Simon Joblin at action at Manawatu Speedway at the weekend.
Simon Joblin at action at Manawatu Speedway at the weekend.
Taranaki's Simon Joblin added to his Grand Slam of championship victories on Saturday night at the Robertson Holden International Speedway when he claimed his first Manawatū Superstock title.
The eldest of the three Joblin brothers, he started the night off with a low-key ninth placing in heat one of the 30-car championship field.
A win in the second heat placed him third overall and he looked to have a nice buffer of points to claim a podium spot.
But with a rear grid for heat three, it was never going to be an easy task. Joblin was helped by the fact that points leaders Peter Bengston and Clive Elliot were eliminated early in the final heat.
However, it was the "Foxton Flyer" Jordan Dare who became the biggest threat to then Joblin' title hopes.
Dare, who had a near front grid for heat three, slotted in behind Adam Joblin for the duration of the race, and with some assistance from his Red Waka Motorsports team mate Jayme Hemi, crossed the line in second.
With Simon Joblin finishing fifth, it meant they ended up tied on 78 points heading them to a four-lap run-off for the title.
It was the third title decider at Palmy Speedway in the last three weeks.
Jordan Dare got off to a great start pushing Joblin to the grass forcing him off the throttle.
Dare sped away out in front, but two laps in he got it wrong, coming out of turn four allowing Joblin to catch and spin the 581 machine and allowing Joblin to clear off and take the checker to claim the Manawatū Title.
Foxton's Jordan Dare coming home a well-deserved second and Shane Mellsop a hard fought third place on the podium.
Creditable mention to Levin driver Scott Penn in 77p, who if not for a very unlucky second heat where he became a victim of everyone else's mess to crawl home 17th, picked up a sixth in heat one and fourth in heat three to claim seventh overall just six points off the podium.
In the Manawatū Minisprint Champs it was all about former Horowhenua College student and defending champion Shane Dewar, the current 2NZ who had to settle for second in his first heat after struggling to find a way past Wanganui's Dylan Smith.
Shane Dewar in action at the Manawatu Speedway.
But in the second heat Dewar stormed from the rear of the field on grid 20 to finish a solid fifth, putting him top on points after the two grid setting heats for the big 20 lap feature.
Dewar put the hammer down and lead from green to checker and claim back to back Manawatu titles.
Stratford's Daniel Nickel finished up second for the second year in a row and a late race charge from Palmerston North's Elliot Heron placed him on the third step of the podium.
Meanwhile, Kapiti's Jamie Larsen took out top honours at Western Springs in the final round of the International Sprintcar series which included top Australian and American World of Outlaw drivers.
Jamie Larsen in action at the Robertson Holden Speedway at the weekend.
Larsen topped the pole shuffle and lead the 40 lap, ten thousand dollar winner take all feature race from start to finish.
This result added to his round one runner up placing meant that Larsen also claimed overall series honours breaking the hold that USA's Shane Stewart has had on the series the last two seasons.
