

There was racing all in between this with 7 classes on show (Superstocks, Stockcars, Modifieds, Production Saloons, Saloons, Ministocks and Golden Oldies – Historic Stockcars) for the packed crowd.

While there were new faces and liveries, the usual suspects were up the pointy end of all 4 races in the Ministock class. Taylor Bryant left off from last season in his three races picking up 2 race wins (one only just over Aucklands Carlos Chesnutt), while finishing 2nd in his other heat. Aucklands Jaxon Hazelman won this one, after a brilliant job at defending Bryant for over half the race. Heat 4 was won by local lad Corey Mathieson who held off other local competitor Reece Fraser for the lead.

Modifieds were on show and after a late night shed session on Friday, 2nz Brad Lane was able to make it out for the first hit out of the season. However, he probaly should of delayed that as his night was hampered with less than expected results. A second in heat one was his best result of the night. On the the other hand, the standout for the class was none other than Brett Parsons, showing the capacity crowd how to pass around the outside of at times a tricky Huntly track. Parsons finished the night with two race wins, which included the feature race. Aucklands Cody Hata in the ex Jamie Fox car was the other winner on the evening.

Golden Oldies or for other people – Historic Stockcars were in action too, The class features cars that are as old as the competitors themselves, which showed a great demonstration of speed and sound throughout the night. There are a few rules in the class, but given it’s not a competitive class, one of the big ones is: one win per night. Hence why all three races were won by different drivers. the first going to Reece Lister, heat 2 was taken out by Huntly’s Trevor Peters, while race three was won by Tauranga’s Dave Bacon sporting the “Mr Chips” livery.

Production Saloon were there usual self, in some races cars would look quick while in others struggled and wondered how they could go that slow. All three heats were competitive with at least three cars in the running for wins in all three races. In the first two heats it was Huntly’s Mark Levin who got the spoils and was on his way to a perfect three from three night, before other local drive Brodie Johnston and Rotorua’s Peter Craddock got past him with a lap to go in their feature race of the night.

A rare sighting was seen last night with the Saloon grade making a return to the Waikato based track, the grade had big numbers only a few years ago but have slipped in recent year. You wouldn’t on known they weren’t regular visitors though, as early on the pace was hot and fast. Kihikihi’s Wayne Belk and Jarred Fletcher both won heats each, the feature race was cut off and no winner was found after Belk sustained a massive crash which required ambulance personal to help him out back of the venue.

Stockcars and Huntly Speedway go together like a hot knife throught butter. There is always a show when the bash and crash class make their way and with a big crowd on offer, they weren’t going to waste any opportunities. Auckland’s Sam Wright and local Dave Moore each picked up a victory, with other local Jayden Dreadon-Manning picking up two for himself. There was a little bit of confusion on the infield with Moore taking Dreadon-Mannings flag after the 4th heat. Notable stirrers for the night which kept things interesting were Jamie Symons, Dean Mullholland, James Mullholland and Clinton Cheetham.

The final class on the stacked programme was Superstocks, although there isn’t alot of local drivers this year quite a few out of towners made the trip. Auckland’s Jordan Baldwin and Codi Chatfield each picked up wins alongside Rotorua’s Mark Costello. Chatfieds 2nd race win was the standout, with some passes coming around the outside of turns, which is very rare in Superstock racing. Fortunately for the crowd, but unfortunaltely for Auckland’s Shay Hambling he was the first rollover of the season, not even making it out of the first corner in race one of the evening.

The next event for Huntly Speedway is the Pollock Cranes Superstock Teams Invitational is on the 22nd of November, which will see some the best teams racers from around the country descend on the Waikato for the event.

Racing will begin at 6pm, with gates opening at 4pm for the public.

If you aren’t able to make it The Pits Media will have a paid livestream available for anyone not wanting to miss out on the event.

For more information head to the Huntly Speedway website here.

If you are after the livestream for the event, head over to The Pits TV Facebook page here and follow the prompts