The Rees family of father Peter (left) and sons Asher (behind the wheel) and Ethan are together again at Gisborne Speedway Club and are loving it.
Photo / Murray Robertson
The Rees family of father Peter (left) and sons Asher (behind the wheel) and Ethan are together again at Gisborne Speedway Club and are loving it.
Photo / Murray Robertson
Gisborne Speedway Club turned on two nights of great superstock racing at the weekend that wowed the crowd and the Rees boys family once again proved too hard to stop.
The fourth round of the Kuru Contracting/A&R Logging Superstock Thunder series was won by Ethan Rees (127G), with father Peter (10G) runner-up.
They also took out the first round of the City Smart Repair Points Dash.
Gisborne young charger James Clarke (29G) was the overall winner of the Thunder series.
The 23-car field in the superstocks “ripped the air” as they screamed around the MTF Awapuni Speedway track.
Gisborne Speedway Club turned on two great nights of racing at the weekend and the superstocks action was intense, as this shot indicates. Photo / Murray Robertson
“Everyone was doing around 16-second laps, which was testament to how fast the track was,” Peter Rees said. “It was great racing both nights, very close.”
The pits were packed Saturday night for the 27-race programme. Regan Penn, behind the wheel of car 235G, took third place in the Points Dash and the Superstock Thunder fourth round.
Photo / Murray Robertson
This is the 10th season the Foxton-based Rees family has called Gisborne Speedway Club home after they shifted from Palmerston North.
Asked why they keep coming, Peter’s reply was simple: “You get met and welcomed at the gates, and told thanks for coming”.
“As far as we are concerned, as a family it’s good old-fashioned speedway,” Rees said.
It is the first time in seven years all three Rees drivers have been racing for the same club, with 1NZG Asher Rees here, too.
“It’s good to be back with the rest of the family,” the younger Rees said. “This is a great club. Like Dad said, so welcoming.”
Peter, Asher and Ethan Rees will be available to race for the Gisborne Giants in the two big superstock car teams events in New Zealand this summer.
Photo / Murray Robertson
All three said they would be available for the Gisborne Giants when the team racing rolls around in the New Year in Palmerston North and Auckland.
Gisborne club president Sam Hughes said the two nights produced some of the best racing the track has seen.
He mixed it with the superstocks in 77G.
“It was certainly hard and fast ... like we expected.”
The Streetstock Champion of Champions event, sponsored by Stone Transport and Hiabs, was won by Hawke’s Bay’s Darren Melling (72B), a regular at the Gisborne track.
Gisborne’s Jared Ingoe (18G) finished hard on his heels in second, with clubmate Matt Ireland next in his 96G machine.
The streetstock drivers turned on good racing in their championship event. Hawke's Bay's Darren Melling topped the podium from Gisborne's Jared Ingoe and Matt Ireland.
Ingoe put a firm stamp on the runner-up result with a great all-the-way drive to victory in the third and final heat of the championship.
In the rest of the support programme, the minisprints and sprint cars rocketed around the track on the lightning-fast banked surface.
Locked on to the track by their spectacular aerofoils, the sprint cars belted into the corners.
“It was great to see them come back to Gisborne,” Hughes said. “They put on a terrific show.”
The sprint cars were competing in round 2 of the Oval Superstar Tour. 3NZ Nathan Jefferies finished first, 1NZ Duane Hickman second and 81P Glen McCutcheon third.
The youth ministock driver of the night was Josh Coates in 7G. Koby Gooch, in his 59G car, was another standout.
A small field of saloons also put on an enthralling show, as did the TQ midgets.
The club’s next meeting is on Saturday, January 18. It will feature the Saloon Champion of Champions, Production Saloon Champion of Champions, sidecars, ministocks, TQs, stockcars and streetstocks.
