Carnage wipes out many competitors From 29 starters, only five finished King Country Stockcar Championship
Only five of 29 cars completed the Farmline King Country Stockcar Championship won by Aucklander Hayden Hart at McDonald’s Kihikihi Speedway.
After huge carnage and mayhem in heats one and two, the remaining 11 cars took up their grid positions for the third and final heat.
The Auckland contingent did a mighty job working as a team to take out any car without an ‘A’ on it, paving the way for the defending champion, Hart, to retain his King Country title.
Hart triumphed with 86 points, from second placed Rotorua driver Keith Spanhake on 81 and Aucklander Logan Peat on 72.
The preceding four-way teams stockcar event did not disappoint.
The smash and bash nature of teams stockcar racing always gets the crowd on the edges of their seats and this event was no exception.
Stratford and Auckland met in the final after eliminating Kihikihi and Rotorua respectively.
It was a classic match up between Stratford (last year’s champions at Kihikihi and this year’s New Zealand teams champions) and Auckland (New Zealand teams champions in 2017).
Stratford came out on top, crossing the line first after 12 energy sapping laps to retain their title.
Rotorua won the following battle for third and fourth against Kihikihi.
The bumper crowd got more than their money’s worth.
Also on the programme was the saloon CRC Battle of the Sexes and Demolition Derby, events rained off earlier in the season.
The Battle of the Sexes event was won by the males 164-161 for the seventh year running. Their team comprised 77K Rossco Cresswell, 71K Ryan Neave, 51H Craig Marsh, 34K Craig Robinson, and 25K Robert Belk.
The female lineup was 12A Kristen Vermuelen, 61K Josey Peat Bennett, 69K Shania Wilson, 124W Danielle Halcrow and 243W Ashleigh Halcrow.
The saloons completed their season by contesting the Bayspeed King Country Championship run over three heats to decide grid positions for the championship race over 15 laps.
Hawkes Bay driver Josh Smith 27B led throughout to take the title. Stratford’s Craig Korff 8S and third placed Kihikihi driver Ryan Neave completed the podium.
The double whammy programme concluded with the 34-car strong Demolition Derby.
This year’s derby finished right on the 9pm cut off time. Joint winners were Dale Shannon 136K, Tauranga and Jordan Purser 5K, Hamilton.
A minute’s silence was observed in memory of Speedway NZ’s Glenn Elliott who died last month. Spectators on the embankment showed respect by lighting up the complex with their mobile phones.
Elliott had officiated as an assistant steward and assistant referee since 2001.
He was also a Waikato rugby referee, whistling club games up to division one.