Finally the first meeting of the new season is under the belt. It was great to walk into the pits at Waikaraka Park to see a reasonable turnout in all the classes that were going to take to the track for meeting one. Not huge numbers (as expected for the opener) but enough to get things going and allow for some good racing over the night.
As normal there would be some standouts -
- 3NZ Modified – Jamie Fox (nice body……the car that is)
- 5K Superstock – Brad Ridland
- 6A Ministock – Bryce Dibley (I think)
- 46A Saloon – Nigel Ross
242A Stockcar – Bernie Fox
There were also some bad luck stories with the biggest loser on the night being 78A Modified, Ray Chatfield, who took a nasty tumble coming out of turn 4. A beautifully prepared car ended up looking very 2nd hand, hopefully it was mostly cosmetic. 23H Superstock of Lance Ashton also made an early departure in heat 1.
The novelty event of the night was the derby race between the ‘Black Team’ and the ‘Tricolours’. It looked like it was going to be an unwelcome win to the Frenchies until NZ1, Joe 90, sorted things out with some inspired driving to ensure the chequered flag went in favour of NZ.
Some of the numbers had dropped off for the feature races but for an opening meeting, I was satisfied as I headed for the car. As mentioned on other sites and discussion boards, it is a new era for Waikaraka, so far so good, looking forward to some great meetings later in the season.
Finally some pics from the early part of the meeting.
