New Year Race Report by Daryl Shuttleworth: Central Motor Speedway in Cromwell kicked off the New Year in style with the running of the New Years Grand Prix across all grades as well as Round Four of the Civil Construction Southern Sprintcar Series.

(Disclaimer – results as seen by myself while commentating, results may have changed slightly due to relegations etc. – This article or extracts from it are not to be used by any other form of media without prior permission.) 

It was your typical roasting-hot Central Otago day,  the temperatures were sitting in the mid to high twenties allowing spectators to kick back, find some shade and take in some great speedway action.

Central Motor Speedway had also raced just two nights before, and the big talking point was the teenage sensation out from America, Joel Myers Jnr with his mixed results on the Friday.  Myers Jnr hit the wall, putting him out of heat one but came back strong in the feature to give fans a taste of what he can do, ending up third in Friday's feature.

Roll on Sunday: a different day and night's racing on this unique track, with Myers Jnr a bit more confident after that solid feature result.

Heat one for Sprintcars got off to a rocky start when Riverside's Jacob McIntyre hit the loud pedal causing his car to break out sideways. Unfortunately he hit Cromwell’s Mathew Anderson causing Anderson to make contact with the wall and end his race. McIntyre would then grid up from the front and get set to resume battle.

At the re-start there was no such issue again for McIntyre as he powered off to a handy lead that he would hold until the completion of the race, banking maximum points early. Behind McIntyre was Adam Evans of Cromwell in second, and his clubmate Josh Buchanan in third place.

Heat two was called early after a nasty incident involving Dean “The Thriller” Miller of Cromwell. Miller stopped in haste on turn four when a fuel line burst, showering Miller in fuel then igniting. Miller hit the track surface with the fire crew extinguishing him, but he had suffered severe burns to his hands and knees.

When the race stopped, there was an intriguing battle happening out front with Nigel Colvin of Cromwell leading Steve Duff Jnr of Christchurch, with Myers Jnr in third. These were the positions  called when the race was stopped. Heat three would see Cromwell’s Jason Scott get off to a flying start, only to be chased down by Buchanan who would eventually take the race win. Scott had enough in the tank to hold off a fast-finishing McIntyre who had come from the rear of the pack to claim third.

The fourth and final heat was one of the races of the event. On lap one, Daniel Anderson of Cromwell clipped the wall coming out of turn two causing him to roll, and bringing out a full grid restart.

From the restart it was Duff who sailed off to a commanding lead, but behind him Myers Jnr was chewing off valuable meters, eventually getting to the back of Duff with just one lap to run. On the very last lap Myers Jnr made a dive on his Ruapuna clubmate to snatch the race lead and win, showing the crowd the sheer speed he possesses. Duff would place second with Colvin third.

The feature final was fast and exciting, the only stoppage coming when Mathew Anderson and Cromwell driver Whetu Taewa had a coming together while sitting in second and third spot early in the race.

Evans, fresh off his victory at the Christmas Champs, got off to a flying start and started to pull a decent sized gap on the field. It looked as if the young Cromwell driver was going to deliver a repeat dose of Friday nights success. Behind Evans, Myers Jnr had begun to pass cars one by one and was on the chase, first up battling with Duff, then lap by lap pulling Evans in until eventually he was right on Evans and challenging for the race lead. Evans tried to fight with all he had but he simply could not withstand the attack from the young American, watching Myers Jnr slip past and set off on his way.

Myers Jnr then showed his true speed, clear air and out on his own impressing the big crowd on hand and putting on a great show to claim the win. Evans claimed second place and the overall Southern Sprintcar Series round win while Duff capped off a solid night with third place.

The overall New Years Grand Prix for Sprintcars, Myers first, Evans second and Duff third.

Stockcars were again the crowd pleasers with a huge field of cars all who had put on a brilliant display in Dunedin, Invercargill and Cromwell in the past week.

Heat one for Stockcars saw the first roll over for the night in this grade when Christchurch driver Robbie Edgeworth put Riverside’s Zak Newsham up and over in turn three. A couple more restarts unfolded with stoppages to Kamryn Reddy and Edgeworth throughout the race but up front keeping out of trouble was Riverside driver Shanan Knight taking the race win from Murray Greig of Christchurch and Luke Fallow of Riverside third.

Heat two and a stoppage early to retrieve a stray tyre that had ended up in turn one, then lap seven it was Christchurch driver Daniel Cox who was parked up on turn four causing a stoppage.

Local driver Casey McEwan was menacing in this heat, putting in some big hits, none bigger than when he nailed Gary Cox of Christchurch, putting him up the wall on the main straight and up onto his side. Once the cars were sorted it was just moments later Tyler Houghton of Christchurch put his clubmate Kahu Agnew up and over in pretty much the same spot as McEwan had done just a lap before.

Once the mayhem had settled it was Tyler McPherson of Christchurch who would take the race win, second went to Craig Robb also of Christchurch with Cromwell’s Jack Honeybone third.

The final race was also a thriller with action happening all over the track. Daniel Cox was the first to bring out a red light having to be removed from turn two on the fourth lap, the next stoppage came when Jason Brooks of Christchurch was nailed hard by Dunedin’s Mark Taylor, Taylor had stalked Brooks one lap earlier pinning him to the wall on the main straight. 

Just one lap later, Taylor had his man putting Brooks to the infield. Taylor's trail of destruction wasn’t over, with Cameron Dench of Christchurch being absolutely drilled by Taylor at the end of the race, sending Dench into a somersault on the main straight. If there was an Enforcers award for this race, no-one would have got close to Taylor.

Greig took the race win in the final with Brodie McDonald of Cromwell second in an impressive drive, Peter Knight of Riverside was third.

This result gave the New Year Grand Prix Title to McDonald, with Honeybone second and Robb third overall.

Super Saloons were in action and it was pleasing to see a slightly bigger field of cars on show, heat one saw just the one incident early when Cromwell driver Owen Dixon spun in turn three taking out Riverside’s Scott Williamson in the process, Williamson tried to rejoin the field only to be sent to the infield to spectate the rest of the race.

Up front Ray Stewart of Cromwell would be too fast for the competition taking out a solid race win ahead of Ryan Marsden of Christchurch and Alister Lister of Dunedin third.

Heat two and again Dixon was the man who bought out the one and only caution in the race after an altercation with the turn two wall on lap two. This race was entertaining as Cromwell’s George Phillips decided he was going to put his 2NZ Saloon in with the Super Saloons and he certainly did not look out of place upstaging a number of higher horse powered cars in the process.

Phillips would come home a remarkable second in this heat with Terry Soper of Dunedin taking the win and Kane Lawson of Christchurch having to settle for third behind Phillips.

The feature race would decide the New Years Grand Prix, and again it was Stewart who was the runaway leader early, Kerry Dixon of Cromwell looked super fast coming from well back in the grid to chase Stewart down late in the race.

Dixon looked like he had pace to burn but on the second last lap fell back to fourth giving Stewart the New Years Grand Prix win ahead of a fast finishing Greig Johnston of Cromwell in second and Soper in third overall.

Saloons as usual put in a great show for the hearty crowd and heat one was one of the few races across all the grades that never had any form of stoppage, it was fast paced from the time the green flag fell.

Dunedin’s Aaron Andrews was patient making his way to the front and driving off to a heat one win, behind Andrews was current 3NZ Willie Woodhouse of Christchurch with Steve Robertson of Cromwell placing third after what was a tough outing for him on Friday night.

Heat two and again, no stoppages, the Saloon field driving smart and having respect for each other in a big closely contested battle. Cromwell’s Phil Burgess started off the front and gained a nice advantage over the rest of the group, Burgess would then drive to a margin which he managed well with Graham Williamson of Riverside trying to chase him down. Williamson had suffered major damage in an incident on Friday and the car was looking good after the team had spent many hours on it getting it race ready.

Williamson however would have to sit in second and watch as Burgess took the heat win, Williamson second with Jason Gold of Dunedin again consistent bagging third spot.

The Saloon feature again bought out a fast paced, incident free race, Woodhouse would start from the front but had to battle with Williamson early before building a decent buffer. Mid race Williamson closed the gap and looked like he may have something for Woodhouse but soon faded back allowing Woodhouse to extend his lead again.

Woodhouse would win the New Years Grand Prix with a handy margin, Williamson claimed second with Burgess having another solid run taking third place overall.

Production Saloons were one of two grades running three heats and a final rather than the usual two heats and final format, both drivers and officials were hoping for a better display of driving than what unfolded on Friday night, and while there still seemed to be some questionable driving at times, for the most part the heats went fairly smoothly, all except heat two.

Heat one just the one caution on lap one when Lucy Greer of Dunedin spun up on the opening lap causing a full race restart. At the restart Christchurch driver Vaughan Fairbairn battled lap on lap with Riverside’s Alex Crosbie, Fairbairn finally managing to shake off the Southland teenager to claim a win, Crosbie second with Brad McTaggart of Cromwell third.

Heat two is where things went a little pear shaped, Cromwell clubmates James Woods and Jack Taylor were the first to make contact causing Woods to lose a front bumper, Woods would then lose a rear bumper when getting a serve from Riverside’s Brad Fitzgerald on the back straight, while all this was unfolding Crosbie was sent to the wall causing damage to his car and putting an end to his night.

As the carnage unfolded Blenheim’s Sam Martin got to the front and would hold the lead to claim his first win of the night, Fairbairn was solid in second with Fitzgerald getting up to third.

Race three and a fairly clean race, just the one stoppage when Aaron Reed came to a stop in turn three of lap four. Des McTaggart of Cromwell got off to a good jump in this race and battled lap upon lap with Brad McTaggart for the race lead. Des McTaggart would have enough in the tank to take the race win, Brad McTaggart settling for second with Martin third.

The feature final saw Martin get off to a flyer but Fairbairn would soon make a move for the lead of the race, Martin tried to sit with Fairbairn but as the race started to run its distance Martin could no longer hang in there watching the New Years Grand Prix go the way of Fairbairn with a well deserved win, Martin claimed second with Brad McTaggart third.

Youth Mini Stocks had turned on an amazing display over the entire Christmas period across all three Southern tracks, Beachlands, Riverside and Central Motor Speedway, and the racing at this event was again fantastic to witness.

A couple of cautions in heat one, the first when Toni Lee Best of Christchurch spun in lap one then on lap five it was Best’s clubmate Jacob Skurr who spun bringing out the caution.

Out front Christchurch driver Jaxyn Houtos was just too fast, he was pressured by Cromwell’s Dylan Jones but Houtos was just smooth and clean banking an early race win, Jones having to settle for a well driven second with Skurr remarkably getting back up to third spot.

Heat two and Ollie Dicey of Cromwell made solid contact with the turn two wall mid race, newcomer Brooke Marshall came around turn two when Dicey was parked up and went hard into Dicey’s car, the race being called at this point giving the race win to Skurr with Cromwell driver Dylan Prattley second and Nelson’s Leilah Jefcoate third.

Heat three and Cromwell’s Ashdyn Gable got off to a flying start only to be bought back to the pack when Paige McEwan of Cromwell spun up in turn four, at the restart it was Jefcoate who would spin in turn two bringing out the yellow flag once more.

Gable would withstand immense pressure behind him to pull away again at the restart, and claim the heat three win, Houtos moved through the pack to take second while Skurr was again consistent with a third placing.

This set the scene for the Mini Stock feature final, Cromwell’s Trent Ainsley up until this stage had had a pretty consistent day but couldn’t quite get to the front of the pack and challenge the likes of Houtos and Skurr, but in the final Ainsley come alive working his way through the pack one by one to suddenly find himself at the front of the field with just laps remaining. McEwan would have a spin with one lap remaining giving the field a free kick at Ainsley, Ainsley would race off again fighting Houtos up front. Just when Ainsley looked like he had the race won he again had to re-grid at the front of the pack after Skurr who was challenging up front spun up but would get to start in his position at the restart.

The green flag dropped and away went Ainsley again, this time Houtos was all over him like a cheap suit and it was looking likely the lead would change but Ainsley fought to the death and grabbed the New Years Grand Prix for Youth Mini Stocks just ahead of Houtos in second and Skurr third.

The final grade on the program was Six Shooters and heat one went without a hitch, just good hard fast paced Six Shooter action. Cromwell driver Emma Gordon got a nice jump early and wouldn’t be challenged at all taking a well driven race win ahead of Cromwell’s Brian Ellison in second and Nigel Marshall of Riverside up to third spot.

Heat two for Six Shooters and Cromwell’s Jake Shearing spins in turn one of lap one causing a concertina effect which saw Riverside drivers Duane Cracknell, Hayden Graves, Daniel Livingstone and Cromwell’s Samantha Sandford all make contact with each other or spin up bringing out a caution. Cracknell suffered damage that would see him sent to the infield.

Shearing reformed at the front of the grid for the restart and got away nicely this time around, he would lead Sophie Wills of Cromwell who was again looking quick before a second caution caused by Graves after a spin in turn four.

The race would get underway again and Shearing would lead the field to claim a win, Wills in second with Riverside’s Jack Brown up to third place.

Being Grand Prix format it was winner takes all in the feature for Six Shooters and hen the race went green it was Brown who grabbed the early advantage.

Brown came under immense pressure from Wills who was the fastest on track at the time, but Wills would spin giving Brown breathing room again. Wills would remain going, but lost a heap of spots to fall down the field. Shearing would then try and get to Brown but Brown was simply too fast in the feature, taking out the New Years Day Grand Prix for Six Shooters, Shearing home in second with Marshall home third.

Image credit: Suzy Walker Photography.

Article added: Wednesday 11 January 2023