|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
"Admission Prices - Per Night"
Adults $20
Family Pass $40
Seniors $15
Children $5
Under 5 Yrs 'Free'* Family Pass = 2 Adults & 4 Children 14yrs & under
* Children = 5yrs - 14yrs
* Seniors = 65yrs & over
New Zealand Super Saloon Championship
Finals Night - 16th February 2013
Pre Purhase your tickets NOW!Available at Woodford Glen Shop, Corner North Avon Rd & North Parade, Shirley - Ph 385 1515.
Open Tuesday – Friday 9am – 4.30pm / Eftpos & credit cards welcome
Gate Sales open from 4pm at the track each day of the meeting.
In Chinese terms, 2013 is the year of the Snake, but what does that mean for Super Saloons?
Given there are no Chinese drivers in the field, surly the moons and Chinese horoscopes can only mean one thing, it is the year of the Southern Snake, aka the South Island Super Saloon.
South Island drivers have massively under achieved in New Zealand Championships'. If it wasn’t for Tony Caldwell and Peter Woods winning three titles each, Shane Maaka’s 2003/04 win in Meeanee would be it. Cardwell has a fourth national title but that sits on the North Island side of the ledger as he was racing out of Huntly. From 43 starts, the men from below Cook Straight have just seven titles to the North Islands 36.
Maaka’s win was the last time a southerner stood on top of the podium. Before that it was Cardwell’s third championship, way back in 1995/1996 when you were lucky if your mobile phone fitted into your toolbox rather than the back pocket of your stonewash jeans, rugby fans actually liked John Hart, Hoosiers retailed for $25, hotdogs at speedway tracks were $1 and speedway classifieds were only found in the back of the Dirt Track not on the inter web thingy.
In the modern era, teenagers are filming racing on their iphones, uploading it to you tube before they leave the track and stone wash jeans are still cool, well kind off... but still, the national trophy has hardly seen the South Island.
To put it in perspective, Cardwell won the title the year Canterbury’s Jackson Lovelady was born, and apart from Maaka winning the when he was eight, Jackson has never known the title to reside in the South. “No pressure Kane Lawson!” Lawson drives Jackson’s father, John’s car which Jackson is a pit crew.
The southerners have had success over the last decade though. Nelson drivers Neville Wood and Mark Carey are currently displaying the 2nz and 3nz respectively. The previous season, Richie Taylor was third in Meeanee, matching his second in Blenheim in early in 2005 and Invercargill’s Mike Verdoner wore the 3nz after the 2009/10 championships.
Josh Boulton, unfortunately ruled out of this weekend’s championships with injury, was joined on the podium by Canterbury club mate Greg Keegan when they finished second and third behind Cardwell (racing out of Huntly) in Dunedin in 2007/08.
Canterbury veteran Dennis Bolt was third in Cromwell in 2008/09 and has been close to glory several times. At the turn of the millennium , Bolt was in stellar form, a second in Wellington behind home town hero Donald Gregory in 2000/01 and a third place in Auckland in 1999/00 behind another driver winning the title on his home track, Peter Hemi.
Going further back, Canterbury icon, Doug Smith, stood on the podium three times, Invercargill’s Norm Butler twice, plus Dunedin driver’s Dave Sangster, John Casey and Nelson’s Basil Jones each won a 3nz placing.
Maybe it is Taylor’s time to shine? What about Bolt finishing his career off with the ultimate prize? Can Mark Osborne do the unthinkable in his first year in the grade? Can southerners Ray Stewart and Mike Verdoner turn around their (so far) average seasons? Will Shane Carey be rewarded for all those years of consistency? Blenheim’s Paddy North is in form, can he win it? Can Mark Grocott cause the biggest upset in 44 years of the championship? Or will Ian Burson live up to his favourite tag? All will be revealed after two nights of outstanding, high speed racing but I have found some inside knowledge.
Woodford Glen commentator and weather guru of Blue Skies weather forecasting fame Tony Trewinnard, has been studying the moons and has the 0900 China Horoscope numbers on speed dial, and he is adamant. China has it slightly wrong. It is not the southern snake, 2012/13 is the year of the southern super saloon! But who is it going to be???
In the case of a North Islander taking out the prize, please direct all complaints to Tony in the commentator's box.Newbie Osborne, becomes pride of Canterbury
Mark Osborne became an instant home town hero when he won the New Zealand Super Saloon Championships in Canterbury at the weekend.
Osborne, in his first season in the super saloon grade proved too good for 34 hopefuls from all over the country at AmPro Tools Woodford Glen Speedway.
The popular driver drew parochial crowd support unseen at Woodford Glen since Malcolm Ngatai won the national super stock championships at the Kaiapoi track in 2009. The weekend's crowd may have even bet that effort, one regular Woodford Glen patron said it was the best atmosphere since Natasha Rogers went so close to winning the New Zealand Modified championships in the 2005/06 season.
Drivers were split into three groups for Friday nights qualifying with the top six points scorers after three heats going through to the finals, later joined by two more drivers from a last chance repercharge.
Canterbury super saloon drivers have been unsuccessfully trying to get their hands on the national championship since Tony Cardwell won the title in the 1995/96 season at Dunedin. Shane Maaka is the only other South Island driver to win the title since Cardwell early in 1996, the Cromwell speedster victorious at Meeanee during the summer of 2003/04.
After only a handful of meetings in his Hypermac chassis, it could be called beginners luck, black luck (Osborne repainted his bodywork to black from blue in the week before the championship) or just plain old brilliance, but he was too good for his much more experienced counterparts.
He won the championship over three 20 lap finals heats on Saturday night, but he set it up in heat one with a drive that will be talked about for many years to come.
He started from grid 14 and for the first half a dozen laps, he held his position before blitzing the field during the last three quarters of the race in a simply stunning piece of driving that quickly became the highlight of the weekend.
In a top quality field, Osborne carved the field to pieces, storming through to the front and pulling out a convincing lead by race end.
Title favourite, Nelson's Ian Burson led for much of the race but fell to third after being passed by Osborne and Woodford Glen club mate Mark Grocott, who was rocketing along late.
Canterbury's Kane Lawson and Richie Taylor rounded out the top five. Taylor was overshadowed by Osborne, but had charged forward to be in contention after starting off grid 18.Nelson's Mark Carey rolled out in dramatic fashion after just one lap. Carey and two time national champion Brent Emerson (Baypark) made contact sending the Nelson driver nose first into the wall before tipping over. The incident ended the highly rated Grant Flynn's (Hawks Bay) chances after striking Carey as he plummeted back to earth.
A couple of laps later, local veteran Dennis Bolt spun out and collected club mate Trevor Elliot and Blenheim's Paddy North, ending the race for all three drivers.
Osborne quickly found the lead from grid four in heat two and no sooner was his nose in front, the race was over as a contest.
Last season's national champion, Steve Flynn (Hawks Bay) held second from Taylor, Canterbury's Bruce Boulton and Burson.
Grocott was looking every bit the title contender until he struck the turn two wall, ending his chances.
With the maximum 40 points, Osborne held a six point lead over the tied Taylor and Burson 34 before the all important third heat.
Steve Flynn and Lawson were next, tied on 31, but the biggest surprise were the highly rated North Island drivers were largely out of contention. Brent Emerson (Baypark), Donald Gregory (Wellington) and highly rated Auckland driver Ben Harding seemingly had no answer for their South Island rivals.
Taylor threw caution to the wind in the final heat, quickly finding second and eventually the lead after an entertaining duel with Harding. Unfortunately for the experienced Taylor, he could only win, not control what was happening behind him.
Osborne cautiously worked to sixth place and hit defensive mode, cruising to the finish line for the most memorable sixth place finish of his career.
Steve Flynn drove his best race of the weekend to take third ahead of Emerson and Burson.
Grocott showed what might have been, driving from the back to finish seventh.The race results were overshadowed by the anticipation on the championship points.
Osborne totalled 55, enough to take a fairytale championship victory over Taylor with Burson completing the podium on 50 points. Steve Flynn was fourth and despite a disappointing final heat, Lawson claimed a commendable fifth and Grocott, the next Cantabrian home in eighth place, despite not finishing heat two.
Osborne was in disbelief immediately after receiving conformation of his heroic championship victory.
“I've been chasing that title in super stocks for so many years and been close a few times but this is unreal. It's very satisfying for myself and the whole team.“I was trying to do it for so many people that have helped and supported me and it's an indescribable feeling to pay them back with this,” an emotional Osborne said.
After trying for well over a decade and finishing runner up for the second time in his career, a humble Taylor was anything but disappointed.
“I would have loved to win, but we are happy with second. Mark (Osborne) was better than us tonight and nobody can say he didn't deserve it, because he was simply too good for all of us. He was absolutely brilliant all weekend.”
Wellington's Martin Halcrow won the AmPro Tools trophy for the drivers who failed to qualify for the finals over impressive Cantabrian Gavin Hill and Nelson's Shane Carey.
Nelson visitor Ricky Boulton pinched the Canterbury super stock championships from the locals but Canterbury's Jason Smith and Neil Frew did make up the podium.Media: Mat Kermeen
on track images courtesy Brian Hopping - Mainland Photos
