Champion defends stockcar title at The Glen (by Mat Kermeen)
They say you need a lot of luck and help from teammates just to qualify in a national stockcar title, let alone win it. But one man continues to test that theory year after year. Peter Rees became the first man to ever defend the national crown when he won the Brown and Syme New Zealand Stockcar Championships at AmPro Tools Woodford Glen on Friday night. Maybe he is lucky, maybe he has a lot of support from Palmerston North teammates and other drivers around the country but there is more to his story that that. From the time he won his first qualifying heat on Thursday night, the defending champion was a class above the rest of the field.
One hundred and thirty four hopefuls lined up for Thursday’s qualifying, fighting for 30 spots in the finals the following night.
Six groups raced over three heats, the top five in each going directly through to the finals. Thursday’s racing was arguably more entertaining than the finals as drivers scrambled for spots. Asher Rees, Kane Hargreaves, Dion Mooney, Paul Gaskin, Ron Tye, Gary Lonergan and Richard Keijzer, Beatle Tarrant, Brett Loveridge, Graham Peter, Regan O'Brien and Brett Lloyd amongst the big names that failed to qualify. Rotorua’s Scott Frederickson continued his good form from qualifying when he scorched the field in the first heat of the finals to score a maximum 30 points.
It seemed like a perfect start for Frederickson but it came at a cost, in a cruel twist, an engine problem that became evident over the final laps, meant his night was over.
Local, Dennis Andreassend, Damian Orr, Ikey Hautapu and Bernie Fox filled the top five respectively but, at the other end of the scale, Tony Palmer, Josh Kahui, Mitchell Hill and Cleeve Kookshorn’s title aspirations were over.
Heat two was all about one familiar name, Rees pulling off a cracking last few laps to get past Rob Miers (second) and Richard Gaskin (third) within meters of the finishing line.
Orr was again impressive, finishing in fourth place, handing him a five point lead over Gaskin before the all important final heat. Rees was lurking in third, just one point behind Gaskin with Auckland drivers, Bernie Fox and Scott Tennant rounding out the top five, just ahead of Ikey Hautapu and William Humphries in sixth and seventh spots.
Anyone further back would need all favours to finish in the top three.
Rees had the advantage of starting from the inside of the second row where as Orr (row 10) and Gaskin (row 7) had more work in front of them.
The local’s were far from where they hoped they would be heading into the final heat.
Jamie Hamilton, Ivan McPhail and Dennis Andreassend had all struck problems of some kind. Vaughan Fairburn and Colin Cameron had finished both races but along with Andreassend appeared only top five chances at best.
Rees jumped to an early lead but Fox’s race was soon over, smashed into the turn three wall and out of contention by Palmerston North’s Zac Hoult.
Wellington’s Josh Kahui was swinging at almost everyone, desperately trying to eliminate Rees and Orr to help teammate Gaskin get his hands on the trophy but Palmerston North’s Mitchell Hill struck the next blow. The national under-23 champion, drove Gaskin hard into the wall, almost exactly on the spot that ended Fox’s race.
Gaskin was able to continue but the heavy hit lost him almost a lap, costing him critical points that would prove pivotal in him missing a top three spot.
Scott McIntosh (Wellington) and Jordan Dare (Palmerston North) both lost their slim chances when they were spun to the back as did Gavin Taniwha who was controversially removed on a red light – deemed to be attacking Kahui from the infield.
Fairburn and McPhail could not win but they were able to help decide who did.
Fairburn held up both Gaskin and Orr during the final heat and ironically Hill, despite the pair seeming to be on the same mission to help the same drivers.
McPhail, caught Orr going into turn one and managed to take him into the wall and hold him for long enough that the Rotorua driver lost several spots.
Andreassend cleverly flicked McIntosh around which in the final wash-up, was the catalyst for the experienced Christchurch driver securing a top ten finish.
He may have had drivers working to remove his rivals but Rees managed to avoid Kahui and the few other drivers that looked to slow him, all without slowing him.
Rees was almost surprised by the amount of support he did have and said that little if any of the on track work was planned. “We didn’t talk much before the third heat but, there were definitely a lot of guys helping me which was great. Hopefully I get the chance to repay the favour at some stage in the future,” Rees said.
There will always be those that say he had a charmed run and be confused as to why he is not more of a target but the fact is he is pure class and deserves every championship and accolade that comes his way.
Rees has now won five of the 13 New Zealand Stockcar Championships since the titles inception in the 2000/01 season. An extraordinary statistic.
Cameron headed the local challenge, his consistency rewarded with eighth place overall much to the experienced drivers delight.
Cameron was hopeful more frontrunners would get taken out and he may be able to claim a top five spot but he was anything but unhappy.
“I’m thrilled, I really am. I was stoked just to qualify.
“I’ve qualified before then I’ve never finished all three final races before so I’m really pleased with that result.”
It was only a puncture in heat two that stopped Andreassend being a genuine title contender but he said the weekend was still a huge success, especially to get four Leech Motorsport cars through to the finals.
“To get four of us from the one stable through to the top 30 cars in the country is a huge success. It shows what a great car Leech Motorsport prepare,” he said.
Wellington’s Hargreaves picked up the AmPro Tools Cup, a second tier competition held on Friday night for non-qualifiers. Fellow North Island drivers Brad Powell and Loveridge finished second and third respectively.
