Speedway: Grant Flynn best of Meeanee starters again

Grant Flynn was again the best of the Hawke's Bay starters in the Meeanee-hosted round of the Burger King-Pro Dirt Series on Saturday night. Photo/John Faulkner

Hawke's Bay super saloon driver Grant Flynn reckoned the Meeanee Speedway track didn't have as much drive as he would have liked on Saturday night.

But that didn't stop Flynn, 42, and a veteran of 22 years in the sport from doing the best of the host track drivers in the third round of the Burger King-Pro Dirt Series.

He finished fourth in the field of 23 and holds fourth place in the overall standings, 46 points behind his clubmate and brother Steve Flynn, who is third.

Flynn, who is the organiser of the series which is in its 11th season, was also did the best of the Bay drivers when a round was last staged at Meeanee in 2015 with a second placing. The 2016 and 2017 Meeanee rounds were both rained out.

"I'm happy with that. I've picked up some good valuable points and have been pretty consistent with two fourths and a sixth placing to date," Flynn said.

"I was just rapt that we were all able to put on a good spectacle for the crowd and everybody seems to be happy with the new format."

The driver of the 422 Chev-powered Hypermac and defending champion in the series was referring to the time trials for qualifying and the double-file restarts.

"I have no doubt this season's field of 26 is the best in the series history. The time trials are good to determine grid positions and it pays to do well in them if you want good positions because coming through the pack is hard work," Flynn explained.

"I'm looking forward to next weekend's round in Wellington because it is one of my favourite tracks. I had first and second placings down there last season," he added.

Mount Maunganui's Steve Cowling won Saturday's round to take a one point lead over his clubmate and brother Chris Cowling, who also races a Chev-powered Pro X2, in the overall standings.

2NZ Sam Waddell and Scott Hayward completed a Mount Maunganui trifecta on Saturday nght. The other Hawke's Bay starters on Saturday night, Chace Rodda, Darren Melling and Mac Kwok, finished 12th, 17th and 19th respectively and are 16th, 21st and 24th respectively overall.

Rotorua's 3NZ and three-time winner of the series, Mark Osborne won the pole shuffle and was leading the 30-lap feature until a mechanical issue forced him to retire ater 19 laps.

Osborne was one of his six starters, including Melling and Kwok, who didn't finish the feature. Osborne had earlier in the evening won the first heat by six seconds.

Cromwell's Campbell McManaway was forced to retire from the meeting with fuel pump issues after eight laps of the third heat. He was leading the race at that stage and had produced a 15.85s lap time.

Huntly's Craig Cardwell rolled out of contention on lap four in heat two. Meeanee will host another round in the nine-round series on January 19 and Palmerston North will host the final round on February 3.

A new-look crew of rider Jeremy Pruckmuller and swinger George Olsen had two wins in a six-crew sidecar class. Another Hawke's Bay crew of Justin Lincoln and Adrian Orchard won the other heat.

Hawke's Bay-contracted drivers, Tony Meechan and Michael Gurnett had a win each in the 16-strong TQ class. Aucklander Kaleb Currie won the other heat. Meechan produced a 15.8s lap time in his third heat.

Hawke's Bay's Josh Smith and Gisborne's Ethan Cook had some entertaining tussles in the eight-strong saloon class. Smith won two of the heats and Cook the other.

Smith had a 16.4s lap time in his first heat.

A host track trio of Jesse Pollock-Houston, Phil McNamara and Tim Towler all had wins in the eight-strong streetstock class.

The Meeanee Maulers stockcar team finished third at their Huntly-hosted event at the weekend and the Hawke's Bay Hawkeyes superstock team were beaten by the Wellington Wildcats in the capital on Saturday night.