New Zealand Super Saloon Championships Final night
Story by: Pete McNae / Nelson Mail - Photo by: Barry Whitnall
Bigger is better in buffets and Powerball jackpots but, once in a while, the little guys can still turn the standard script inside out.
That was the case at the Tahuna Beach Holiday Park Speedway yesterday as the 20 finalists divvied up the prizes in the ENZED New Zealand super saloon championship.
For the first time in three years, there was no Shane McIntyre on the podium.
Nor was there room for last season's placegetters, Grant Flynn and Richie Taylor. There was no Cardwell, no Harding, no Williams and no Burson.
Instead Hawke's Bay's Steve Flynn capped a career he'd considered ending last summer with a one-point victory while the host track provided both second and third place, Neville Wood getting up over Mark Carey in a three-way runoff with Wellingtonian Martin Halcrow.
Flynn was candid in admitting his win came as a shock.
"Last night [Saturday's qualifying], we were lucky to even make the finals," he said. "We made a lot of changes to the car, went back to basics, kept it simple and the track went in our favour.
"It was a meeting where the guys with the little motors pulled through."
Part of the reason for that is that many of the finalists urged the Nelson club not to water the track before their heats. While a light sprinkling still went on, the Moutere clays in the Nelson surface soon dusted up, meaning the high-horsepower cars were skating on brown ice.
One by one, favoured contenders crashed out or simply lost the setup as they tried to apply more than 800 horsepower to a track that was more suited for the sort of figures coming from the Flynn, Wood and Carey cars.
"I knew the track was really going to suit us today," Carey said. "I was quite confident this morning and I guess Neville and I know our way around here."
Between them, Wood and Carey have raced around 50 seasons in Nelson and came into their own as the track slicked off.
Each won a heat of the finals, starting from the front and staying there as the field fell apart behind them. In fact, if not for a late fade by clubmate Ian Burson in the first heat when his Corvette started to struggle with the surface, Nelson drivers could have swept all three of the 20-lappers.
Instead, Burson had to drive defensively for eight laps as Cantabrian Josh Boulton closed in and eventually got past, then Blenheim's Paddy North also made it through on the flagging 21N car.
Casualties in heat one included Auckland's Harding, who rode the wall on turn one of lap one, Nelsonian Shane Carey (steering) and another title favourite, Brent Emerson, whose car has electrical issues.
Boulton's title tilt ended in heat two when he was tapped from behind and his car speared into the wall on turn two and rolled. Badly bent, it was not sighted again, while Burson's chances also evaporated when the right rear tyre was torn in contact with another car. Two down, and more to come, with Grant Flynn, Craig Cardwell, Steve Williams and Ray Stewart all tangling in turn three with all but Flynn's car wounded.
Through the mess, Mark Carey scored an impressive 2sec victory over Emerson and led Wellington race car builder Halcrow by a point going into the deciding heat.
However, Carey had to start that one from the back row of the grid and could only chase as Wood stitched together another immaculate drive, surviving multiple yellow flag periods as the likes of Shane Carey, Cardwell, Harding and Blenheim's PaddyNorth came to grief.
After a prolonged period of points-checking and the occasional relegation, Flynn was declared the new national champion with 43 points while Halcrow, Carey and Wood were tied on 42. Wood got the jump off the start in the four-lap runoff and was never headed, securing second, while Carey gave ground to Halcrow but just got up in the race to the line to claim third by 0.04sec. Within minutes the number 5 had been peeled off his 35N car and an impromptu "Z" added to celebrate his new 3NZ designation.
An understated Wood managed to crack a smile as he revealed that the changes made to his car included "getting the back brakes working" while all three finalists paid tribute to the Nelson club, their fellow finalists and naming sponsor ENZED.
A series for non-qualifying super saloons resembled a demolition derby with metres of racer tape holding battered cars together, Tauranga councillor Murray Guy causing the boilover when his lower-classed saloon managed to pick off the supers in one race.
With a need to ensure placings and points were perfect for the main event, yesterday's meeting became a marathon in dreadfully dusty conditions.
Most at fault for long delays were the three-quarter midget class, so named because it seemed to take three-quarters of an hour to get them back in order every time a driver spun out or crashed. Most spectacular tumble award went to Nelson's Mark Bezett, while James Nicholson made a strong return in a new car and Cantabrians Lance Begbie, Ben Gilmore and Mark Morris featured at the front of the field.
Midget class numbers took a hit with some of the Canterbury visitors having to head home, bypassing yesterday's rescheduled racing. Nevil Basalaj was at the peak of his powers in the first couple of races anyway, before conceding one to close rival Nick Marquet. Andrew Brown was another to benefit as the track began to deteriorate, putting up a strong second place finish in an outmatched race car.
Production saloons and superstocks rounded out a long afternoon, with the productions offering up a remarkable five different winners in five races. There was also some caring and sharing in evidence during the superstock hit-to-pass promotion, with Dale McKenzie forcing his way into the Nelson Tigers team with a pair of sharp wins, Craig Boote claiming the other.
Seventeen-year-old McKenzie is in for Ian Clayworth in the only change to the Tigers as they prepare for the two-night national teams racing meeting in Palmerston North on February 4-5. He will be joined there by Dale Ewers, Shane Harwood, Blair Cunningham and Brett Nicholls.
Nelson speedway's next meeting features the Classic Hits demolition derby on January 28. 