Hawke's Bay Hawkeyes superstock team manager Mike McLachlan was quick to thank his side's doubters in the wake of their third placing at Speedway New Zealand's glamour event at the weekend.
"I want to thank all those keyboard warriors who doubted us and said we wouldn't qualify for the second night. That sort of talk had the boys humming before we got there ... it was good to prove them wrong and by the end of the weekend we had the two fingers up at them," McLachlan said as he reflected on the Hawkeyes third placing at the 14-team ENZED Teams Champs in Palmerston North.
His new-look team of rookies Maddie Wise and Randal Tarrant, Regan O'Brien, Quintin Butcher and Adam Groome beat the Whanganui Warriors 150-45 and the Waikato Wanderers by the same score on Saturday night. In front of a crowd of 18,000 on Sunday night the Hawkeyes were beaten 155-40 by a Gisborne Giants team which included former Hawkeye Jason Long before they recovered to beat the Stratford Scrappers in the first across the line battle for third place.
"I'm absolutely stoked. I couldn't have asked for anything more from the team," McLachlan said.
Wise and Tarrant had memorable debuts in the victory against the Warriors. Wise put some spectacular hits on Dion Mooney and Shaun Pearson and Tarrant secured the victory as the Warriors struggled to match the pace and aggression of the 2016 and '17 champions.