Speedway: Faram on the end of a knockout blow

Joe Faram

It wasn't the "welcome back" Hawke's Bay's former national superstock champion Joe Faram expected at Meeanee Speedway on Saturday night.

"I was knocked out, I've got a broken elbow and a pretty sore pelvis," Faram, the 2011-12 season national champion, said yesterday as he reflected on a hit from his Hawke's Bay Speedway Club clubmate Matt Demanser with one lap remaining in the feature race for their class.

"I've got no idea why it happened, it was a straightline hit and this form of hitting was ruled out earlier this year," Faram explained.

It was Faram's first meeting in 11 months and he was racing a new Ford-powered car. Faram has to complete a 21-day standdown in the wake of his concussion.

His engine cut out on him during the first heat. However he produced an 18.35s lap time on the way to a fifth placing in the second heat before the feature race was called following the Demanser hit.

Demanser, who holds a two point lead after the first of three rounds in the Hawke's Bay championship raced on November 1, didn't want to comment on Saturday night's hit in case it jeopardised his Speedway New Zealand judicial hearing.

This incident stole the limelight from the evening's three feature events - a 16-car Hawke's Bay Saloon Championship, the Strong Family Cup in a 19-car stockcar class and the Best Pairs in a 16-car streetstock field.

A first heat relegation for contact ruined Hawke's Bay driver Steven Martin's hopes of a fourth Hawke's Bay Saloon Championship title. Two second placings saw Martin finish one point behind the Gisborne pair of Dan Cook and David Moorcroft.

Cook and Moorcroft were scheduled to have a four-lap run off at the end of the meeting to decide the title but Cook won the title when Moorcroft withdrew with mechnical issues.

Hawke's Bay clubmates Jason Penn and Michael Smith shared title honours in the Strong Family Cup after their run off was cancelled because of the late finish to the meeting. This was Smith's first taste of title glory.

One Hawke's Bay-Gisborne combo of Ben Yeoman and Brendon Gooch pipped another of Glen Shepherd and Travis Gooch for title honours in the Best Pairs.

After winning his first heat from the back of seven-car field Hawke's Bay's national TQ class champion Duane Todd's racing ended in the second heat when he was involved in a spectacular collision with clubmate David Wilson.