Ferocious finale to derby
After a series of ferocious qualifiers, it was two of the regular front runners Naki Bits and Geronimo who met in the final of the Peter Barry Memorial Derby with Naki Bits taking the title.
Eleven teams had begun the qualifying at the Robertson Prestige International Speedway on Saturday night where the event celebrates one of the great derby racers in Peter Barry who tragically died after a stockcar race in Palmerston North in 2009.
The feature of the final was that multiple title winner Naki Bits and Geronimo had both looked after their car, as much as is possible in Derby racing, to begin the final with five cars each.
It didn’t last long though with Naki Bits Adam Reed being tagged by Leigh Ellwood and spectacularly doing a two and a half times barrel roll into the pit gate.
If both teams had protected their cars during the two qualifying races they didn’t in the final with only five of the 10 cars finishing the race.
Unlike qualifying where points were crucial, with the top two making the final, it was first past the post in the final and unfortunately for Geronimo while they stopped Adam Reed they couldn’t halt Steve Reed’s march to the chequered flag, after some great blocking from his team-mates.
In the runoff for third another of the regular teams who have often missed out on winning the title because of their all out attacking style did well to beat Kemp Electrical.
The highlight was another rollover when Dirty Rotten veteran Bevan Johnston was flipped and left hanging off the fence. Team Kaos had comfortably beaten Firecats in the race for fifth.
Fans were given a treat unlike stockcar racing with multiple rolls spread throughout the night with the biggest being three rollovers in the qualifying race between Naki Bits and Quackers.
In a closely fought Manawatu Youth Ministock Championship over three heats Harrison Cheetham’s third place in the third and final heat was enough to give him the title by two points from Jayden Clark and Wellington’s Thomas Davis who were level second.
Davis sixth place in the third heat cost him the title. In the runoff for the minor placings Clark beat Davis.
After a disastrous New Zealand sidecar championships the popular Kieran Payne had a small measure of compensation when he was the overall points leader after three heats.
Payne who had new swinger Martijn Domper swinging won the first heat then finished second in the remaining two races including the feature.
Nick Dunne and Matt Stewart, who had finished a creditable fourth at the New Zealand champs won the feature with the other race won by Wayne and Max Lett.
With the Superstocks out of town Randal Tarrant and Brett Hyslop shared the top spot, but it was veteran Clive Elliot who took out the feature for a rare race win.