RESULTS

The "Value Cars Warehouse" NZ Modified Championships
7th January 2006

Online video clip available here (20 meg)

Repercharge ... After lots of arguing over grid 2 honours it was Blakeley jumping the start from grid 1 which caused a false start. Whyte again with a destroyed car as a result of wall riding in turn 4 when the yellow lights were flicked on. Lane away to the lead then 3 car pile up in turn 4 between Gourley, Ashton & Hall brought out the yellow lights again. Lane & Blakeley away again opening gap on field. Infield littered with cars only 4 finishers. Lane & Blakeley qualify.

Heat 1 ... McPhee away early but wheel standing. Fox into 2nd. Rodgers, Palmer & Frost battling for 3rd. Caution due to Blakeley's rear bumper lying on track. Crowe struggling at rear of field. Midway order McPhee, Fox, Rodgers, Frost then gap back to Ward & Haigh. Rodgers thru under Fox out of turn 4 only to be spun by Frost in turn 1. Caution ... Rodgers back to 3rd & Frost to rear. Shiney up only 4 placings after restart. Rodgers again under Fox in turn 4 for 2nd place. Track going very slick and Fox losing third to Haigh. Crowe losing a spot or two at the rear. Rodgers into lead on final lap to take the win from Mcphee (2nd) & Haigh (3rd) ... AWESOME !!!

Heat 2 ... All 16 starters front for heat 2. Front row of Brown & Galbraith. Rodgers starting from grid 11. Track surface looking spot on! Haigh spins in turn 3 bringing on yellow. Early order Galbraith, Blakeley, Crowe, Arapere but Blakeley very quickly takes the lead. Arapere into turn 1 and somehow tips over with Dixon arriving fast and no where to go and also rolls over hard. Both cars out. Restart order ... Blakeley, Galbraith, Crowe, Fox. Rodgers up to 7th. Frost aggressive up to 5th then easily takes Fox into turn 4. Track going slick and Frost takes 3rd from Crowe. McPhee struggling at rear. Rodgers takes Fox while Galbraith takes lead. Race order ... Galbraith cruising, Frost, Crowe, Blakeley. Rodgers with another awesome drive then takes 4th from Blakeley in final lap. Finishing order Galbraith, Frost, Crowe, Rodgers. Points after 2 heats ... 1nz Galbraith & 84c Rodgers tied for the lead on 29 points. Haigh 3rd overall with 25 points.

Heat 3 ... 14 starters. Frost off to a flyer and never looked like losing this heat leaving Fox to battle for 2nd with Jesen & Arapere. Rodgers gets the better of Galbraith and works her way up to 8th. Haigh up to 2nd and looking fast. Galbraith coming back at Rodgers then spinning in front of her in turn 1 and Rodgers running into the 1nz car. Rodgers towed to infield and Galbraith put to rear. Caution means Frost's half lap lead is back to indian file. Haigh now 2nd and looking likely to win title. Another caution with Lane facing the wrong way in turn 2. Crowe passes Fox in final laps for 4th. Galbraith up to 5th. Final heat finishing order ... Frost, Haigh, Arapere. As for Rodgers most people were using the term "gutted" as to her DNF.

Run - Off ... Galbraith & Haigh tied for first and run-off required to decide title. Galbraith takes the early run-off lead but Haigh muscles his way underneath out of turn 4. Not to be out done Galbraith lunges back into the lead round turn 1 then Haigh spins himself out of turn 2. Galbraith carries on to win the title and then excite the huge crowd with victory donuts.

Final placings and points:
Galbraith 40 pts
Haigh 40 pts
Frost 39 pts
Fox 34 pts
Rodgers 33 pts
Crowe 32 pts
McPhee 28 pts
Arapere 26 pts
Blakeley 25 pts
Lane 24 pts
Jesen 20 pts
C Ward 20 pts
Brown 18 pts
Palmer 13 pts
Thompson 11 pts
Dixon 2 pts

The "Value Cars Warehouse" NZ Modified Championships
6th January 2006

Blue Group Heat 1 ... Galbraith spins causing crash behind him and sent to back. Whyte sidelined for the night. Both Frost and Crowe looking quick.
Blue Group Heat 2 ... Crowe and Haigh looking confident. Galbraith wheel standing lots early on. Turn 2 crash involving Jesen and P Ward resulting in both being towed off. Frost looking very quick.
Blue Group Heat 3 ... Jesen very quick at the start. Galbraith carving his way through into 3rd place only to nearly spin himself again. Frost up to 3rd past Galbraith who started struggling towards the end with the dry conditions. My pick for this group as a dark horse would have to be Frost but if you want to stay with a safer bet you can't go past Crowe and Galbraith as leaders of this group.
Qualifiers from Blue Group are ... Crowe, Frost, Galbraith, Haigh, Dixon, McPhee, Jesen

Red Group Heat 1 ... Cool and calculated drive from Rodgers who was deceptively quick. Arapere also looking good to qualify.
Red Group Heat 2 ... C Ward early leader and appeared very rapid. Lane chasing hard along with Rodgers until her dry sump system belt parted company causing DNF. Arapere suddenly spins in turn 4 and carries on. Gourley pulls infield. Palmer the big mover up to 2nd. Ward struggling in final laps of the heat.
Red Group Heat 3 ... Fox with an early lead and looking very fast before Palmer spins bringing out the orange. Greymouth pairing of Brown and Thompson 2nd & 3rd waiting for green light. Blakeley ready to pounce but Gourley spins in turn 4 then hit by Jackson who had no where to go. Gourley and Blakeley end up wedged together requiring assistance. Rodgers makes a couple of crucial passes in the dying laps to qualify for finals night. Best of this group in my mind were Fox and Arapere although inconsistant. Rodgers if not for the DNF would have outclassed this group easily but dont rule out Brown or Thompson for a podium either.
Qualifiers from Red Group are ... Fox, Arapere, Thompson, Brown, C Ward, Palmer, Rodgers

Online video clip available here (20 meg)

Non qualifiers will enter the repercharge on saturday where 2 cars will join to make up the 16 car championship.

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