RESULTS

Canterbury Saloon Championships
Superstock Teams Nelson v Canty v Otago
Fireworks Extravaganza
12th November 2005

Write up kindly provided by ANON !

A dozen Production Saloons put on the cleanest racing of the night, and the skill levels were high with some close racing at the front of the field all evening, but often some contact further down the field. Winner of the championship was Micheal Read, but not far behind were Gerry Fillius in second place and Lindsay McQuillan in third.  All three were driving front wheel drive Japanese cars, a far cry from the days when this class was dominated by Commodores and Falcons. The last heat saw an especially close battle for the lead between Read, Fillius and Jo Giles, with Giles hugging the pole line for the entire race, forcing Read and Fillius to try their luck around the outside if they wanted to pass.

Fourteen A grade Saloons were a bit untidy, due mainly to a couple of drivers who seemed to have trouble holding their line and controlling the rear end of their cars, and only half that number finished the final heat. No one driver stood out, with heat wins to Mark Grocott, Peter Edmonds, and Craig Young, and plenty of podium places for Steve Petersen. Petersen took it out from Mark Grocott and newcomer to the class Vaughan Fairburn was constistent to pick up third.

A field of twenty Super Saloons promised much and delivered plenty of carnage to entertain the fireworks day crowd, but failed to impress with their racing skills.  A measure of the lack of control in this class is the fact that only eight of the twenty original starters finished the last heat. There were so many periods of yellow lights (and several reds) in this class that the overall race time was 56 minutes to complete three heats, the mammoth second heat taking 24 minutes and leaving several cars running out of fuel towards the end. It seemed to me that there were two or three cars racing in this field who shouldn't have been there, and their lack of car speed or sometimes erratic driving contributed to many of the accidents. Greg Keegan won all three heats to easily take the title, with Richie Taylor second and Bruce Boulton third. Keegan looked at ease in the traffic, and made several passes through turns 1 and 2, rather than his trademark turn four sweeps. Even Keegan, though, had plenty of racing tape holding down the front of his car by the end of the night.  Taylor looked to have picked up more speed than in the last two outings, and I think the track (which was very grippy and flat to the wall allowing three wide racing all night)  was more to his liking as it just slicked up a little in the Super's races. Boulton was one of very few cars to stay out of trouble all night but even he had his moments - racing around turn 3 on just two wheels while leading the final heat was one of them.

Steve Petersen .................................. Greg Keegan ................................. Michael Read

The Superstock Teams racing was entertaining, but rarely tense.  The Nelson Tigers looked every inch the professionals, delivering a very skillful, polished performance on track which oozed confidence and control.  Mark Ewers did the running while Brendan Higgins sat out both races on the infield.  First up against the Otago Cougars Ewers got away to a good lead with one or other of the Tigers running with him, and able to bat away the attacks the southerners mounted.  Ricky Boulton chased hard for Otago, but didn't get the same support from his team that Ewers was getting half a lap ahead.  A straight forward win for the Tigers then, but a very competent performance from the Cougars, and I think all cars from both teams finished the race.
The second race of the night pitted the local Glen Eagles against Nelson, and again Nelson controlled the race well, with Ewers comfortable in the lead while Terry Hall chased for the Eagles. As before, Ewers got the support he needed, with team mates always on hand to ease his passage past an Eagles attack.  Hall was mostly on his own while the other Eagles picked their own individual battles with the Tigers.  Zane Chinnery was able to execute a simple roll over on Dale Ewers near the end of the race when Ewers foolishly tried to pass Chinnery on the outside of turn 4.  In the end though, the Tigers got there easily, and while the Eagles showed good individual skills, their lack of team work made Nelson's job so much easier. Another win to Nelson.
The final teams race pitted the Eagles against Otago, and here the Cougar's team skills shone head and shoulders above the Eagles. Its not that the Eagles lacked pace and commitment or skill in blocking and hitting, they had all of that, but they completely failed to read the race.  Runner Peter Ross was left all alone to circulate and pick his way past Otago attacks while Hall and Chinnery circulated together half a lap down, poking at Otago cars as they passed. I actually heard sections of the crowd yelling at them to slow down and wait. Ross possibly suffered mechanical breakage (or something else went awry) when he carrered into a stationary Otago car parked against the wall in the depths of turn 4.  That was the end of Ross's race, and another feather in the cap of 289D (Donny Todd I think) who got through a lot of work for the Cougars.  With Ross's solo challenge snuffed out, Boulton took up the lead with support from his team, and was left unchallenged until the last lap, when some of the Eagles at last realised he was the car to stop. He won easily enough, and restored some pride to a workmanlike Cougars team who have all the basics and just need more car speed to move up to seriously challenge the likes of the Tigers. I realise that that's easier said than done.

Brendan Higgins (Nelson Tigers) ............ Ricky Boulton (Otago Cougars)

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